Booker T. Jones: They both loved me. They both believed in education and taught me to do the same. My dad was a math teacher, and he taught at Porter Junior High School and Booker Washington High School.
Nick Spitzer: And your mother played classical?
BTJ: Yes, as well. Her mother was a classical pianist, and she taught my mother and, um...
NS: You were part of a pretty fluid and eclectic soundscape as a kid.
BTJ: Yeah, we were able to drive out to Sears, Roebuck and get Hank Williams records out there, and Roy Hamilton, and then, of course, you know, Satellite opened up on McLemore Avenue, and it was the-
NS: Which is, is right next to Stax Studio.
BTJ: Well, that was Stax Studio. Satellite Records Shop was the foyer of Stax Studio.
NS: You meet Steve Cropper, the guitarist, there.
BTJ: It was his part time job. He was the clerk; he was working for Mrs. Axton in the record shop. He didn't say much, but he let me listen to all the records. I guess he understood I didn't have any money to buy them, so I didn't really need to buy them as long as he was there. It just felt, you know, spend my time up there, and as long as my bike didn't get stolen, you know, keep an eye on that outside, and continue to listen, continue to listen to the Ray Charles, and the Fats Domino, and all of it, yeah.
[music]
NS: What is it that leads you to get into the studio and actually start working with performers at Stax?
BTJ: Luck.
NS: Yeah?
BTJ: Just plain luck. Knowing David Porter, just him knowing that I was able to play the baritone sax and him having a hall pass and the keys to the band director's car on a certain day at a certain time, and him knowing Rufus Thomas and knowing that they wanted a sax on their song on this particular day. It was just a fortunate thing.
[music]
BTJ: I had stood there at that counter, pretending to listen to records, but I was really listening to the music coming out of the studio and knowing that they had a recording studio back there, and I couldn't get in there. When I finally was able to walk through that curtain with my horn, I was just ready.
NS: What about the nightclub scene around there? You know, you're underage, I'm assuming here.
BTJ: Well, the guys knew my dad; my dad had taught a lot of the guys that were playing because they’d gone to Booker Washington High School, and they would come by the house and say, you know, “I'm going to take him down to the Flamingo or out to Currie's Club Tropicana and, you know, Mr. Jones, and, you know, we'll get him back home by 4:00 A.M.” or something like that, you know?
BTJ: And he trusted them, and they, you know, did the best they could to take care of me, and that's how I was doing that at 13 and 14 years old, and that's where I met Al Jackson and Floyd Newman. And yeah, they all had cars and I didn't, so I couldn't have done it any other way. I mean I borrowed their instruments.
NS: Well, now tell me a little bit about moving from, you know, being curious about music and playing the clubs to finding yourself as the key studio musician and involved with all these great performers and ultimately your own band.
BTJ: It happened slowly. I became the resident piano player at Stax and then sort of the resident organ player when Isaac became involved and–
NS: Isaac Hayes.
BTJ: Yeah, Isaac Hayes, and it just slowly evolved into a group of people that ended up being there when all these great people started coming through.
To hear the full program, tune in Saturdays at 5 and Sundays at 6 on WWNO, or listen at americanroutes.org.