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."[1] Originally a sextet, the Memphis Horns gradually slimmed down to a duo, Wayne Jackson on trumpet and Andrew Love on tenor saxophone.
The Memphis Horns appeared on nearly every recording for Stax that included a horn section — with Isaac Hayes, Otis Redding, Rufus Thomas, Sam and Dave and others — as well as on other releases, including The Doobie Brothers' What Were Once Vices Are Now Habits and U2's Rattle and Hum, as well as a few solo records.
In the Seventies, they recorded with Al Green, Neil Diamond, Elvis Presley, and Stephen Stills. They toured with Stills in 1971. In the Eighties, they played behind Sting and Peter Gabriel.
In the 1980s and '90s Wayne and Andrew worked extensively with the blues outfit, The Robert Cray Band. They provided their trademark funky/soul horns backing to five of the band's albums: Strong Persuader (1986); Don't Be Afraid of the Dark (1988); Midnight Stroll (1990); I Was Warned (1992); Sweet Potato Pie (1997).
In 1992, they released their own album Flame Out, produced by fellow Stax alumnus Terry Manning.
Following the retirement of Andrew Love, Wayne Jackson and another musician who had been working with Memphis Horns, Tom McGinley, continued to record on projects such as Neil Young's "Prairie Wind" (2005).
In 2007, Wayne Jackson reunited with former longtime member Jack Hale, reforming The Memphis Horns (also including McGinley) in order to join a supergroup of musical legends backing singer-songwriter Andrew Jon Thomson on his "All Star Superband" multi-album project.
In 2008, this line-up of Memphis Horns played on some songs on the Raconteurs record, Consolers of the Lonely.
Also in 2008, Memphis Horns were inducted into the Musicians' Hall of Fame [2] and recorded with Jack White (White Stripes, the Raconteurs) and Alicia Keys on the song "Another Way to Die," for the 22nd James Bond movie, Quantum of Solace.
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