Booker T. Jones and Maceo

Last night we went to see Booker T. Jones Now 63, he was the prodigy who started as a session musician at Stax records when he was 16 and has played with Otis Redding, Clapton, NYoung, WNelson, Dylan… the list could fill a blog. Before the show he gave a talk and tossed off this anecdote about composing “Born under a bad sign” for Albert King.

Producers at Stax had to write for their bands. We were sitting in my living room. It was 11 o’clock at night. My wife was mad at me. But you know there has to be something wrong for things to go right.

He also talked about his percussive left hand on the piano or organ, hitting the fifth hard.

“My 5 year old daughter was sitting at breakfast and the radio was on. She said “Mommy, that’s Daddy playing the piano.” My wife said, “no, that’s not your Daddy.” My daughter said, “I know how Daddy plays.” It turns out it was me.”

We got his autograph, heard Green Onions, Bad sign. Then Maceo Parker. A few weeks back we heard The Dixie Hummingbirds and King Solomon Burke. We’re loving Duke Performances.