Willie Mitchell: Memphis Soul King

By Harvey Kubernik

(Originally Published: 03/01/2004, Hits)

The timelessly sensual groove of soul singer Al Green and the Hi Records Memphis sound has been collected and just released in a four CD set The Immortal Soul of Al Green. A few years ago a three-CD package Hi Times: The R&B Years, was also issued and focused on a magical era, with church-soaked vocals and soaring falsetto leads underlined by the almost-mathematical production work of Willie Mitchell with the soothing and compelling Hi Rhythm Band featuring the Hodges Brothers plus Howard Grimes. The late drummer Al Jackson's work is also documented in the compilation.

Al Green, Ann Peebles, Willie Jackson, O.V. Wright, Syl Johnson, Otis Clay, Bill Black and many more were part of the glittering Hi Records stable, launched in 1956 initially as a rockabilly and instrumental label. The hands-on addition of producer/bandleader Mitchell in the mid-‘60's veered the label into state-of-the-art R&B recordings.

Willie Mitchell and his band provided the musical entertainment at several New Year's Eve parties for Elvis Presley at his Graceland home in Tennessee. And it's sometimes forgotten that in the late ‘60's Willie Mitchell had his own instrumental top 40 single in the U.S. charts with "Soul Serenade." The Beatles on a U.S. tour stop even visited Mitchell's Hi Studio on South Lauderdale Avenue.

In both the 2004 Green collection and the earlier Hi label box set retrospective of his studio and songwriting ventures, fans and record collectors will have the opportunity to learn about this musical genius and examine Mitchell's recording style and endeavors at the Hi label. Says Mitchell about Hi Times: "This is a real historical thing. I think the whole world enjoys it, and I'm very happy about that." Michael Point in his review of the set in the Austin-American-Statesman described the impact of these Memphis-created recordings and its underrated producer/talent scout: "Mitchell, one of the musical masterminds of modern American music, along with (Al) Green;s voice...seamlessly (fused) sexuality and spirituality in one steamy package."

Still active in the music and recording business, Willie Mitchell owns a popular club in Memphis, TN, Willie Mitchell's, managed by his two daughters. His sons are involved in the hip-hop arena. In June 2004 in Willie Mitchell Boulevard was established in Memphis 

Willie Mitchell spoke from Memphis one afternoon about his monumental recording and production career, his work with Hi Records, and life in the studio with his most important talent discovery, vocalist Al Green.

Q: Where were you born?
A: Ashland, Mississippi. My parents moved to Memphis when I was three. I studied music at Melrose High and then Rust College. Before I went to college, there was a Memphis musician named Onzie Horn, whom I lived with for a while when I was 16. He showed me the Schillinger system (a music method) he had learned in Chicago. He studied with Billy Strayhorn and Quincy Jones.

Q: There is almost a mathematical production style and the way you employ sparse instrumentation on many of the recordings we've heard the last 30 years. I know the Schllinger system involved music notes as mathematics. From listening to these Hi Records recordings, I noticed you used big, semi-jazz chords in your charts.        
A: When I began work with Al Green, I applied some of those different things. Especially on "I'm Still In Love With You." You'll find lots of those big chords there. I used freak chords on "Let's Stay Together." 
Al would come to the house and eat and sleep. My wife cooked for him. I used to play him records and say, "Listen to the notes and how they are posted." In fact me and Al used to spend as much as 10-15 hours a day just studying.

Q: You were around Hi Records for years before they let you get close to the board.
A: I had done an album with O.V. Wright, Eight Men and Four Women, which became a huge R&B smash for Don Robey and Duke/Peacock Records. Then they sent me Bobby "Blue" Bland and I did an album with him. Then more people began to come. Charlie and Inez Foxx and I would always, "I don't like the sounds I'm getting out of this place. We can do better than this." I told them I wanted to run the board. For my first session, I cut "Soul Serenade," which turned out to be a big R&B and pop record. King Curtis had had a pretty good hit on it. I said we're gonna do it funky and simple. It became a huge hit.

Then we started working with Ann Peebles. A trumpet player, Gene "Bowlegs" Miller, brought her up to me and said, "Willie, this girl has a good voice." I told him, "All she needs is material." So we went into the studio with her and the first record went around 100,000. She became popular on the blues and R&B market. This was before Al Green.

Q: How did you first meet Al Green in 1968?
A: We were booked in Midland, Texas. It was a real hot day. 109 degrees in the shade. It was a huge club that seated 2,500 people. When I pulled in, Al Green came up to me and said, "Hey man, I'm stranded here. Could I sing a couple of songs? You could give me enough money to get me back home to Michigan." So I let him and Al starts singing  a Sam & Dave song when we were going over what songs we were gonna do. I was gonna give him $50. Then he starts singing and I told my brother, "Hold the band a minute." I said, "Come over here, kid. Man, you got a great voice. Why don't you go back to Memphis with me? We got a little label called Hi Records and we can cut some records." And he said, "Well, how long will it take for me to be a star?" I told him about 18 months. He said, "I don't have that long."

