Last night, Booker T. Jones was a soulful, consummate professional, still at the top of his game musically. As well as performing his well-known Booker T. and the M.G.’s hits, he had tributes to Albert King, Otis Redding, Marvin Gaye, B.B. King, Jimi Hendrix, and Bob Dylan.
The show opened with the M.G.’s #9 1968 hit, a cover of the theme to Hang ‘Em High*. With those first four notes on the organ I smiled and thought, “Yep, that’s the sound.”
Left to right in the photo were Al Jackson (drums), Steve Cropper (guitar), Booker T. Jones (keyboards), Donald “Duck” Dunn (bass).
A highlight of the show for me was ‘Born Under a Bad Sign’, a song Jones wrote for Albert King.
This is King’s original version.
The best known version of ‘Born Under a Bad Sign’ is by Eric Clapton and Cream.
* The leading lady in Hang ‘Em High is Inger Stevens. I’ll take advantage of any excuse to look at Inger Stevens, who died tragically young.
