Organist Korla Pandit was an alluring enigma, a television pioneer and the godfather of exotica music. He never spoke a word on 900 episodes of his groundbreaking 1950s TV program but captured the hearts of countless Los Angeles housewives with his soulful, hypnotic gaze and theatrical performance of popular tunes and East Indian compositions on the newly developed Hammond B3 organ. In the ’90s he resurfaced as a cult figure with the tiki/lounge music aficionados and ended up immortalized in the film Ed Wood. Often pegged as a “man of mystery,” Korla lived up to that billing when he took an amazing secret with him to his grave in 1998—one that is finally revealed in KORLA.
Considered by soul music fans to be one of the greatest lineups of artists ever to grace the concert stage, this concert, from April 7, 1967 in Oslo, Norway features stunning performances by Otis Redding, Sam and Dave, Eddie Floyd, Arthur Conley, The Mar-Keys and the legendary Booker T. & The MGs.
"Philip Priestley's acclaimed film charts the history of Stax Records, the influential soul and blues record company founded in the 1960s by Jim Stewart and Estelle Axton. Featuring music by an impressive roster of stars, including Otis Redding, Isaac Hayes and Carla Thomas, The Soul of Stax chronicles the performers' rise through the industry and popular culture, the role played by many of them in the Civil Rights movement, and the label's eventual decline." - bfi.org.uk
Booker Taliaferro Jones Jr. (born November 12, 1944) is an American musician, songwriter, record producer, and arranger, best known as the frontman of the band Booker T. & the M.G.'s. He has also worked in the studios with many well-known artists of the 20th and 21st centuries, earning him a Grammy Award for lifetime achievement. Booker T. Jones was born in Memphis, Tennessee, on November 12, 1944. He was named after his father, Booker T. Jones Sr., who was named in honor of Booker T. Washington, the educator. Booker T. Jones, Sr. was a science teacher at Memphis High School, providing the family with a relatively stable, lower-middle-class lifestyle. Jones was musically a child prodigy, playing the oboe, saxophone, trombone, double bass, and piano at school and organ at church. Jones attended Booker T. Washington High School, the alma mater of Rufus Thomas, and contributed with future stars like Isaac Hayes's writing partner David Porter, saxophonist Andrew Love of the Memphis Horns, soul singer/songwriter William Bell, and Earth, Wind & Fire's singer/songwriter Maurice White. Jones's entry into professional music came at the age of 16 when he played baritone saxophone on Satellite (soon to be Stax) Records' first hit, "Cause I Love You", by Carla and Rufus Thomas. Willie Mitchell hired Jones for his band, in which Jones started on sax and later moved to bass. It was here that he met Al Jackson Jr., whom he brought to Stax. Simultaneously, Jones formed a combo with Maurice White and David Porter, in which he played guitar. On March 1, 1995, Booker T. & the MGs won their first Grammy Award for Best Pop Instrumental Performance for the song "Cruisin'". Jones still plays with the MGs and his own small combo called the Booker T. Jones Band. His current touring group includes Vernon "Ice" Black (guitar), Darian Gray (drums), and Melvin Brannon (bass). Jones was inducted into The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1992 and was honored with a Grammy Award for Lifetime Achievement on February 11, 2007. In 2007, Jones was also inducted into the Musicians Hall of Fame and Museum in Nashville, Tennessee.
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