During the summer when Concord hosted concerts celebrating the 50th Anniversary of Stax Records, there were inevitably some surprises. Audiences expected primo performances by folks like the (re-formed-for-the-occasion) Booker T. & The MGs, Eddie Floyd, William Bell and Mavis Staples and for the most part, they were not disappointed. Isaac Hayes, dealing with recent health challenges, did the best he could; newer Stax artists Angie Stone, Lalah Hathaway, N’Dambi and Soulive rose to the occasion. It was left to three ‘lesser’ known acts to really make the shows – in particular the Memphis event – super super soulful. The appropriately-named Soul Children were superlative and the Rance Allen Group showed why they’ve been fixtures on the gospel scene for decades.

While both groups had the Memphis crowd feeling the spirit, It was the diminutive Mable John who captivated each and everyone – both in Memphis and L.A. – with her storytellin’ realness. Reprising her one U.S. hit single, the 1966 Hayes & Porter-penned “Your Good Thing (Is About To End)” classic, Mable was ‘on,’ giving the audience the kind of earthy honesty that has always been the trademark of her solo recordings and her in-person performances…

Seeing Mable - a longtime friend going back to the early ‘70s when she came to Britain for the first time as the leader of Ray Charles’ Raelets, a stint she took on following her years with Stax Records – perform, then at a couple of film events in Hollywood connected with the Stax anniversary and most recently, reading her fine second novel, “Stay Out Of The Kitchen” (a follow up to 2006’s “Sanctified Blues,” penned with David Ritz) prompted me to go back and listen to her one-and-only Stax album – with the same title as her 2007-published book.

Originally conceived and created in by Roger Armstrong of Ace Records in the UK (where Mable has long been much revered among die hard R&B fans) in the early ‘90s, “Stay Out Of The Kitchen” is a 26-track virtual musical guide to Southern soul singin.’ You could move to virtually any cut to hear Mable in her element during the sessions she cut for Stax between 1966 and 1968, most produced by Isaac Hayes and David Porter. Check out any one of the sixteen previously unissued sides such as the John-penned “That’s What My Love Can Do,” a version of “I Love You More Than Words Can Say” (recorded before Otis Redding cut the song in ’67) or Mable’s tribute to her late brother, the ‘50s R&B star Little Willie John via “I Need Your Love So Bad.”

Listen to one of the seven tracks issued by Stax such as the Ashford & Simpson tune, “Running Out,” Mable’s ‘theme’ tune “Able Mable” (written during her early ‘60s years as the first female singer signed by Berry Gordy Jr. to his then-fledgling Tamla label) or the brilliant “Left Over Love” (a Hayes-Porter song also recorded by the likes of Judy Clay, Ruby Johnson and Carla Thomas, a trio of Stax soulstresses of the first order) – and hear Mable John testify with tell-it-like-it-is authenticity. “Don’t Get Caught” is stone-to-the-bone real, a logical follow-up to “Your Good Thing,” a true hidden gem, “I Taught You How,” another slice of life from a woman who has experienced life to its fullest and “The Man’s Too Busy,” a bluesy swnger.

Track-by-track, “Stay Out Of The Kitchen” is Memphis soul at its best and thankfully, Concord
has kept the album in its catalog: it’s a CD that deserves the attention of any self-respecting Stax music fan. Oh…and the book of the same name is cool reading too! Enjoy!

David Nathan
Aka the British Ambassador Of Soul
Owner, www.soulmusic.com, www.soulmusicstore.com, www.soulmusicglobal.com