Jazz-A-Fire is the jazz ensemble of the Memphis Black Arts Alliance in South Memphis. It includes such great Memphis musicians as trumpeter Nokie Taylor, drummer James Sexton, pianist Steven Lee and bassist Kent Suggs, and runs a monthly jam session at the Alliance headquarters on Bellevue. Here they are performing for the crowd at Melrose Stadium during the Pop-Up Arts Festival in Orange Mound, 4/29/12
William Bell backstage with a fan after the Soulsville Street Festival in South Memphis 4/28/12
Minister Sekura is the former Lance “Sweet Willie Wine” Watson of the Invaders, a well-known community activist in Memphis and Eastern Arkansas in the 1960’s. He still resides in South Memphis.Â
#077 William Bell & The Bo-Keys-I Forgot To Be Your Lover.MOV (by jdoggtn7)
William Bell performs his biggest hit on the Stax to the Max stage at the Soulsville Street Festival in South Memphis, 4/28/12
William Bell returns to the neighborhood where it all began on Saturday 4/28/12 at the Stax to the Max Soulsville Street Festival, backed by Memphis’ own Bo-Keys, with the sun setting in the west. A supreme end to a truly awesome day in Memphis.Â
Gary Goins takes the stage late in the afternoon at the Stax to the Max Soulsville Street Festival in South Memphis, 4/28/12
William Bollinger – You Can lead Your Woman to The Altar (by spinning45s)
William Bollinger was THE soul star of Cape Girardeau, Missouri, frequently performing at places like the Purple Crackle Club in East Cape Girardeau, Illinois, but he did most of his recording in Memphis, usually at Sounds of Memphis, which today is known as the House of Blues. Aside from a mention in the book Tales of an All-Night Town, which was largely about his outlaw brother James Bollinger and the town of Brooklyn, Illinois, Willie Bollinger has been largely forgotten since his death in 2003. Some interest in him has been aroused more recently as a result of the Ace/Kent reissues of XL/Sound of Memphis material, but a full CD-length retrospective of Bollinger’s work has yet to appear.Â
The Daddy Mack Blues Band is one of Memphis’ most popular modern blues bands, performing around the city at places like the Center for Southern Folklore. They record for the Memphis-based Inside Sounds label, and released their most recent album Pay the Piper in March.Â
#88 Memphis Elite Drumline and Majorettes.MOV (by jdoggtn7)
The Memphis Elite drummers and majorettes perform at the Ole Skool Majorette and Drummer Jamboree in Memphis, 4/21/12
The Ole Skool Majorette and Drummer Jamboree was held Saturday night at the Cook Convention Center in downtown Memphis. Unlike many of the jamborees I have been to this year, this one was more like the good jamborees I remember from my youth, with the majorettes working out to drummers’ beats instead of compact discs. The event opened with Triggaman and Bugs Can Can (AKA The Showboys) leading everyone in gangsta walking to the old-school anthem “Triggaman.” 4/21/12 #MemphisRising
