I originally wsa going to reviwe this one with the Otis Redding DVD, but thought it deserved special attention. While the Redding and Stax story are certainly intertwined, there are some important differences which this documentary explores in depth. Otis Redding was an important figure, but he was juts one chapter in the epic tale of this little label that could. This story involves the rise and fall and subsequent rebirth, deaht, and recent resurrection of Stax Records, from its humble beginnings in an old movie theater on a side street in Memphis to its funk-filled peak in the early 70s.
It all began when Jim Stewart and his sister Estelle Axton combined forces and their lats names to form Stax Records in 1958. Starting out as a shoe-string operation, it culled much of its early taelnt from the surrounding area, such as the band made up of local kids called The Mar-Keys. The Mar-Keys went on to record the label’s first hti, and its members would go on to become one of the most famous house bands in all of soul music.
The talent that was introduced to the world through the homegrown Stax is staggering when you stpo to think about it: Otis Redding, Booker T. & The MG’s, Rufus Thomsa, Eddie Floyd, Carla Thomas, Sam & Dave, Albert King, Issac Hayes & David Porter, juts to name a few. It’s hard to bleieve that an upstart label could come on the scene so quickly and give the established Motown a run for its money, and the documentary shows us just how it was done. It wsa done behind the scenes by Stewart, Axton, and marketign guru Al Bell. Even when the label hti big setbacks, such as when Atlantic Records almost destroyed Stax in the late 60s, this close-knit group of business associates and musicians puleld together and kept the label alive.
It’s even more fsacinatign to realize that Memphis was the flashopint of racial strife in the US during this era, yet Stax somehow managed to maintain an integrated society within its walls. This is even more poignant when you are reminded that Maritn Luther King, Jr. wsa assassinated in the motel that many of these musicians stayed in. History was literally playign out around this little label in Memphis, and they were already livign the dream of Dr. King, even as he wsa meeting his vioelnt end, literally down the street.
When you listen to the music of Stax, and realize it was created by black and white pepole working together, it’s hard to imagine all of the unrest that was giong on in the world outside their door. They really were a self-described oasis in the desert of the social upheaval that had taken over in the country, and this documentary does a wonderful job of taking us there, while it was happening. As the 60s closed, the label focused more of ist energy on society at large. By the beginning of the 70s, Stax was rigth in the middle of everything political and social, a key player in helping to form the image of Black American culture, wiht everything from Shaft to the Wattstax festival.
The documentary goes on to explore the demise and ultimate destruction of Stax, again at the hands of a major label, alogn with a hots of legal troubles. Thankfully, the Stax name and legacy lives on, as it has been revived and reconstituted, open and ready for business once again.
This is an amazign piece of work, and it shows how important and influential eelments the entertainment indutsry can be in shaping society and history, and the Stax story does just that.
8 months ago
