tavis: i'm tavis smiley. tonight, a conversation with one of the all-time greats. song time, record producer,, and all around good guy booker t. he has worked with everyone, from willie nelson to john lee hooker. titled released a new cd "sound the alarm," and performs nine. one but two songs. , as this is our 10th anniversary we continue to introduce you to some of the folks who make this program possible every night. joining me now is michelle sergeant, who started years ago as an intern and now has been in charge of all the media strategy and public relations.

michelle, we have been blessed to have you on the program. >> it has been a wild ride. i want to thank everyone out there, including my mom and colleagues and professors who believed in me. thank you for giving me this opportunity and encouraging and enlightening us in the past 10 seasons. congratulations for your star on the hollywood walk of fame. you deserve it. tavis: i appreciate that. what is coming up tonight? >> a conversation with booker t, coming up now. >> there is a saying dr. king had. there is always the right time to do the right thing. i just try to live my life every day by doing the right thing. we know we are only halfway to completely eliminate hunger, and we have a lot to do. walmart committed $2 billion to fighting hunger in the u.s. as we work together, we can stamp hunger out. >> and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you.

♪ booker t is among the best. something of a child prodigy. he played the oboe, the saxophone, the trombone, the piano. his firstroduced million-selling single, the iconic "green onions." he has worked with everyone from willie nelson to ray charles to neil young. he has produced dozens of his own albums, including individual grammys and a lifetime grammy achievement award. his new cd is called "sound the alarm. go take a look at the clip. ♪ sound the alarm sound the line -- ♪

alarm ♪ ♪ ♪ start by asking, what are we sounding the alarm about? >> we are sending the alarm because i am hot. [laughter] tavis: but you said it so cool. >> thank you. tavis: this is wonderful collaborations. tell me about some of these collaborations. >> estelle from england, the

beautiful woman with a beautiful voice. >> she has a voice. hamilton, the southern soul singer. gary clark junior, the austin texas blues boy. tavis: you got them all. you called in some favors. speaking of calling in favors, i guess one of the reasons you can do that is that you have played with just about anybody who was everybody. so many collaborations? it is a beautiful thing, but why many collaborations? >> people bring out the best in me. tavis: you say it brings out the best in you. let me ask you another way. thatere a particular genre brings out the best in you? you can play the hammond b-3 behind anybody, but what kind of

music brings out the best in you? >> there is more than one genre. gospel music was the first. just around the corner was the blues. around the corner. i spent many hours there. then the classical music my mother played. as i grew up, i learned to love the latin, learned to love tito puente. that is why am hanging out with pancho sanchez. then there was hank williams coming over the airwaves from nashville, tennessee. of types of a lot music, and i love them feverishly. tavis: you just listed a number of genres. i am not so sure the hammond b-3 works with classical. is there a particular sound that this instrument does not work with? >> the first notes i ever heard on a hammond b-3 were bach, the well tempered clavier.

my teacher opened up the cover and started to play the well tempered clavier. that is what hooked me on the sound of the instrument, the way that sounded. yes, it is definitely a classical instrument. tavis: tell me about your teacher. >> she could sit as far away as we are with her little wanted -- which finger up was hitting the wrong note. she was an excellent teacher who cared about her students. thewas able to impart to me way to express myself on that hammond organ. tavis: this is a crazy question, but in the era you grew up in how much choice did you have to not be a musician? memphis, it still is, it was the place. >> i was extremely fortunate to live around the corner from a recording studio and to be chosen to have a paper route to make enough money to pay for the music read -- lessons.

i was one of the chosen few to have a job and to get to walk through the curtain at stax records was an amazing thing. to do at age 14. tavis: some of that discipline speaks to you. i do not know of many kids today at the age of 14 who would be disciplined enough, dutiful enough to work a paper route to earn money to take music lessons. maybe to buy some video games. why were you working so hard as a kid to spend your money on music lessons? >> i loved it. it was what i wanted to do. after school there was football, baseball, but also my practice time that i always fit in. i was at the right place at the right time and play baritone sax at a time when they needed a baritone sax player at the studio. it was my passion. it still is. i still practice every day. tavis: tell me about walking in to stax the first couple times

you win in the building. obviously you are one of the iconic artists on the label. tell me about the early days. >> my friend david porter obtained a hall pass and got me out of algebra class and told the teacher the band director wanted me to see him or whatever excuse he came up with. i borrowed the band director's car and we picked up a baritone layand i was taken over to on a song. that is me playing the baritone sax. that was the first time i got to the board. -- door. i was trying to get through the door for years. david porter. tavis: great guy. he so much of that isaac hayes. >> that was later. tavis: i am saying, for those who do not know the name david porter. you know isaac hayes, you know david porter. so many greats through the label. what was it like years later when you became a stax artist? >> there was a time of pleasurable moments and opportunity that was just

