It’s hard to keep up with someone as committed to Memphis music as David Less. First, there are his decades of writing for Rolling Stone, DownBeat, and others, or his tour de force from 2020, Memphis Mayhem, a deep history of the city’s music. Then there are the recording projects he oversees, as when Less handpicked some of today’s best young jazz players to create the 2024 album Playing in the Yard.
Clearly, Less regularly checks the pulse of Memphis music, always making connections between what’s going on now and what came before. That skill set in turn makes him the ideal person to curate one centerpiece of Overton Park Shell’s upcoming 90th anniversary celebrations, which run from September 10th to 13th, and include everything from Booker T. Jones (a ticketed event), to a 90th Birthday Picnic featuring the Memphis Youth Symphony Program, to a “Memphis Studio Superset” honoring the city’s great recording facilities. Right in the middle of that will be a revue that has occupied Less’ mind for months now, the “90th Shellebration: Sounds of the Shell (Nine Decades of Delight)” on Saturday, September 12th, at 7 p.m. To get a sense of what to expect from that ambitious presentation featuring 23 musicians, I spoke with Less about making it happen.
Memphis Flyer: What exactly have you set out to do with this “90th Shellebration” revue? What was your brief in creating this event?
David Less: Well, they asked me to represent the nine decades of the Shell, which of course is virtually impossible, but I’ve done the best I can. And so we go from The Pirates of Penzance all the way through the Levitt Shell era. And we do it Memphis style. I’ve got the very best musicians.
Including Gilbert and Sullivan’s The Pirates of Penzance may surprise some folks, but that was quite typical of productions at the Shell after it was built in 1936, wasn’t it? Such shows were billed as the Memphis Open Air Theater (MOAT).
We had to start with The Pirates of Penzance, because those were our grandparents. That was their music, and the crowds there at the time enjoyed that music. If we left that out, we wouldn’t be accurately reflecting what happened there. It wouldn’t be an anniversary, because it’s not just the Allman Brothers [to be represented by Al Gamble singing “Whipping Post”], or the ’60s Country Blues festivals [represented by Jimmy Crosthwait and Michael Graber], or Jimmie Lunceford and the big bands that played there. It’s all of it. If we didn’t cover the full spectrum of all the music that went on there, then we would be disingenuous. We’ve tried to present the full range of music that went on there to audiences that would have included our parents and our grandparents and our kids.
How perfect to have Opera Memphis perform the Gilbert and Sullivan section. And then the next segment evokes the big bands.
Yes, and Gary Topper helped me assemble a dynamite big band for the Jimmie Lunceford era, and Kelley Hurt will sing. But my real problem was the ’50s, because we can’t just ape Elvis. That would be stupid. So Will Sexton’s going to do “Little Sister” and “Baby, Let’s Play House,” and Amy LaVere’s gonna do [Johnny Cash’s] “Get Rhythm,” but in their own way. Then we have Jimmy and Michael representing the ’60s, which is perfect because Jimmy was the emcee at those blues festivals, and for the ’70s we have Amy singing Bonnie Raitt’s “Angel from Montgomery” and Jacob Church singing Little Feat’s “Dixie Chicken” — two artists who played the Shell in those years.
Finally, representing the Levitt Shell years, we have songs by Jason Isbell and Lake Street Dive. And then, we just have to end it in Memphis. We’ll feature the Staple Singers’ “Respect Yourself” with Chris Barnes taking Pops Staples’ part and Kelley Hurt taking Mavis Staples’ part. And then we’ll finish with “Take Me to the River,” with Chris Barnes on lead. Because for me, this is not just about the history of performances of the Shell, and it’s not the history of the concrete and steel. It’s the history of the community.
