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Otis Redding

Forty years after his passing, the legacy of Otis Redding remains stronger than ever. As the decades have gone by since December 10, 1967 when the world tragically lost one of its greatest soul singers, the power and impact of this Georgia-born R&B pioneer’s music and career shows no signs of diminishing. Through a recorded legacy that spans a mere six years (less than a decade?) but is filled with classic after classic, the man whose distinctive music influenced British rock stars and his American soul music peers alike continues to be accorded and afforded the global recognition and (borrowing the title of one of his most enduring compositions) respect he richly deserves. In the annals of rhythm and blues, few artists are as deserving of the kind of admiration and love that Otis Redding has commanded since he first came to the attention of the mainstream music-buying public in 1963. Almost as soon as his initial recordings for Stax Records became available to avid R&B fans in Europe, Otis Redding became a prime influence for groups like Britain’s Rolling Stones and indeed, the reverence for his music throughout Europe resulted in packed audiences when he headlined the now-famous Stax/Volt Revue during its spring 1967 tour of the continent. In the U.S., Otis Redding’s star was mostly decidedly in it’s ascendancy after his show-stopping performance at the Monterey International Pop Festival in June of that same year, around the same time that singer Aretha Franklin, the future ‘Queen Of Soul’ was establishing herself as a hit-maker with her rendition of Otis’ own “Respect.” In the company of such icons as Sam Cooke, Jackie Wilson, Little Richard and James Brown, Otis Redding helped shape the direction of black music, using a blues- drenched vocal style, initially derived from his early years singing in church. Redding’s emotive heart-wrenching approach instantly distinguished him from other soul men of the day and on such ballads as “These Arms Of Mine” (his first national charted single) and “I’ve Been Loving You Too Long,” (written with fellow R&B journeyman Jerry Butler) as well as an unforgettable cover of the pop standard “Try A Little Tenderness,” Otis Redding was his own man. On up- tempo groove sides like Redding compositions “Respect,” “Mr. Pitiful,” “I Can’t Turn You Loose” and a funky reading of The Stones’ “Satisfaction,” Otis ruled. Masterpiece albums like “Otis Blue” “The Dictionary Of Soul” and “The Soul Album” became the template for recordings by others, filled with passionate performances that would influence more than one generation of recording artists.

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Hardly Strictly Jazz

Back To... SOUL

Read "Back To... SOUL" reviewed by Skip Heller


While everyone else seems to have been attending jazz festivals, I've been flying under the radar with film and TV music jobs, so I haven't had the time to write about the summer's recorded music treasures, and it has been bountiful for record/CD fans. Not least of all because some really careful and wise music fans have made sure that round things with a hole in the middle deliver something digital downloads can't: a real package. Two come from Memphis, ...

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Album Review

Otis Redding: Otis Blue/Otis Redding Sings Soul [Collector's Edition]

Read "Otis Blue/Otis Redding Sings Soul [Collector's Edition]" reviewed by Mike Perciaccante


It's tough to review a classic album. What new can be said? In the case of Otis Blue/Otis Redding Sings Soul, quite a lot.

The beauty of this reissue is that the first 11 songs on each of the set's two discs constitute different versions of the original album--one mono, one stereo. Mono versions of early-to-mid-'60s releases have a much warmer sound/feel. Excluding vinyl, with clean copies increasingly difficult to locate, mono recordings are becoming harder to find.

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Music Industry

Inside Music Analytics: Chris Stapleton Has More In Common With Etta James, Van Morrison, Otis Redding Than You Think

Inside Music Analytics: Chris Stapleton Has More In Common With Etta James, Van Morrison, Otis Redding Than You Think

Source: HypeBot

In this piece Glenn Peoples looks at the rise of Chris Stapleton's cross genre success with is cover of “Tennessee Whiskey" and how the soulful country number has been able to capture the attention of audiences typically more focused on R&B/soul legends. Guest post by Glenn Peoples, Music Insights and Analytics at Pandora, of Medium “Tennessee Whiskey” plays well with songs in the country, Americana, singer-songwriters, rock, R&B, and soul genres.  Stapleton’s music has a close relation to Etta James ...

1

Video / DVD

Why Otis Redding Matters

Why Otis Redding Matters

Source: JazzWax by Marc Myers

In its heyday, soul music was powered by sheer romantic emotion that was animated by gritty riffs, a strong beat and an uninhibited determination to make audiences feel. Over time, soul evolved through artists' varied personal and regional experiences. For example, Ray Charles and Aretha Franklin brought the church to soul. James Brown gave soul a funky urban attitude. And Otis Redding brought the rural South to soul through a crying voice and stage presence that was earthy, insistent and ...

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Recording

"Lonely & Blue" Is A Lost Otis Redding Album, Due Out March 5

"Lonely & Blue" Is A Lost Otis Redding Album, Due Out March 5

Source: conqueroo

Available on CD and blue vinyl, packaging evokes the look and feel of a late ’60s Stax/Volt album that Redding might have released at the height of his career LOS ANGELES, Calif. — Otis Redding’s Lonely & Blue: The Deepest Soul of Otis Redding could pass for a title Stax/Volt might have released in the late ’60s. The look of the album reflects Stax’s design themes of the era. But in fact it’s a collection that never existed, until now, ...

