PARTY LIKE IT'S 1956

It's a Big Jay McNeely Friday Night Honkin' Sax Special. Here's a bunch of stuff from the one guy that pretty much defines "honkin'". The photo above says it all. Basically, "Blow, baby, blow!!" I think I remember someone commenting here on another McNeely post in the past saying that they didn't like honkin' sax. Fine, they can go listen to Kenny G somewhere else. The rest of you guys can let 'er rip. Drink cheap beer and shake those ruffled tail feathers.

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Listen:
Big Jay McNeely - Nervous Man Nervous mp3 at Internet Archive
Big Jay McNeely - Psycho Serenade mp3 at Internet Archive
Big Jay McNeely - Wild Wig mp3 at Internet Archive
Big Jay McNeely - Insect Ball mp3 at Internet Archive
Big Jay McNeely - Just Crazy mp3 at Internet Archive
Big Jay McNeely - Jay's Frantic mp3 at Internet Archive
Big Jay McNeely - Mule Milk mp3 at Internet Archive
Big Jay McNeely - Whipped Cream mp3 at Internet Archive
Big Jay McNeely - Rock Candy mp3 at Internet Archive

NEED A NAME

This is cool. A minimal sax and drum combo. This is raw bare bones jazz funk no wave whatever. If I ever came across this in a subway, i spring for a buck and I know I'd be late for something. Wait for his moving in a circle thing, just past the one minute mark. Super smooth.

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Watch:
Sax and drum buskers at Union Square Station at Still Not Dead Yet

THE LIST NEVER SLEEPS

Chalmers, second from left, at a Etta James session, Fame Studio

Ten years ago, I would have heard "The Sidewinder" and not had the slightest clue about its origins. I probably wouldn't have even recognized the song. It might not even register how unusual it was for a song recorded at Fame Studios to be released on Chess Records and have liner notes by Jerry Wexler. But here it is and it's a nice reminder that if you taste test stuff you're not familiar with you can still learn about music, or anything really, no matter how much you've consumed over the years. I never set out to recognize a cover version recorded by some sax player named Charlie Chalmers. I never even sought out the original by Lee Morgan. I never made a point of learning about Fame Studio, that they were known mostly for the soul music recorded there, and that a large part of that music was released on Atlantic Records. And, shit, I've known Chess Records for ages (thank you Chuck Berry and Muddy Waters), but never imagined that Jerry Wexler, a journalist turned producer mainly affiliated with Atlantic Records, would write liner notes for an LP on Chess Records. Tomorrow I'm sure I'll learn that he did it all the time. But enough about me. Charlie Chalmers played sax.

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Listen:
Charles Chalmers - The Sidewinder mp3 at Groove Addict
Charles Chalmers - Velvet Soul mp3 at Groove Addict
Visit:
The Horn Arranging Secrets of Muscle Shoals, Aretha Hits at AL.com Lengthy interview with Chalmers

HONK AND GRIND, SPILL YOUR HAMMS

A couple more here from Big Jay McNeely, one of the finest honkers to ever pick up a saxophone. There are more technically proficient sax players, more innovative and so forth, but McNeely just flat out wailed. Check out the songs on this post for some examples of that. He also excelled at strip tease type instrumentals. Here's a couple of them and surprisingly "Strip Tease Swing" isn't even the best of the two. Though I've only heard a fraction of McNeely's output, I can't imagine anything surpassing his cover of "Night Train" for backing the bump and grind. Amazing that it was recorded in 1984, right about when metal invaded the strip clubs (as I've been told...). What a damn trouper, keeping that tassle twirlin' torch lit. Fuck that "Cherry Pie" shit.

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Listen:
Big Jay McNeely - Strip Tease Swing mp3 at Internet Archive
Big Jay McNeely - Night Train mp3 at Internet Archive
Big Jay McNeely - Four more songs on this old post. This is the crazy shit.

DON'T BOGART THAT ABALONE

There's no doubt that most of us would have liked to see what it was like in a different era and a different music scene, in a different environment. Not necessarily permanently, just to test the waters and see what it was like. It might be a rock 'n' roll era. The fifties in Memphis, or Chicago? The sixties in Detroit or Memphis? London in the mid to late sixties? San Francisco? Bakersfield in the early sixties? Shit, Lagos, Nigeria in the early seventies? Man, I'd love to have been in any of those places back in the day(s). Another time travel fantasy for me is to have been in Southern California in the days before rock 'n' roll, before surf music, before Gidget, before the surf craze that followed, before the Beach Boys, before all that shit. When the beaches were less crowded, and you could catch dinner in the ocean. When lobster and abalone were literally free. Feast on that while feeling the burn of a day in the sun, and the powdery skin from forgetting to take a post-dip shower. Pop a few cool ones, and hang out, or head out, whatever. No hurray. Get anywhere you need to go on the PCH. Stan Getz is the soundtrack.

