Hi Rhythm Section
Encyclopedia
The Hi Rhythm Section was most notably the house band
for hit soul
albums by several artists, including Al Green and Ann Peebles
, on Willie Mitchell's Hi Records
label in the 1970s. The band included the three Hodges brothers, Charles Hodges
(organ), Leroy Hodges
(bass), and Mabon "Teenie" Hodges (guitar), together with drummer
Howard Grimes
(or Stax Records
legend Al Jackson, Jr. on most singles until his death in 1975). Many recordings also used The Memphis Horns
- Wayne Jackson
and Andrew Love
- of Stax fame, usually with Willie's brother James Mitchell arranging. The recordings were made at producer
Willie Mitchell's Royal Recording Studio in Memphis, Tennessee
.
In the late 1960s, Mitchell and his band cut back on their touring schedule, to focus more on studio work. The Hi Rhythm Section's distinctive, warm, swirling soul sound was a major ingredient in the success of the label through the 1970s. Three members of the Hodges family played guitar, organ and bass for the group; their naturally closeknit, familial warmth brought a unique, intuitive groove to the group's sound. Along with contributions by other outstanding contemporary 1960s and 1970s Memphis studio sessions bands, such as the Mar-Keys
, the Packers, and Booker T. & the M.G.'s
, the Hi Rhythm Section helped define the sounds of the classic Memphis soul
music genre. By the mid-1970s, they had appeared on nearly 20 gold and platinum albums and countless chart hits for Al Green, Ann Peebles, Syl Johnson
, Otis Clay
and others.
The Hodges brothers, with Grimes, recorded the 1976 LP
On the Loose as Hi Rhythm, and 1994 saw the release of Perfect Gentlemen, featuring a fourth Hodges with the addition of Fred on keyboards as well as Percy Wiggins on vocals, issued on Velvet Recordings of America as by The Hodges Brothers. The band dissolved after Hi Records was sold in 1977, but regrouped as a touring band in 1979. Through the 1980s and early 1990s, the Hodges brothers toured with singers Albert Collins
and Otis Clay, and periodically regrouped with Grimes and Turner. Charles Hodges left in the 1990s, becoming an ordained church minister.
Other band members still played together, sometimes with Jackson's cousin Steve Potts
on percussion, providing their unique backdrops for Syl Johnson on the Delmark Records
CD Back in the Game (1994), and the Mitchell-produced Al Green comeback I Can't Stop and its follow-up for the Blue Note
label in 2003 and 2005. They also toured with Cat Power
, aka Chan Marshall, and featured on her 2006 album The Greatest.
The Royal Recording Studio in Memphis is now included on the same tour with the landmark studios of Stax
and Sun
.
House band
For the British band that existed from 1984-2001, see The House BandA house band is a group of musicians, often centrally organized by a band leader, who regularly play an establishment. It is widely used to refer both to the bands who work on entertainment programs on television or radio, and to...
for hit soul
Soul music
Soul music is a music genre originating in the United States combining elements of gospel music and rhythm and blues. According to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, soul is "music that arose out of the black experience in America through the transmutation of gospel and rhythm & blues into a form of...
albums by several artists, including Al Green and Ann Peebles
Ann Peebles
Ann Peebles is an African American singer-songwriter who gained celebrity for her Memphis soul albums of the 1970s on the Hi Records label...
, on Willie Mitchell's Hi Records
Hi Records
Hi Records was a Memphis soul and rockabilly label started in 1957 by singer Ray Harris, record store owner Joe Cuoghi, Bill Cantrell and Quinton Claunch , and three silent partners, including Cuoghi's lawyer, Nick Pesce....
label in the 1970s. The band included the three Hodges brothers, Charles Hodges
Charles Hodges
Charles Hodges is an American organist and songwriter. He is known for his high tone on the Hammond B3 organ, that appeared on records by Al Green, and other musicians signed to Hi Records....
(organ), Leroy Hodges
Leroy Hodges
Electric bass player Leroy "Flick" Hodges is a relatively unknown soul musician.Paired with either Booker T. & the MGs's drummer Al Jackson or Stax staff drummer Howard Grimes, Leroy and The Hodges Brothers were the backing musicians for Al Green, Ann Peebles and several other soul, gospel and...
