Ben F. Branch (January 8, 1928 – August 27, 1987)Ben Branch, 59, Leader in Civil Rights, Business
''

Chicago Tribune The ''Chicago Tribune'' is an American daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Founded in 1847, it was formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper", a slogan from which its once integrated WGN (AM), WGN radio and ...

'', August 28, 1987 was an American entrepreneur,

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...

tenor saxophonist, and

bandleader A bandleader is the leader of a music group such as a dance band, rock or pop band or jazz quartet. The term is most commonly used with a group that plays popular music as a small combo or a big band, such as one which plays jazz, blues, rhyth ...

. Although known as the last person

Martin Luther King Jr. Martin Luther King Jr. (born Michael King Jr.; January 15, 1929 – April 4, 1968) was an American Baptist minister, civil and political rights, civil rights activist and political philosopher who was a leader of the civil rights move ...

spoke to moments before his assassination in 1968, Branch had been a jazz bandleader for many years.

Musical career

With his brother, Thomas, on trumpet, Branch was a member of the horn section on

B.B. King Riley B. King (September 16, 1925 – May 14, 2015), known professionally as B.B. King, was an American blues guitarist, singer, songwriter, and record producer. He introduced a sophisticated style of soloing based on fluid string bending, sh ...

's first recordings for Bullet Records in 1949. "My very first recordings were for a company out of Nashville called Bullet, the Bullet Record Transcription company," King recalls. "I had horns that very first session. I had Phineas Newborn on piano; his father played drums, and his brother, Calvin, played guitar with me. I had Tuff Green on bass, Ben Branch on tenor sax, his brother, Thomas Branch, on trumpet, and a lady trombone player." Branch recorded with King again on an early 1952 Memphis recording with the B.B. King Orchestra with, among others,

Hank Crawford Bennie Ross "Hank" Crawford, Jr. (December 21, 1934 – January 29, 2009) was an American alto saxophonist, pianist, arranger and songwriter whose genres ranged from R&B, hard bop, jazz-funk, and soul jazz. Crawford was musical director for ...

and

Ike Turner Izear Luster "Ike" Turner Jr. (November 5, 1931 – December 12, 2007) was an American musician, bandleader, songwriter, record producer, and talent scout. An early pioneer of 1950s rock and roll, he is best known for his work in the 1960s and ...

. For much of the 1950s, Branch was the bandleader for the house band, the Largos, at Curry's Club in North Memphis, which provided a young

Isaac Hayes Isaac Lee Hayes Jr. (August 20, 1942 – August 10, 2008) was an American singer, songwriter, composer, and actor. He was one of the creative forces behind the Southern soul music label Stax Records in the 1960s, serving as an in-house songwr ...

with his first professional gigs. Future M.G.'s bassist

Donald "Duck" Dunn Donald "Duck" Dunn (November 24, 1941 – May 13, 2012) was an American bass guitarist, session musician, record producer, and songwriter. Dunn was notable for his 1960s recordings with Booker T. & the M.G.'s and as a session bassist for Stax R ...

was the first white member of Branch's big band, in the early 1960s. In 1982, Branch founded the American Music Hall of Fame, a private music school in

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

. A few months before his death, Branch appeared with his band at the 1987

Chicago Blues Festival The Chicago Blues Festival is an annual event held in June, that features three days of performances by top-tier blues musicians, both old favorites and the up-and-coming. It is hosted by the Chicago, Illinois, City of Chicago Department of Cu ...

backing

Rosco Gordon Rosco N. Gordon III (April 10, 1928 – July 11, 2002), sometimes billed as Roscoe Gordon, was an American blues singer, pianist, and songwriter. He is best known for his hit songs "Booted," (1952), " No More Doggin'" (1952), and " Just a Littl ...

. Branch also recorded with Brother Jack McDuff and

Etta James Jamesetta Hawkins (January 25, 1938 – January 20, 2012), known professionally as Etta James, was an American singer and songwriter. Starting her career in 1954, James frequently performed in Nashville's R&B clubs, collectively known as the Ch ...

