Million Dollar Quartet jam together

December 4 1956 — In seminal moment in rock ’n’ roll, Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins, Elvis Presley and Johnny Cash (pictured) get together in a by-chance jam session at the Sun Record Studios in Memphis, Tennessee. Perkins was at the studio for a recording session, Lewis brought in as pianist for the session and Cash to listen to the session. Presley, a former Sun artist now with RCA Victor, arrived to pay a casual visit and pronounced the playback of Perkins’s session to be good. He went into the studio and some time later the jam session begins. Jack Clement, engineering that day, figures “I think I’d be remiss not to record this”. Sam Phillips, the owner of Sun Records, calls the Memphis Press-Scimitar. Bob Johnson, its entertainment editor, arrives and his article appears the following day under the headline “Million Dollar Quartet” with the image by photographer George Pierce. Shelby Singleton buys Sun Records in 1969. He begins searching through more than 10,000 hours of tape of the Sun catalogue. He licenses much, if not all, of the Sun catalogue to the British Charly label for reissue in Europe. As a result of Singleton’s and Charly’s searches, a portion of the session comes to light. This is issued in Europe in 1981 as “The Million Dollar Quartet”, containing 17 tracks focusing on gospel/spiritual music. Several years later, additional material is discovered. “The Complete Million Dollar Session” is released in 1987. The session consist of 46 songs (including some repeats).