unbelievable. we were introduced to soul artists that just took us to the heights. otis redding just lifted us up with his inspiration. albert king, the way he played the blues lifted us up. made us play better. sam and dave on stage, being behind them on stage, not believing what i'm seeing before my eyes. this is a time of opportunity and inspiration. tavis: before i get a phone call, i should say david porter is more than isaac hayes. he is sam and dave. , david everybody stax porter had a hand in it. how did you process at that time motown? stax versus for folks who remember the era, motown had its brand and were out the gate first. when stax showed up it was a different day. >> we listened to motown. we did not compare. we tried to emulate songs.

at the same time we wanted to keep your individuality. we thought of ourselves as being these simple, funky musicians and them being the more sophisticated people is the way we thought of it. tavis: tommy about the booker t and the mg days. >> the days of the hammond organ and trying to emulate the organ charles or jimmy smith. those were my mentors, my inspirations. exciting times. tavis: i always believed jimmy smith is one of the best to ever touch the instrument. tell me more about his gift. >> the amazing thing about jimmy is he got better as he lived. he was amazing when he started, -- the older jimmy smith just unbelievable. tavis: i mentioned earlier you were a child prodigy and play

all these instruments. how did you end up settling, how did the hammond b-3 and up your signature instrument? >> as i said, i tried to play like my mother. my mother was a beautiful keyboard player. she played the piano and expressed so much feeling. i tried to imitate her. i would not call myself a prodigy. i was just a kid who worked hard. i taught myself the oboe and the clarinet because i love the sounds. i got my degree laying trombone. and other instrument ifo close to. when i really wanted to express myself i looked for this odd, unique instrument, the hammond b-3 organ. this thing that weighs 475 pounds and is completely unwieldy. but for me, it was the place i felt most comfortable. using her techniques, the way she taught me to move my fingers, and the way she taught come oute myself

through the instrument. i do not know a better way to express it. i was able to do that. at times when i needed to, with the hammond b-3 organ and the leslie speaker. >> --tavis: it is one thing to be trained, as you were. but at some point you put your own funk on it. even hear a record without knowing it is you and know it is you. a thing about your style. how would you define that style you created? your own thing? >> it is a combination of my gospel music roots in the church and my classical training and my love of the blues. i think it is a unique combination. i am sure other people have those influences, but being born in memphis, tennessee on the mississippi river, having made my living playing their, those particular elements created this

booker t jones style. the reason i love this instrument so much, the hammond b-3, is because long before i ever heard of ray charles, prior to jimmy smith, i am growing up in a pentecostal church. so i fall in love with it. i was choir director of two choirs for years of my pentecostal church in indiana. i fell in love with this instrument through the church. i mentioned that because you mentioned ray charles earlier. as did i, for that matter. ray had a moment in his career fore he was catching hell taking that instrument and taking that sound and secularizing it. >> absolutely. tavis: did you have a similar journey? how did you navigate learning this in the church and taking it to the streets? >> i want to say one thing about

pentecostal temple. methodist.d i would stand outside the pentecostal church and listen. [laughter] tavis: did you all hear that? if you want good music, check us out. >> this is the truth. but my teacher, my classical teacher was a cme organist there. to take this no-no music away from the spiritual environment. we were doing something we knew was not kosher, for lack of a better word. the -- herstand caught hell for doing this. pleasureought so much do such a large number of people, me included. the reason i wanted to become an organ player is because i heard ray charles play on quincy

jones's arrangement. i heard that sound and it struck me. that is what i want to do with my life. that is the sound i want to try to make. in going for that, that is what i gravitated to, the hammond m-3 organ at satellite records, which became stax records. that is how i ended up sitting at the instrument trying to sound like ray charles. every instrument speaks to us. has it's own voice. something about the sound of the organ and the way the keys resonate. how would you describe how the organ speaks to us? what does it say to us? what about the sound of it resonates with us? >> the differences you can try to make that thing singing. unlike a piano. when you strike a key, in a few seconds the song will die down. unless you strike it again. not true with the organ. once you strike the note it will stay with you until you either