So we played the gig that night. I was really amazed at his voice. The way he sounded. The way he delivered a song. So after the gig, we were packing up the bus and a car had blocked the driveway and we couldn't leave. We were sitting there ready to go. So there's a knock on my window. "Hey man, you said it would take 18 months for me to become a star.' I said, "Somewhere in that area." He said, "Nah. I'm not going." Then the car in front of me got started and we went to pull out and he said, "Yeah, I'm going." So he came to Memphis. We are about ten minutes from Memphis, about to cross the bridge and he says, "I have to go back to Grand Rapids, Michigan...I‘m gonna need some money." Uh-oh. Here it comes. "To get myself straight in Grand Rapids so I can come back and work, I'll need $1,500." That was big money in 1969. So I said, "O.K. kid, I'm gonna give you this money. Now go back, straighten yourself out and come back."

He was real cocky, but I liked his attitude. I put him on the bus and three months later, I would think, "That little...took my money and I don't even have an address or phone number with his name." Then one night, we played a college in Louisville, Kentucky, came home at 6:30 a.m. and somebody starts bangin' on the door and Al Green is standing there. I let him in and told him where he needed to go. He said, "Don't you remember me? I'm Al Green." I had forgotten him. He had my money. I got him an apartment, but he was getting frustrated. He cut a version of the Beatles' "I Want To Hold Your Hand." We came up with a thing called "You Said," which did about 100,000. I wasn't satisfied with that. I said, "We're off on a Sly Stone groove and we've got to find our own thing."

Q: What was the initial session like in 1970?
A: He was singing too hard. I told him he had to soften down. Then we cut a version of the Temptations' "I Can't Get Next To You" that did about 700,000. It showed that he was still singing hard but he had such command. That sort of launched him into getting some gigs. Then we started cutting an album, Green Is Blue. He was up in Detroit and brought in this song, "Tired Of Being Alone." And when I heard the song, I knew that was gonna be it.

It hung around February to July and we sold about 900 of ‘em. And I said, "I can't be this wrong. This song was gonna be a hit." So I went to Atlanta, Georgia to radio station WAOK. I sat with the DJ and the record busted there. We did 30,000 the first week. I called back to Memphis at WGIA, who I had dropped the record with already, and told them, "We got somethin' goin' on." Then I went to New York and all hell broke loose. It ended up doing 1.5 million. I told Al, "You've been singing too hard."

Q: I always heard that when Al was in England on his first tour, you really developed your own sound for him at that point back home.
A: When Al was in England, I came up with the melody for "Let's Stay Together." When he came back, we would stay at the piano from 9 in the morning until 11 at night. Just a piano and a tape recorder and he'd sing. In 15 minutes, all the lyrics were down for "Let's Stay Together." I was getting' hot. I wanted 500,000 copies pressed on "Let's Stay Together." They thought I was crazy. The record came out on Monday and by Thursday it was gold. Then, "Call Me."

Q: What were Al Green's greatest strengths in the recording process?
A: The main thing is, Al could sing in tune. Once he got a hook on a song, it was hard to beat him. We had six years of nothing but gold and platinum records with Al. Then we finally hit with Ann Peebles' "I Can't Stand The Rain." That was good. Did some really good stuff with Syl Johnson. We did the rhythm tracks, Al Green or whoever would sing their part, and we'd build from that.      

Q: I'm amazed listening to the drum sounds on your productions, with Al Jackson's pulsating drums and   Howard Grimes on conga.  The songs still jump out of the radio.
A: Al Jackson was my drummer until his death. Howard Grimes had cut for Stax, recorded with Rufus Thomas and still worked with me. Every time I cut Al Green, I would have both Howard and Al on hand to play.

Q: How do you feel about the release of the Hi Records collections?
A: I'm glad these box sets are out. There are a lot of things on it that weren't hits. There's some pretty good music they've brought out of the closet. I'm getting a lot of comments, especially in Memphis, about the collection. "I really didn't know that." Some of the stuff I cut I don't remember.

Q: In the liner note to Hi Times, you mention former Hi Records owner, Joe Cuoghi, who died in 1970. You mentioned he "was the greatest man (you've) ever known...he was the guy that put Memphis on the way."
A: Joe liked me. He used to say, "Willie, you're five years ahead of your time." I kept tryin' to change rhythms. I changed the rhythm of "The Stomp." I changed the rhythm on a thing called "The Crawl." It came out under my name in 1962 and did pretty well. Joe was a supportive person. He was like my father, a real go-getter. He respected musicians. He had a good ear. He knew when he heard a hit record. That's the main thing.

Q: You also worked with the fantastic blues singer O.V. Wright, who is still being recognized by new record buyers.
A: O.V. Wright, in my opinion, is the greatest blues singer that ever lived. I don't think there's anybody close to him for the feeling he had and the way he approached a song.