In the 1960s, a white brother and sister, Jim Stewart and Estelle Axton, established a recording studio in a black Memphis neighbourhood. Their open-door policy created an interracial house band, Booker T and the MGs, who accompanied whoever came through those doors.
As a result Stax was responsible for such classics as Sittin' On the Dock Of The Bay, Soul Man, If Loving You Is Wrong (I Don't Wanna Be Right), Knock On Wood and Respect, and its stars included Otis Redding (pictured), Isaac Hayes, Albert King, Rufus Thomas, Luther Ingram, Jesse Jackson and The Dramatics.
Directed by Robert Gordon and Morgan Neville, this film features rare footage, including home movies by the Stax artists, outtakes from WattStax, lost performances by Otis Redding, Booker T and the MGs and Isaac Hayes, and includes interviews with Stax founders Stewart and Axton and other key Stax players, plus Jesse Jackson, Elvis Costello, Bono, Chuck D., Peter Townshend, Dan Akroyd and Justin Timberlake.
Stax Night continues BBC Four's themed Friday music nights. Other programmes tonight include the legendary Stax Volt Tour of Norway 1967 (see trailer link).
Preview courtesy of BBC
Did you know? The name Stax was an amalgam of the first two letters of the co-founders surnames - Jim STewart and Estelle AXton.
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