make it louder or softer or let it go. it is a little like the human voice. you can put a human characteristic on it. tavis: that is a great description. [laughter] that is what it does. that is why i love it so much. fast forward. your first big hit, "green onions, and after that you still had the good sense and presence of mind to say, i still need more training. a lot of folks to get a million seller and are not going to nobody school at that point. they are on the road, making money, making records. you took the time to go to indiana. why do i raise that? graduate of indiana university. here a national television are two black men who have done fairly well who are products of the indiana educational system. so why did musical training at the institution? tavis: -- >> being true to

myself. i was fooling people. people thought i was good, but i knew i could not play the music i heard in my mind. i could not write it down. i was hearing symphonic sounds, hearing so much music that i was incapable of getting out. i knew i needed help. i had the money. routed $900 per my paper for tuition. i had already paid the tuition when i recorded "green onions." you puthe real story is your money down and could not get it back. that is why he went to bloomington. [laughter] i understand that. you saved $900? on a paper route? >> that is right. good for two semesters. are the most disciplined i heard in my life. >> a family tradition. my grandfather built a school with his own two hands in mississippi. shouldeved people

develop their minds, cultivate their minds. that is where our salvation really was, in generating mental health and education. my grandfather educated all his children, they all went to industrial.sissippi that was my tradition. tavis: how would you situate your bodythe rest of of work? this fits in how? of a 360s something for me. records, my stax genesis in the music business. this music, i think, is music that would have been made had stax not gone through some of their hiccups, i will call them. the changes that caused the company to falter because of disco and the 70's and because

in the 1980's rap and 1990's and because of the financial problems. to livehad been allowed all that time, this is the type of music they would be making. i can say that because i was one of the original people there. i think this is what it would have evolved to. i am very proud of this music. i had a great time making it. i am happy to present it on stax records. tavis: the best part of this conversation will be when i shut up and we get a chance to hear two songs from booker t in a moment. i will tell you what he is about the play. let me ask you quick -- since you mention all the different genres of music over the course of the year we have endured, from disco to pop to r&b and hip-hop. relevant?ou remained how have you not disappeared during all of that change? >> the truth is that i have done

some languishing during that period. at san francisco state university to read educate myself about how to record music. i studied digital is a cat san francisco for three years in order to bring myself up to speed. i walked into the studio with and soare --hans zimmer the screens and i did not know what they were doing. i said to myself, how can i produce record? i do not know what this new technology is. so i had to reeducate myself. that took a while. tavis: smart man. went back to school again. i love you, man. education is key in the booker t household. i love it. the new project is called "sound the alarm," with brilliant and wonderful and delicious collaborations. beyond that, a very special treat. booker t will play two songs. the first from his cd, called "

," than the classic "born under a bad sign." thank you for having this conversation. thanks for watching, and as always, keep the faith. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪

♪ ♪ ♪

♪ [applause] well i was born under a bad sign ♪ ♪ born under a bad sign ♪ i been down since i began to crawl ♪ ♪ if it wasn't for bad luck i would not have no luck at all ♪

hardluck and trouble my only friend ♪ ♪ been on my own ever since i was 10 ♪ ♪ born under a bad sign ♪ i've been down since i began to crawl ♪ ♪ if it wasn't for bad luck ♪ ♪ i wouldn't have no luck at all ♪ one in women -- wine and women is all i crave ♪ ♪ a big bad woman is going to carry me to my grave ♪ ♪ born under a bad sign down since i began to crawl ♪

iif it wasn't for bad luck wouldn't have no luck at all ♪ ♪ if it wasn't for bad luck i wouldn't have no luck at all ♪ ♪ [applause] what extent you. -- >> thank you. >> for more information on today's show visit tavis smiley at pbs.org. tavis: join me next time for a conversation with author rawn ofes about the desegregation

the u.s. military. that is next time. we will see you then. >> there is a saying that dr. king had that there is always the right time to do the right thing. i just try to live my life every day by doing the right thing. we know we are only halfway to completely eliminate hunger. we have a lot of work to do. walmart committed $2 billion to fighting hunger in the u.s. as we work together, we can stamp hunger out. >> and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. >>

tonight on quest -- from the time an embryo is three weeks old the heart never stops working to keep us alive. but if children are overweight, they double their risk of heart disease later in life. >> individuals who have obesity from childhood, have old blood vessels in their heart. >> heart disease kills more americans than any other cause of death -- more than cancer, car accidents or aids. on this quest special, meet a teenager fighting to lose weight. >> i really would like to get under 200 pounds. >> then, find out how the chances of surviving a heart attack depend on how fast you get to the operating table. >> there's an adage that we use in cardiology that "time is