Recording

Otis Redding's 'Lonely & Blue' on Stax Collects Soul Ballads, out March 5

Otis Redding's 'Lonely & Blue' on Stax Collects Soul Ballads, out March 5

Source: conqueroo

Otis Redding’s Lonely & Blue: The Deepest Soul of Otis Redding could pass for a title Stax/Volt might have released in the late ’60s. The look of the album reflects Stax’s design themes of the era. But in fact it’s a collection that never existed, until now, that homes in on one mood and one theme — heartbreaking, yearning ballads — of which Redding had many. The album will be released as a CD and blue vinyl LP on March ...

229

Recording

'Otis Redding: Live on the Sunset Strip'

'Otis Redding: Live on the Sunset Strip'

Source: Michael Ricci

Soul great Otis Redding's 1966 performances at the Whisky a Go Go in Hollywood were a revelation in many respects for Southland music fans who caught those shows, which are the focal point of “Otis Redding Live on the Sunset Strip" double CD released this week.

The set expands on a 10-song single LP originally released two years after Redding's performances, and about a year after his death in 1967 at age 26 in a plane crash. The new CDs ...

220

Recording

Otis Redding's 2-CD 'Live on the Sunset Strip' from 1966 Readied by Stax Records

Otis Redding's 2-CD 'Live on the Sunset Strip' from 1966 Readied by Stax Records

Source: conqueroo

Three full sets available in their entirety for the first time, with digital remastering and extensive liner notes

LOS ANGELES, Calif. -- In 1966, Otis Redding had emerged not only as the star of Stax Records but as one of nation's most influential soul singers. With his version of “Satisfaction" climbing the charts in April 1966, Redding arrived in Los Angeles to play both the Hollywood Bowl (as part of a KHJ-AM listener appreciation concert that also featured Donovan, Sonny ...

212

Recording

Otis Redding "Live in London & Paris" Album Due on Stax Records

Otis Redding "Live in London & Paris" Album Due on Stax Records

Source: conqueroo

Redding is backed by Booker T. & the MGs featuring Steve Cropper and the Mar-Keys. Tom Dowd supervised the recording.

LOS ANGELES, Calif. -- Otis Redding was at the peak of his stardom in March, 1967 when he crossed the Atlantic to perform for his growing European fan base. As part of the traveling Stax/Volt Revue that is credited with spreading the sound of Memphis across the world, Redding played two exemplary shows in London and Paris. These performances have ...

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Performance / Tour

Stax Museum Events Feature Kirk Whalum and Otis Redding's Family

Stax Museum Events Feature Kirk Whalum and Otis Redding's Family

Source: Stax Museum of American Soul Music

STAX MUSEUM & STAX MUSIC ACADEMY PRESENT: “A WEEKEND WITH THE REDDINGS!" Stax Music Academy Concert Features Kirk Whalum On Saturday and Sunday, May 17 & 18, 2008 the Soulsville Foundation will once again make history when Otis Redding's family and Kirk Whalum will be our special guests. The Redding family includes Otis Redding's widow, Mrs. Zelma Redding, along with his three children, Otis III and Dexter Redding and Karla Redding-Andrews. All will be special guests on Saturday, May 17th ...

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Event

New Otis Redding Documentary to Receive Hollywood Premiere, October 8

New Otis Redding Documentary to Receive Hollywood Premiere, October 8

Source: conqueroo

In a coda to this summer's critically acclaimed Mods & Rockers Film Festival in Hollywood, the new documentary Dreams To Remember: The Legacy Of Otis Redding will receive its world theatrical premiere at Grauman's Egyptian Theatre, 6712 Hollywood Blvd. in Hollywood, on Monday, October 8 at 8:00 p.m.

The screening will be followed by a panel discussion with Zelma Redding (Otis' widow), Wayne Jackson of the Mar-Keys, Grammy Award-winning Stax historian Rob Bowman and the documentary's directors David Peck and ...

63

Video / DVD

"Dreams to Remember: The Legacy of Otis Redding" DVD to be Released September 18

"Dreams to Remember: The Legacy of Otis Redding" DVD to be Released September 18

Source: conqueroo

16 Vintage Television Performances by the Legendary Soul Singer Now Available for the First Time on DVD! Includes 40 Minutes of New Interviews Documenting His Life and Work.

LOS ANGELES, Calif. -- To commemorate the 40th anniversary of Otis' death and to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Stax Records, Reelin' In The Years Productions and Stax Records (a division of Concord Music Group) are proud to announce the September 18, 2007 release of Dreams To Remember: The Legacy Of Otis ...

Shawn Pfaffman
organ, Hammond B3
The Yazatas
band / ensemble / orchestra

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