Album Notes

Remember the era? It's the mid 1960's in Memphis, Tennessee, the home of rock and roll and Memphis soul music. George Klein, lifelong friend of Elvis and the top disc jockey in the Memphis/Mid-South region, had this to say about the Memphis music scene:
"The Blazers are the hottest thing... I really dig their soul sound".

The Memphis Blazers rocked the Memphis and Mid-South region from 1961 to 1968 and again in 1974-75. Now, over forty years later, get ready to order Rockin' Rhythm Revue by The Memphis Blazers. All of the tracks were recorded in Memphis by recording engineers who were among the best at capturing the Memphis "soul" sound. They included the legendary Sun Studios guitarist, Roland Janes, the master of the mixing board at Sonic Recording Studios. The CD also includes tracks recorded at Ardent Studios and at the world famous Sam Phillips Recording Studios.

The musicians on the earliest tracks were only 16-18 years old; however, this young group produced a mature sound. The collection of original tracks includes a range of music from rhythm and blues, to 1960's rock 'n roll, and even a psychedelic track. Cover tracks reflect the soul music preferences of The Memphis Blazers with classics from Lloyd Price, Eddie Floyd, Marvin Gaye, The Temptations, James Brown, Bobby Lewis, Ben E. King, The Guess Who, The Animals, and Earl King.

The Memphis Blazers were formed in 1961 from a group of high school classmates and fraternity friends. The band was rockin' long before the explosion of the garage band era, and entertained thousands of party-goers at dances throughout the six-state region of Alabama, Arkansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Tennessee. Rockin' Rhythm Revue takes you back to those great days of live bands at high school and college dances.

The Memphis Blazers were always more than just a "guitar band". This CD features the driving sound of their blues based instrumental rhythm section and horns, plus the "blue-eyed soul" lead singing and tight vocal harmonies that were this band's signature. Memphis produced many good 1960's bands. However, The Memphis Blazers had longevity and featured some of the best musicians and vocalists in the Memphis area. The band often backed soul music artists like The Masqueraders and the incomparable late, great Rufus Thomas.

Perhaps, the most accurate description of the band came from one of its outstanding lead guitarists, the late Lee Baker, as quoted by Robert Gordon in his acclaimed book, It Came From Memphis.©

"The Blazers had horns, three rhythm pieces and vocalists. Our setup with the horns and all was probably due to the Mar-Keys. Our attitude was, we play the Booker T [stuff] as good as Booker T. and the MGs. We knew we were bad. We played all the Memphis stuff plus we did lots of James Brown, because we had the horns. We worked up about half the James Brown Live at the Apollo; man, we did it with all the kicks and everything...And we were playing real hard blues and rock and roll...In high school, I never asked my parents for any money. We could have worked every night if we'd wanted to." Lee Baker (Used with permission of author)

So, order your copy of Rockin' Rhythm Revue by The Memphis Blazers, crank up your "jukebox" and get ready to hear some Memphis music from a great 1960's Memphis band.