Russ: If you like saxophone stuff as I do, you’re in for a treat. I’d like to present a little synopsis about sax players that were big in the field of Pop Music or Rock n Roll – from the early 1950s to the end of the 70s.
Each of these musicians will have recorded at least one Signature Sax Solo or tune, and their creative musical passages are etched in our memories.
Lots of information on each of these artists can be found elsewhere, but here are some of their distinctive sounds for your listening pleasure.
Included (in order by first name) are:
Bill Justis, Boots Randolph, Clarence Clemons, Clifford Scott, Danny Flores, David “Fathead” Newman, Don Wilkerson, Earl Bostic, Gene Barge, Grady Gains, Herb Hardesty, Jesse Powell, Jimmy Forrest, Joey D’Ambrosia, Junior Walker, Justin Gordon, King Curtis, Lee Allen, Noble “Thin Man” Watts, Paul Desmond, Phil Woods, Plas Johnson, Raphael Ravenscroft, Red Prysock, Rusty Bryant, Rudy Pompilli,
Sam Butera, Sil Austin, Stan Getz, Steve Douglas, Steve Gregory.
Sorry if I’ve missed one of your favourites. Let me know. In order by date of birth…
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1912-1965 / from Oklahoma / played with Lionel Hampton
Earl Bostic
Flamingo / 1951
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Harlem Nocturn / 1951
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Red Sails In The Sunset / 1951
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1917-1988 / California USA / played the twin saxes with Billy Vaughn
Justin Gordon
Billy Vaughn – Sail Along Silvery Moon /
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1920-1980 / Missouri / played with Duke Ellington
Jimmy Forrest
Night Train / 1951
— / played with Bill Haley & His Comets
Joey D’Ambrosia
Bill Haley and His Comets – Shake Rattle and Roll / 1954
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1924-1976 / Pennsylvania USA / played with Bill Haley & His Comets
Rudy Pompilli
Bill Haley and His Comets – Rudy’s Rock / 1956
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1924-1977 / San Francisco / played with the Dave Brubeck Quartet
Brubeck, Paul Desmond
Dave Brubeck Quartet – “Take Five” / 1961
1924 — / played with Louis Armstrong, Dizzy Gillespie, The Cadillacs
Jesse Powell
The Bobbettes – Mr. Lee / 1957
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1925 / Louisiana USA / played with Fats Domino, Dave Bartholemew’s Band
Herb Hardesty
Fats Domino – “Blue Monday” / 1955
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Fats Domino – “I’m Walkin” / 1955
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1926-1982 / Alabama USA / arranged music for Sun artists Jerry Lee Lewis, Roy Orbison, Johnny Cash and Charlie Rich, who discovered him
Bill Justis
Raunchy / 1957
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1926 — / Virginia, USA / played with Fats Domino, B Diddley, LaVern Baker, Ray Charles among others.
Gene Barge
The Church Street Five – A Night With Daddy “G” / pt 1 & 2 / 1961 /
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1926-1993 / North Carolina USA / played with Tiny Bradshaw Band
Red Prysock
“Hand Clappin’” 1955
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1926-2004 / Florida / played with Lionel Hampton
Noble “Thin Man” Watts
This man was considered “one of the most incendiary fire-breathing tenor sax honkers” of the 1950s
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Hard Times (The Slop) by Noble “Thin-Man” Watts / 1957 / used the Flutter-tongue technique /
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1927-1991 / Pennsylvania / played with Woody Herman
Stan Getz
Stan Getz & Charlie Byrd – “Desafinado” / 1963
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“Girl From Ipanema” w/ Astrud Gilberto / 1963
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1927-1994 / New Orleans / played with Dave Bartholemew, Fats Domino, Little Richard
Lee Allen
Fats Domino – “I Can’t Go On” / 1955
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Lee Allen – “Walkin’ With Mr. Lee” / 1958
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Little Richard – Lucille / It may not be Lee Allen miming the sax solo in this video, but is sure is him on the recorded track
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1927-2007 / Kentucky / played with Roy Orbison, and many others
Boots Randolph
“Yackety Sax” / 1958
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1927-2009 New Orleans Tommy Dorsey, Louis Prima
Sam Butera
Keely Smith & Louis Prima / with Sam Butera & The Witnesses / “Just A Gigalo/I Ain’t Got Nobody” / 1956
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1928-1993 / Texas / played with Lionel Hampton, Bill Doggett
Bill Doggett / “Honky Tonk part 2” / 1956
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1929-2001 / Florida / played with Roy Eldridge
Sil Austin
“Slow Walk” / 1957
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1929-2006 / California / played with The Champs
Danny Flores
Tequila / 1959
1929 — / West Virginia USA / played with Tiny Grimes and Stomp Gordon
Rusty Bryant
Rusty Bryant & The Carolyn Club Band – All Night Long / Pt 1 & 2 /
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1931 — / Louisiana USA / played with Peggy Lee, Nat King Cole and many more
Plas Johnson
Henry Mancini – “The Pink Panther” / 1964
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1931 — / Massachusetts / played with Billy Joel, and with many jazz artists
Phil Woods
Billy Joel – “Just The Way You Are” / 1977
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1931-1995 / Michigan / played with The Rhythm Rockers
Junior Walker
Jr. Walker & The All-Stars – Shotgun / 1965
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Jr. Walker & The All-Stars – How Sweet It Is To Be Loved By You / 1966
1932-1986 / Los Angeles USA / played with Amos Milburn, Ray Charles
Don Wilkerson
Ray Charles – I Got A Woman / 1954
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Ray Charles – This Little Girl Of Mine / 1955
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Ray Charles – Hallelujah I Love Her So / 1956
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1933-2009 / Texas / played with Ray Charles
David “Fathead” Newman
Ray Charles – “Unchain My Heart” / 1961
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1934-1971 / Texas / played with Lionel Hampton, The Coasters
King Curtis
The Coasters – “Yakety Yak” / 1958
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King Curtis – “Soul Serenade” / 1964
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1934 — / Texas USA / played with Little Willy John, Sam Cooke, James Brown, Ray Charles, Little Richard
Grady Gains
Little Richard – Keep A-Knockin’ / 1957
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1938-1993 / California USA / session saxophonist with the Wrecking Crew, played with the Beach Boys, Jan & Dean, Duane Eddy, the Ventures, to name a few.
