Memphis soul

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Memphis soul is stylish, funky, uptown soul music that is not as hard edged as Southern soul. It is a shimmering, sultry style produced in the 1960s and 1970s at Stax and Hi Records in Memphis, Tennessee, featuring melodic unison horn lines, organ, bass, and a driving beat on the drums. Many of the songs in this style were performed by vocalists backed by the house bands for Stax and Hi Records. The Memphis soul sound was similar to the related Motown Sound from Detroit Michigan. After the rise of disco in the late 1970s, Memphis soul declined somewhat in popularity.

[edit] Some Memphis soul artists

• Otis Redding - vocals
• Wilson Pickett - vocals
• Al Green - guitar, vocals
• The Mar-Keys - band
• The Bar-Kays - band
• Marvell Thomas - keyboards - arranger
• The Memphis Horns -horn section
• The Soul Children - band
• Booker T. & The M.G.s - band
• Booker T. Jones - organ
• Steve Cropper - guitar
• Donald "Duck" Dunn - bass
• Al Jackson, Jr. - drums
• Willie Mitchell - trumpet
• Charles "Packy" Axton - tenor sax
• Don Nix - saxophone
• Wayne Jackson - trombone, trumpet
• Jerry Lee "Smoochie" Smith - keyboards
• Terry Johnson - piano
• Rufus Thomas - vocals
• Carla Thomas - vocals
• Johnnie Taylor - vocals
• William Bell - vocals
• Eddie Floyd - vocals
• Isaac Hayes - organ, vocals
• David Porter - vocals