In an era when many rock guitarists appeared to believe that the spoils would inevitably go to the fastest and flashiest, Steve Cropper showed generations of younger players the virtues of economy and concision.
Cropper, who has died aged 84, demonstrated in his early recordings as a member of the instrumental quartet Booker T and the MGs – notably their first hit, Green Onions – and in his backing work with singers such as Otis Redding and Wilson Pickett that a single chord, struck with exquisite timing, could say as much as the longest, loudest solo.
