eMusic Review 0
A tragically unsung (and just plain tragic) hero of Memphis soul, sax-swinging hipster Charles “Packy” Axton helped put Satellite Records — soon to be re-named Stax — on the map with “Last Night,” the million-selling 1961 debut by his band the Mar-Keys. But within just a few short years of that landmark instrumental, and despite his familial ties to the label (which was co-founded by Packy’s uncle Jim Stewart and his mother Estelle Axton), Packy’s hard-partying ways resulted in his exile from the Stax kingdom. Forced to take his horn elsewhere, Packy recorded a whole mess of sides under a variety of monikers, before finally drinking himself to death in 1974.
The first-ever collection of Packy’s post-Stax work, Late Late Party compiles the intoxicating mid-’60s instrumental tracks he waxed as the leader of the Packers, the Pac-Keys and the Martinis (the latter of whom included members of the Hi Rhythm Section), as well as a handful of vocal sides where he and co-conspirator Johnny Keyes backed local soulsters Stacy Lane and L.H. & the Memphis Sounds. While those vocal cuts are primarily of archival value, the instrumentals all sound as vibrant and over-served as if they’d been recorded,… read more »
