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GENERAL POINTS OF INTEREST
1. BAND MEMBERS - The original Bar-Kays
were Ronnie Caldwell ( keyboards), Ben Cauley (trumpet), Carl Cunningham (drums), Phalin
Jones (sax), James Alexander (bass), and Jimmy King (guitar).
"They were the first 'Stepping' band in Memphis" - Ben Cauley
2. FIRST HIT RECORD - While recording
"Soul Finger", local children playing in the street
were invited to come into the recording studio. The live concert effect you hear on the
track was achieved by this means.
"I bought 'em all (The Children) Coca-Cola's, and I said, every time I do this, you
all say "SOUL FINGER."- David Porter
3. HISTORY AND TRAGEDY - The Bar-Kays were
formed in Memphis, Tennessee sometime in the mid-sixties and originally consisted of James
Alexander (bass), Ronnie Caldwell (organ), Ben Cauley (trumpet), Phalon Jones (sax), Carl
Cunningham (drums) and Jimmy King (guitar). In early '67, they were signed to Volt, a Stax
subsidiary. Al Jackson, the drummer with Booker T & the MGs, took a special interest
in the Bar-Kays from the start and groomed them into a funky, instrumental R&B combo
in the Mar-Keys' mold. Soon thereafter, the Bar-Kays became Stax' second house band,
supporting Sam & Dave, Otis Redding and many other of the label's premier artists. The
Bar-Kays' first single in their own right, "Soul Finger," became a huge hit on
both the R&B and pop charts in the spring of '67 and an album with the same title was
issued as well. That summer, Otis Redding chose the Bar-Kays to be his regular backing
band and it was on route to a gig on December 10, 1967 that tragedy struck. The plane,
carrying Otis and the Bar-Kays, crashed into the frozen lake Monono, near Madison,
Wisconsin. Everyone on board was killed except trumpeter Ben Cauley, who miraculously
survived and bassist James Alexander, who had not been on the plane.
4. SECOND WAVE - In 1968, James Alexander
and Ben Cauley, together with Allen Jones (the Stax writer and producer who would continue
to work with the Bar-Kays until his untimely death in the late eighties) reformed the
group and recruited Harvey Henderson (sax), Ronnie Gordon (keyboards), Michael Toles
(guitar) and drummers Willie Hall and Roy Cunningham. Once again, the Bar-Kays,
particularly the rhythm section but also the horns, served as Stax' house band and backed
countless artists, such as Rufus Thomas, Albert King and The Staple Singers. The solid,
bluesy funk rhythms on Isaac Hayes' ground-breaking, platinum selling LP "Hot
Buttered Soul" were supplied by the Bar-Kays too. Although their own singles and the
"Gotta Groove" LP, issued in 1969, sounded much like a continuation from where
the first edition of the band had left off, the post-crash Bar-Kays seemed unable to come
up with a major hit a la "Soul Finger."
5. YET A "NEW" DIRECTION - By
1970 drummer Roy Cunningham had left the band and so had keyboardist Ronnie Gordon. The
latter was replaced by Winston Stewart. Under the guidance of manager/producer Allen Jones
and with the addition of the band's first lead vocalist Larry Dodson, The Bar-Kays
underwent an important transformation: from the small R&B combo they had begun their
careers as, to a self-contained band. Complete with a radically new image to fit the
musical direction, the Bar-Kays joined Sly & the Family Stone, Norman Whitfield and
Funkadelic in their experiments with fusing rock, funk and R&B and released the
"Black Rock" LP. Due to lack of support from Stax, the album went nowhere, but
modern "black rock" bands like Living Color has acknowledged that the Bar-Kays'
pioneering work had a great impact on their sound.
6. WELL, I'M TALKIN' 'BOUT SHAFT! - Further alternations in
the line-up occurred when trumpeter Ben Cauley and lead guitarist (*see NOTE below)
Michael Toles left the Bar-Kays to join Isaac Hayes' band. Vernon Burch (guitar) and
Charles Allen (trumpet) were their successors. At this point, the Bar-Kays turned down the
volume of the electric guitars and moved closer to funk. They enjoyed their first top-ten
hit since the sixties in 1972 when they launched "Son Of Shaft," a sequel to
Isaac Hayes' "Theme From Shaft." In August that year, the Bar-Kays performed at
Wattstax, the legendary so called "black Woodstock."
(NOTE: Michael Toles (who also PRODUCED one of
ISAAC HAYES' lp's) and I worked together on an "original" project of mine in
1989 playing both Keyboards and Guitar. It also featured Robbie Turner on bass, who played
on the 2nd FOUR HORSEMEN CD (which featured: Kris Kristopherson, Willie Nelson, etc,..)
There WAS to be a CD out of it eventually.. but, alas, finances fell through at the time.)
DISCLAIMER: I do NOT own the information contained here, nor the
picture(s) used. I've added it ONLY as a "HAIL" to this incredible MEMPHIS
group. If this information is copyrighted, and YOU are the owner of this copyright and
would like to have me remove any portion within, I will be glad to comply ASAP. mgs
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