I don't believe that I've written very much about the engine that drove the great Memphis label known as Stax-Volt, so I'll correct that today. Booker T. and the M.G.s, composed of Steve Cropper on guitar, Donald "Duck" Dunn on bass, Al Jackson on drums, and Booker T. Jones on organ, were for a time the most important band in America. Their music, based on principles of space, timing and less being more, may have had the longest-lasting influence of any sixties-based group; it can still be clearly heard in rock and r&b records today. And when they toured Europe in 1967, they planted seeds that bloomed there for years (they were a major influence on Bryan Ferry, Pete Townshend and many others). Unlike the Funk Brothers, which featured James Jamerson, the most virtuosic bassist in the history of rock or r&b, they were not built around a star player; rather it was the team concept that made their sound. Of course this requires another type of virtuosity - the ability to groove - and they had a ton of that (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_bpS-cOBK6Q). The highest compliment I can think of for them? I'm not sure that any band has ever sent more people onto dance floors.