Pinch me I gotta be dreaming – and dreaming is free. And I ain’t just spittin’ out clichés – today and tomorrow Manhattan and Brooklyn each get treated to free outdoor Booker T & the MG’s shows. Not only will you be treated to a performance by three-fourths of the original band (everyone but drummer Al Jackson – who was murdered by a burglar in 1975), but you also get the supremely soulful vocal stylings of Sharon Jones as well.

The lovely and talented Ms. Sharon Jones is the key to my forecast for these gigs and why you should see them. Anyone who’s witnessed the MG’s reunion gigs in the last decade or so is aware that, while they’re still masters, they’ve collectively drifted towards a more contemporary beer commercial blues bar band approach to their older material. But, anyone who knows about the recent success of Jones and the Dap Kings, and even phenomenon of Amy Winehouse, knows that playing the soul from a rougher groovier late-1960s approach is becoming quite the vogue. Typically more likely to rebel against fashion than be its champion, I gotta admit that this pop cultural movement is just the shot in the arm that music could use right now. And, in the terms of the MG’s, who helped invent the sound, it can only help lead ‘em back towards the best elements of their sound.

Booker T and the MG’s are not one of my favorite instrumental bands of all time because they were the most musically sophisticated, ambitious, or creative. But they continue to be both the DJ and dancer’s best friend because the groove is always number one, a simple melody is always number two, and both are approached with cool streetwise economy, impeccable taste, and plenty of soul. Though their kiss could transform even the ugliest pop radio toad into a prince of a tune, after their first and biggest hit, “Green Onions,” they began honing their skills as composers and arrangers, spitting out some of the finest instrumentals in popular music during their last five years together – from iron-clad tanks like my personal favorite, “Hip Hug-Her” to “Time is Tight” to “Melting Pot.” Additionally, the distinctive style of each instrumentalist informed the way musicians around the world, across a number of genres, have approached their instruments from the 1960s to the present: Al Jackson and Donald Duck Dunn’s rock solid, heavy, machine-like thud, Steve Cropper’s slippery slide-chording, hard chopping rhythm, and ice-chilled solos, and Booker T’s swirl, vibration, and finger-lickin’ runs. And, I ask you, can you name a combination of four more righteous cats?

Since Booker T and the MG’s were initially brought together as the Stax/Volt house band, and continued that role in various configurations into the 1960s, with members co-pinning some of the labels biggest and best hits, many would argue that their strongsuit is in the role of accompanist. Another fine reason to commute all the way down to Battery Park City is not only the group’s mastery of the art of the instrumental, but that their subtle but muscular backup touch, always complimentary to the primary vocal melody and the key ingredient to the Stax sound, should be on display today when they back Sharon Jones.

If there’s a time to see Booker T. Jones, Steve Cropper, and Donald Duck Dunn together the time is now,… and time is tight.

* Booker T & the MG’s with Sharon Jones tonight in Rockefeller Park details, map, and directions

* Booker T & the MG’s tomorrow at BAM at Metrotecth details, map, and directions