Charles "Skip" Pitts - Guitar/Vocals
Willie "Too Big" Hall - Drums
George Sluppick - Drums
Ben Cauley - Trumpet/Vocals
Scott Bomar - Bass
Marc Franklin - Trumpet
Derrick Williams - Tenor Sax
Kirk Smothers - Barritone Sax/Flute
Jim Spake - Tenor and Barritone Sax
Hector Diaz - Percussion
Archie "Hubbie" Turner
Marvell Thomas - Keyboards
Ronnie Williams- Keyboards
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THE BO-KEYS featured in the film SOUL MEN and on the soundtrack available NOW on STAX RECORDS.
CLICK HERE TO PURCHASE ON iTUNES
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WILLIAM BELL with The Bo-Keys Ponderosa Stomp 7
WILLIE TEE with the Bo-Keys McCarren Pool Brooklyn, NY
The Bo-Keys featuring Ben Cauley Ponderosa Stomp 7
The Bo-Keys. WEVL Blues on the Bluff 2007
Footage from the record release party for the Royal Sessions. The Blue Monkey Memphis, TN 2004.
Skip Pitts playing with The Midnight Movers on a tour in Europe in the 60s.
HARVEY SCALES on CHIC A GO GO !
Influences
Booker T and the MGS
David Porter and Issac Hayes
The Bar-Kays
Willie Mitchell
Stax Records
Rufus Thomas
Eddie Floyd
William Bell
Hi Records
Memphix Records
Al Kapone
3 Six Mafia
Gangster Pat
Eightball and MJG
Miles Davis
Bobby Wommack
Quincy Jones
The Bo-Keys don't simply replay the Memphis instrumental tradition –
they deliver a hard-hitting and authentic take on the city's original
soul-stew sound. A devotee of Stax instrumental groups like the
Mar-Keys and Booker T. & the MGs, bandleader and bassist Scott Bomar
formed the Bo-Keys as an homage to the quintessential Memphis sound –
yet he has both feet firmly planted in the 21st Century.
Their story goes back to 1998, when Bomar was asked to put together a
band to back Stax sensation Sir Mack Rice. The idea for a soul-jazz
combo was born, but it took Bomar a few more years to assemble the
perfect line-up for the Bo-Keys.
A chance meeting between Bomar and guitarist Charles 'Skip' Pitts – at
Memphis' Stax Music Academy, where both were teaching at-risk youth –
led to the current incarnation of the Bo-Keys. Isaac Hayes' right hand
man (that's Skip's wah-wah you hear on the intro to "Theme From
Shaft"), Pitts also lent his unforgettable grooves to Rufus Thomas'
"Do The Funky Chicken", the Soul Children's "I'll Be the Other Woman",
The Isley Brothers' "It's Your Thing" and Gene Chandler's "Rainbow
'65."
Trumpeter and vocalist Ben Cauley is truly a soul legend. Ben is a
founding member of the original Bar-Kays and the only surviving member
of the fatal crash in Madison, WI which took the lives of his band
mates and Otis Redding. Ben has played on many sessions in Memphis
and Muscle Shoals with everyone from Jerry Lee Lewis to The Doobie
Brothers.
Keyboardist Archie "Hubie" Turner is a member of the highly esteemed
Hi Rhythm Section. As a session player at Willie Mitchell's Royal
Studio, "Hubie" has played on countless classics by Al Green, Ann
Peebles and Syl Johnson. Archie is also a member of many groups whose
rare Memphis 45's are sought after by soul/funk DJ such as The
Pac-Keys, The Martinis and Black Rock.
Trumpeter Marc Franklin, tenor sax man Derrick Williams and baritone sax
player Kirk Smothers are, like Bomar, young players on the Memphis
scene. Over the last decade, these men have anchored some mighty
horn sections, recording and performing live with such legends as
Rufus Thomas, Ike Turner, Bobby "Blue" Bland, and Al Green. With an
energy and raw talent that's reminiscent of the Memphis Horns,
Franklin, Smothers and Williams are living proof that Memphis music is
alive and well.
Drummer George Sluppick is the newest addition to the group.
Originally from Memphis, George has played his funky and distinctive
Memphis meets New Orleans with a twist of Boogaloo beat in the studio
and on the road with Albert King, Robert Walker's 20th Congress,
Melvin Sparks and most recently JJ Grey and MOFRO.
Bomar's concept was for an updated version of the incendiary Memphis
sound embodied by players like Skip Pitts and Ben Cauley. Not only did
he capture that sound, he recruited the original musicians who
inspired him in the beginning. And now Bomar's vision was fulfilled:
in spring 2003, the Bo-Keys headed into Willie Mitchell's Royal Studio
to record their debut album, The Royal Sessions, which was met with critical acclaim, including praise from NPR who continue to play their tunes on air.
The group also performed the score for the Academy Award winning film, Hustle and Flow, performed the song, "Kick It" for the Paramount/Nickelodeon animated feature, Barnyard and is featured on camera and on the soundtrack of the film, Soul Men, staring Samuel L. Jackson, Bernie Mack and Issac Hayes.
It's the sound of Memphis now– familiar, fresh, and unquestionably
fantastic, the Bo-Keys.
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