(bass), and Mabon "Teenie" Hodges (guitar), together with drummer
Drummer
A drummer is a musician who is capable of playing drums, which includes but is not limited to a drum kit and accessory based hardware which includes an assortment of pedals and standing support mechanisms, marching percussion and/or any musical instrument that is struck within the context of a...
Howard Grimes
Howard Grimes
Howard Lee Grimes is an American drummer, best known as a member of the Hi Rhythm Section on records by Al Green, Ann Peebles and others in the 1970s....
(or Stax Records
Stax Records
Stax Records is an American record label, originally based in Memphis, Tennessee.Founded in 1957 as Satellite Records, the name Stax Records was adopted in 1961. The label was a major factor in the creation of the Southern soul and Memphis soul music styles, also releasing gospel, funk, jazz, and...
legend Al Jackson, Jr. on most singles until his death in 1975). Many recordings also used The Memphis Horns
The Memphis Horns
The Memphis Horns are an American horn section made famous by their many appearances on Stax Records. They have been called "arguably the greatest soul horn section ever." Originally a sextet, the Memphis Horns gradually slimmed down to a duo, Wayne Jackson on trumpet and Andrew Love on tenor...
- Wayne Jackson
Wayne Jackson
Wayne Jackson is best known for his tenure as the CEO of the Australian Football League 1996 to 2003.- SANFL :Jackson played 71 games for West Torrens Football Club in the South Australian National Football League from 1965 to 1971 ....
and Andrew Love
Andrew Love
Andrew Love is an American actor and voice actor who work for Funimation Entertainment, ADV Films, Seraphim Digital, and OkraTron 5000. He graduated from the University of Houston with a B.A. degree in acting and directing...
- of Stax fame, usually with Willie's brother James Mitchell arranging. The recordings were made at producer
Record producer
A record producer is an individual working within the music industry, whose job is to oversee and manage the recording of an artist's music...
Willie Mitchell's Royal Recording Studio in Memphis, Tennessee
Memphis, Tennessee
Memphis is a city in the southwestern corner of the U.S. state of Tennessee, and the county seat of Shelby County. The city is located on the 4th Chickasaw Bluff, south of the confluence of the Wolf and Mississippi rivers....
.
Band history
The Hodges brothers began playing together in their father's band, the Germantown Blue Dots, in the late 1950s and early 1960s. Leroy Hodges then formed his own band, The Impalas, and came into contact with Memphis trumpeter and bandleader Willie Mitchell. Younger brother Teenie Hodges, then an aspiring bass player, was unofficially adopted by Mitchell in the mid-1960s, and became a member of his regular band, soon joined by Charles and Leroy. Mitchell also recruited first Al Jackson, and later Howard Grimes, from the Stax house band, and used his stepson Archie Turner as an additional keyboard player.In the late 1960s, Mitchell and his band cut back on their touring schedule, to focus more on studio work. The Hi Rhythm Section's distinctive, warm, swirling soul sound was a major ingredient in the success of the label through the 1970s. Three members of the Hodges family played guitar, organ and bass for the group; their naturally closeknit, familial warmth brought a unique, intuitive groove to the group's sound. Along with contributions by other outstanding contemporary 1960s and 1970s Memphis studio sessions bands, such as the Mar-Keys
Mar-Keys
The Mar-Keys, formed in 1958, were an American studio session band for the Stax label from Memphis, Tennessee, in the 1960s. As the first house band for the label, their backing music formed the foundation for the early 1960s Stax sound.-Career:...
, the Packers, and Booker T. & the M.G.'s
Booker T. & the M.G.'s
Booker T. & the M.G.'s is an instrumental R&B band that was influential in shaping the sound of southern soul and Memphis soul. Original members of the group were Booker T. Jones , Steve Cropper , Lewie Steinberg , and Al Jackson, Jr....
, the Hi Rhythm Section helped define the sounds of the classic Memphis soul
Memphis soul
Memphis soul, also known as Memphis Sound, 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...
music genre. By the mid-1970s, they had appeared on nearly 20 gold and platinum albums and countless chart hits for Al Green, Ann Peebles, Syl Johnson
Syl Johnson
Syl Johnson is an American blues and soul singer and record producer.-Biography:Born Sylvester Thompson in Holly Springs, Mississippi, United States, Johnson sang and played with blues artists Magic Sam, Billy Boy Arnold, Junior Wells and Howlin' Wolf in the 1950s, before recording with Jimmy Reed...