Little Milton James Milton Campbell Jr. (September 7, 1934 – August 4, 2005), better known as Little Milton, was an American blues singer and guitarist, best known for his List of number-one R&B singles of 1965 (U.S.), number-one R&B single "We're Gonna Ma ...

, and

Phil Upchurch Phillip Upchurch (born July 19, 1941) is an American soul music, R&B, jazz and blues guitarist and bassist. Career Upchurch started his career working with the Kool Gents, the Dells, and the Spaniels, before going on to work with Curtis Mayfiel ...

. Branch held a degree in music from

Tennessee State University Tennessee State University (Tennessee State, Tenn State, or TSU) is a public historically black land-grant university in Nashville, Tennessee, United States. Founded in 1912, it is the only state-funded historically black university in Tennes ...

Business career

Branch was president of Doctor Branch Products Inc., founded in 1983, in Chicago, Illinois, the nation's only

black Black is a color that results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without chroma, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness.Eva Heller, ''P ...

-owned soft-drink manufacturing company. The company eventually signed a $355 million agreement with Kemmerer Bottling Group, bottler of several well-known soft drinks, including 7Up, to distribute the Doctor Branch Products beverages.

Operation Breadbasket

As musical director for the SCLC's Operation Breadbasket, he led the Breadbasket Orchestra and Choir that performed benefits for Dr.

and Operation/PUSH. Just moments before being

assassinated Assassination is the willful killing, by a sudden, secret, or planned attack, of a personespecially if prominent or important. It may be prompted by political, ideological, religious, financial, or military motives. Assassinations are orde ...

, Dr. King had just asked Branch to play a Negro spiritual, " Precious Lord, Take My Hand," at a rally that was to have been held two hours later. King's exact words (which were also the last words that he ever spoke) were "Ben, make sure you play 'Take My Hand, Precious Lord' in the meeting tonight. Play it real pretty."

Cannonball Adderley Julian Edwin "Cannonball" Adderley (September 15, 1928August 8, 1975) was an American jazz Alto saxophone, alto saxophonist of the hard bop era of the 1950s and 1960s. Adderley is perhaps best remembered by the general public for the 1966 soul ...

, in the introduction to the title track of his 1969 album '' Country Preacher'', makes a specific mention of Branch in recognition of his work as leader of the Operation Breadbasket Orchestra and Choir.Thomas, Lorenzo & Lynn Nielsen, Aldon ''Don't Deny My Name: words and music and the black intellectual tradition''
University of Michigan Press, 2008 While musical director of the Breadbasket Orchestra and Operation/PUSH, he arranged for gospel singer

Deleon Richards Deleon Richards (born September 18, 1976) is an American gospel singer. In the 28th Annual Grammy Awards, she was nominated for Best Soul Gospel Performance - Female. Richards reportedly had a long relationship with singer R. Kelly in the 1990s ...

to perform at the Chicago Stadium (later the United Center).

Discography

*1964: "Beach Bash"/"Bush Bash" - The Mar-Keys - Wayne Jackson (tp), Ben Branch (ts),

Floyd Newman Floyd Newman (August 17, 1931 – May 23, 2023) was an American saxophonist, session musician and bandleader. As a baritone sax player, he was long associated with Stax Records, and as a member of The Mar-Keys’ horn section and the Memphis Ho ...

(bars), Booker T. Jones (org),

Steve Cropper Steven Lee Cropper (born October 21, 1941), sometimes known as "The Colonel", is an American guitarist, songwriter and record producer. He was the guitarist of the Stax Records house band, Booker T. & the M.G.'s, which backed artists such as ...

(g),

(el-b), Al Jackson Jr. (d) (Stax 45-156) *1968: ''The Last Request'' - Operation Breadbasket Orchestra and Choir (Chess) *1969: '' Gin and Orange'' – Brother Jack McDuff

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Branch, Ben 1928 births 1987 deaths American bandleaders American jazz tenor saxophonists American male saxophonists American blues saxophonists American rhythm and blues musicians African-American saxophonists Assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. 20th-century American saxophonists American male jazz musicians 20th-century American male musicians