Steve Douglas
Duane Eddy – Forty Miles Of Bad Road / 1959
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Duane Eddy – Peter Gunn / 1959
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1942-2011 / Virginia, USA / played with Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band
Clarence Clemons & Bruce Springsteen
You’re A Friend Of Mind / Duet with Jackson Browne
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1942 / Suffolk, UK / played with Pink Floyd
Dick Perry
Pink Floyd – “Money” / 1972
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Pink Floyd – “Us And Them” / 1972
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1945 / London, UK / played with George Michael
Steve Gregory
George Michael and Wham – “Careless Whisper” / 1984
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“The Sax Guy” (this is a joke)
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1954-2014 / Stoke-On-Trent, UK
Raphael Ravenscroft
Gerry Rafferty – “Baker Street” / 1975
–o–
Sources: http://tamingthesaxophone.com/blues-saxophone
plus some of our loyal and very supportive followers, per comments below…
Hi Garry You got most of them but you should definitely have included Steve Douglas because of his huge body of work with Phil Spector There are a few others like Clarence Clemons who worked for one good artist but Steve Douglas should definitely be on your list. Best wishes Tony
As much as I love Rudy”s sax it was Joey Ambrose on ‘Shake Rattle & Roll
You missed Jim Horn. He was (at least for a time) the sax player in the Duane Eddy band ‘The Rebels’ and played on many of his records. Steve Douglas was, however, the sax player on ‘Have Guitar Will Travel’, Duane’s first album. Those early Duane Eddy records on the Jamie label were produced by Lee Hazelwood and recorded in Phoenix using mostly local musicians like Al Casey, Donnie Owens, Larry Knectel, and Buddy Wheller. So that raised the question for me of who really played that solo?
I think Jim Horn, not Steve Douglas, is the sax player on ‘Forty Miles Of Bad Road’. I can’t verify which but the copyright date on the tune is 1959 by Duane Eddy & Al Casey and I believe it was on Duane’s fourth album ‘$1,000,000 Worth Of Twang’. Jim Horn had replaced Steve Douglas in the Rebels by the third album. Unfortunately, my copy of ‘$1,000,000’ seems to have vanished from my collection so I can’t check the album credits or the catalog numbers. Having said that, Lee Hazelwood didn’t necessarily release songs in the order they were recorded.
I do still have several original releases of Duane Eddy albums including ‘The Twangs The Thang’ and a rarity on the Canadian Reo label called ‘Twangy Guitar’ which includes 8 tracks from the first album plus four more from a couple of unknowns named Donnie Owens and Neil Sedaka. I think that probably came about because Jamie Records used Reo in Canada to distribute.
Getting back to Jim Horn, he went on to play woodwinds with many different artists, most notably John Denver (eg. ‘The Wildlife Concert’). His allmusic credits are impressive.
Hi Les
I am so pleased to see a lot of great feedback on this post (which was Gary’s idea, by the way).
I admit to not knowing a lot of the detail behind some of the great recording session saxophonists. For that reason, I attempted to limit content to just those of the 50s – 70s with a hit record, or the players who you can identify by a “signature” sax solo.
This is my reason for disregarding Jim Horn, rightly or wrongly. I have already added Steve Douglas.
– Russ
It’s a great list, but there are a number of players who made important contributions that have not been included. You can find a many of them here:
http://www.saxontheweb.net/Rock_n_Roll/RockSax02.html
Assume you may have seen this already but just in case, an invaluable resource as to who played sax on Top 40 hits in North America and England from 1955-to date is John Laughter’s.
http://cafesaxophone.com/resources/top-40-saxophone-solos.10/
I was in the Royal Air Force back in ’52 when I first heard Earl Bostic’s ‘Flamingo’ on the American Forces Network programme ‘March of Dimes’ from Germany. I bought it as soon as I could ( only 78 those days) and played it endlessly in the billet. Since play it on the net.now. Great track.