, Otis Clay
Otis Clay
Otis Clay is an American R&B and soul singer, who started in gospel music.-Life and career:...
and others.
The Hodges brothers, with Grimes, recorded the 1976 LP
LP album
The LP, or long-playing microgroove record, is a format for phonograph records, an analog sound storage medium. Introduced by Columbia Records in 1948, it was soon adopted as a new standard by the entire record industry...
On the Loose as Hi Rhythm, and 1994 saw the release of Perfect Gentlemen, featuring a fourth Hodges with the addition of Fred on keyboards as well as Percy Wiggins on vocals, issued on Velvet Recordings of America as by The Hodges Brothers. The band dissolved after Hi Records was sold in 1977, but regrouped as a touring band in 1979. Through the 1980s and early 1990s, the Hodges brothers toured with singers Albert Collins
Albert Collins
Albert Collins was an American electric blues guitarist and singer whose recording career began in the 1960s in Houston and whose fame eventually took him to stages across the US, Europe, Japan and Australia...
and Otis Clay, and periodically regrouped with Grimes and Turner. Charles Hodges left in the 1990s, becoming an ordained church minister.
Other band members still played together, sometimes with Jackson's cousin Steve Potts
Steve Potts
Steven "Steve" Potts is an American born English football coach and former professional footballer. He played as a defender and is associated with his time spent at West Ham United...
on percussion, providing their unique backdrops for Syl Johnson on the Delmark Records
Delmark Records
Delmark Records is an independent American jazz and blues record label, based in Chicago since 1958. The label originated in St. Louis, Missouri, in 1953 when owner Bob Koester released a recording of the Windy City Six, a traditional jazz group, under the "Delmar" imprint.-History:Born in 1932 in...
CD Back in the Game (1994), and the Mitchell-produced Al Green comeback I Can't Stop and its follow-up for the Blue Note
Blue note
In jazz and blues, a blue note is a note sung or played at a slightly lower pitch than that of the major scale for expressive purposes. Typically the alteration is a semitone or less, but this varies among performers and genres. Country blues, in particular, features wide variations from the...
label in 2003 and 2005. They also toured with Cat Power
Cat Power
Charlyn Marie Marshall , also known as Chan Marshall or by her stage name Cat Power, is an American singer/songwriter and occasional actress and model. Cat Power was originally the name of Marshall's first band, but has come to refer to her musical projects with various backing bands...
, aka Chan Marshall, and featured on her 2006 album The Greatest.
The Royal Recording Studio in Memphis is now included on the same tour with the landmark studios of Stax
Stax Records
Stax Records is an American record label, originally based in Memphis, Tennessee.Founded in 1957 as Satellite Records, the name Stax Records was adopted in 1961. The label was a major factor in the creation of the Southern soul and Memphis soul music styles, also releasing gospel, funk, jazz, and...
and Sun
Sun Records
Sun Records is a record label founded in Memphis, Tennessee, starting operations on March 27, 1952.Founded by Sam Phillips, Sun Records was known for giving notable musicians such as Elvis Presley , Carl Perkins, Roy Orbison, and Johnny Cash...
.
Members
- Teenie HodgesTeenie HodgesMabon Lewis "Teenie" Hodges is a Memphis, Tennessee musician, best known for his work as rhythm and lead guitarist and songwriter on many of Al Green's popular soul hits, and those of other artists such as Ann Peebles and Syl Johnson, on Hi Records in the 1970s.Born in Memphis, "Teenie" began...
– guitar - Charles HodgesCharles HodgesCharles Hodges is an American organist and songwriter. He is known for his high tone on the Hammond B3 organ, that appeared on records by Al Green, and other musicians signed to Hi Records....
– organ - Leroy HodgesLeroy HodgesElectric bass player Leroy "Flick" Hodges is a relatively unknown soul musician.Paired with either Booker T. & the MGs's drummer Al Jackson or Stax staff drummer Howard Grimes, Leroy and The Hodges Brothers were the backing musicians for Al Green, Ann Peebles and several other soul, gospel and...
– bass - Howard GrimesHoward GrimesHoward Lee Grimes is an American drummer, best known as a member of the Hi Rhythm Section on records by Al Green, Ann Peebles and others in the 1970s....
– drums - Al Jackson, Jr. – drums
- Archie Turner - keyboards
Discography
- On the Loose (1976)
- Perfect Gentlemen (1994) – recorded as The Hodges Brothers