essential chess/stax/soul

http://www.commercialappeal.com/news/2012/may/01/stax-music-great-charles-skip-pitts-dies/

Mr. Pitts' use of the wah-wah effect pedal on "Shaft" resonated for several generations. His work would be sampled by numerous hip-hop and rap acts over the years including Dr. Dre and the Beastie Boys, among others.

Around 2007 Pitts played at some Ponderosa Stomp gigs in New Orleans and in NYC

someone posted this on a Yahoo soul group email:

will be doing our annual “Soulsville” radio feature – six hours of nothing but Stax artists, this Saturday, April 27, noon-6 p.m. EDT from the Stax Museum of American Soul Music. Can listen online at www.wrtcfm.com. Lots of interviews and CD giveaways.

Phil Chess 1921-2016
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/20/arts/music/phil-chess-dead.html

RIP.

So the Chess brothers were good guys for putting out records and getting them widely distributed (of artists who otherwise might not have that access); but bad guys because they didn't always pay the artists enough....

Over the years, the Chess brothers were accused more than once of taking financial advantage of their artists, and there were lawsuits, usually settled confidentially. Some Chess artists said their compensation was more often like an allowance than like a salary.

But there were many instances of apparently genuine friendship: Chuck Berry sometimes stayed overnight at Phil’s house, sharing a room with his son, Terry, and musicians attended the Chess sons’ bar mitzvahs.

The Chess brothers may have been motivated more by financial considerations than by artistic ones. But virtually no one disputes that they helped document some of America’s most important vernacular music.