Mr. T

Booker T Jones' bio is filled with more stars than the Hollywood Walk Of Fame. As a resident musician at the seminal Stax label, he played with Otis Redding, Sam and Dave and a host of other soul legends. With famed r'n'b combo The MGs, he scored a slew of hits in the "60s, most notably the instrumental gem "Green Onions'.

Post-Stax, he has worked with Stephen Stills, John Lee Hooker, Neil Young, Bill Withers, Willie Nelson and many, many more.
Did I mention the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction and the two Grammys?
Given these stellar achievements, Jones is remarkably humble. Relaxing at home in San Francisco in advance of a Dublin visit, he is courteous, modest and above all passionate about his craft.
"I'm 65-years-old now and the great thing is that there are so many talented younger musicians to jam with, like The Roots and Jim James. I'm having great days here,” he beams.
Booker is currently working with the experimental hip-hop maestro on his next project.
"I'm very excited about working with The Roots,” he says. "We recorded 14 tracks in New York just three weeks ago and we had a great time. It's a different genre, there are vocals, so it's a nice departure for me.”
From his early r'n'b days Booker has been constantly evolving. It is interesting to learn that the venerated soulman was a frustrated rocker in the Stax years.
"I loved the "60s and adored The Rolling Stones,” he enthuses. "I wanted to do it too but we were pretty much known as an r'n'b group. Stax was an r'n'b company and I did enjoy my time there but it wasn't until I left that I was able to get with people like Stephen Stills, Neil Young and Bob Dylan and play rock.”
In fact Young guests on Potato Hole, Booker's Grammy-winning LP. The two musicians have worked frequently together over the years, Jones having toured the world with Shakey and backed him on his Are You Passionate album.
"Neil is not only a great musician but he's a great person,” says Booker. "He's curious, he's courageous and he's pretty tedious about his guitar sound. Being on tour with him and being in the studio is very inspiring. He's just a great spirit.”
The pair first crossed paths at the Bob Dylan 30th Anniversary Tribute Show in Madison Square Garden where the MGs were the house band.
"The Dylan show was wonderful,” Booker says. "The rehearsals were a lot of fun, too. I met a lot of great people: Neil Young, George Harrison and Sinéad O'Connor. We just had some great times in the studio that week and great times on stage – the audience was unbelieveable.
"I loved Sinéad. I was so sorry that the people didn't get to hear her sing that song, but she had to do what she had to do,” he adds, referring to the Pope-pic-ripping incident.
Although he is forever associated with his Hammond B3, Booker is also a formidable guitar player.
"It's been pretty inspiring and a great release for me to pick up the guitar again,” he says. "I started with the guitar as a boy and I just became known as a keyboard player because of "Green Onions' and the sessions at Stax.
"I have a Gibson J45 that I got from a used car salesman in the San Fernando valley in the late "70s. For some reason that model just fits my hand really well and it sounds so good.”
Booker's favourite player is Stephen Stills, who he backed on his eponymous album in 1970.
"He's just the best rock guitarist,” he affirms. "He's also a great acoustic guitarist. He's such a multi-talented person and he's got such a big heart.”
As with the guitar, Booker's love affair with the Hammond also began in his childhood.
"I started taking piano lessons when I was about 8 or 9 years old and paying for them with my paper route,” he remembers. "In the dining room of my piano teacher's house there was a beautiful wooden case. I thought it was a case for china or silver so I asked her about it. She opened it up and it was the Hammond B3 organ. She played a few notes and it changed my life! That rich warm sound, I just knew that's what I wanted to play.
"I have stayed loyal to the Hammond,” he continues. "In my studio I have a C-2 and it still has the plastic on it. I haven't opened it up yet! I feel like an adulterer! I have been through the manual but I still haven't touched it (laughs).”
An accomplished multi-instrumentalist, he has also embraced technology's role in the songwriting process; he uses the software Sibelius and Music Pad Pro (a tablet-based platform for viewing and composing music) regularly.
"When I first went to Hollywood and I was writing for an orchestra, I had to sit at a big table and write every bass clef, every treble clef, every key signature and every time signature for the strings, horns, brass, everything!' he exclaims. "It would take me hours and my hand would get so tired. Then I would have to take the score in, and the copyist would transcribe it and the session would be the next day. Using Sibelious I push a button and I am ready to go. I have lived in both worlds and this is such a convenience.
"I used Music Pad Pro on Potato Hole because it has a footswitch. Some of the songs were quite long and it was impossible to get 13 or 14 physical pages in front of the organ.”
Given so many successes does Booker have any career highlights?
"Recording "Green Onions' unexpectedly one Sunday afternoon when I was just in the studio to do a session,” he laughs. "We just came out with this instrumental song that was so odd and unique and we loved it so much.”
And they were not alone.