I love hearing his stuff when I get home from the beach. Any Getz is good for that. Here's some random stuff I was able to find. If you don't have any of his stuff, there's a handful of multi-CD sets of his early stuff that are budget priced, usually containing four or five LPs. Don't OD on the bossa nova. Great as it is, he was much more than that.

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Listen:
Stan Getz and Zoot Sims - Five Brothers mp3 at Pixie Radio 1949
Stan Getz - Lullaby of Birdland mp3 at Tumblr
Stan Getz - Samba Triste mp3 at Tumblr
Stan Getz - Serenade In Blue mp3 at Tumblr
Stan Getz - I Remember Clifford mp3 at maelgaudry (?)
Stan Getz - O Grande Amor mp3 at Tumblr

BIG JAY CHECKED OUT

I should have known something was up. All of a sudden a Big Jay McNeely post was getting all sorts of hits. The post was from a year and a half ago, when he was still alive. Then it hit me, the reason for the hits. Sure as shit, McNeely had passed, back in September. Why the fuck didn't I hear about it? McNeely was the epitome of honking r&b sax. Crazy, wild and everything in between. He died and I didn't hear a peep about it. What a sorry fucking world this is.

Because the links on the old post are dead, here's some more of his stuff so you can get an idea of how he blew that thing. Dig the song titles. Just as crazy as he looks in that photo above. Me? I feel like that screaming dude in the photo every time I hear him. Long live the honk.

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Listen:
Big Jay McNeely - Jay's Frantic mp3 at Internet Archive
Big Jay McNeely - Psycho Serenade mp3 at Internet Archive
Big Jay McNeely - Just Crazy mp3 at Internet Archive
Big Jay McNeely - Wild Wig mp3 at Internet Archive
Big Jay McNeely - Mule Milk mp3 at Internet Archive

NOT FIGHTING IT

I wasn't in the mood for Lou Donaldson. Wasn't thinking jazz. Then I heard "The Squirrel". Fine. Okay, perfect. It's raining out, nowhere to go. Lou fucking Donaldson it is. "The Squirrel" swings. Dig the percussion. Shit, here come the beatniks.

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Listen:
Lou Donaldson - The Squirrel mp3 at Beware of the Blog 1960
Lou Donaldson - Blues Walk mp3 at ATumblr (?) 1958
Lou Donaldson - Reverend Moses mp3 at Pixie Radio 1967

TOTAL GO MAN GO

Big Jay McNeely was the shit, the epitome of a honker, just pure unadulterated blasts. Providing exactly what the songs needed. Distilled down to the basics and there for a reason, to take a song to the next rambunctious level. The intent was clear. You just have to see a handful of his titles to see where he was coming from. "Nervous Man Nervous", "Psycho Serenade", "Wild Wig", "Insect Ball", "Just Crazy", "Jay's Frantic". Fuck yeah, he's a crazy sax man.

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Listen:
Big Jay McNeely - Nervous Man Nervous mp3 at Internet Archive
Big Jay McNeely - Psycho Serenade mp3 at Internet Archive
Big Jay McNeely - Wild Wig mp3 at Internet Archive
Big Jay McNeely - Insect Ball mp3 at Internet Archive
Big Jay McNeely - Just Crazy mp3 at Internet Archive
Big Jay McNeely - Jay's Frantic mp3 at Internet Archive

BIG JAY MCNEELY IS STILL HERE

Last night I was listening to a show on the jazz station, three hours of jump blues and rhythm and blues. Yeah, it's that kind of jazz station, a little bit of everything that has at least a thread of jazz in it. Which is fine when it comes to jump blues and rhythm and blues, not quite as endearing when it's blues bordering on Blueshammer (wait for it and cringe). The station was in the middle of a pledge break, too much jibba jabba, so I stepped outside for a smoke and a few pages of Steinbeck. When I came back in, Big Mama Thornton's "Hound Dog" was playing. Shit howdy, after a day at the beach, a bunch of coffee and some Steinbeck, it was icing on the cake.

A few songs after "Hound Dog", the DJ mentioned that it was Big Jay McNeely's birthday. Wow! He's still with us! 93 years young, hell yeah. One of the greatest honkers of time. Check "Blow Big Jay". Fuck, it's a mind-blower. An unrelenting crazy ass solo that raises the same hair as the Stooges. Look at him in that top photo. That says it all.  Oh, and dig "Psycho Serenade", the second song down there. The title fits the song. Dude could get nutty too.

NOTE: The music links that were with this post went dead. New links on the follow up post here.

STANDING IN THE SHADOWS OF STONES

You may have heard Bobby Keys died today, reportedly from cirrhosis. If you don't know that name, to put it simply, you're an ass. You've identified yourself as someone who doesn't read liner notes, at least on Stones LPs. Keys played on every Stones LP from 1969 through 1974, considered by many to be their peak, and from 1980 up until their latest (whatever the hell that was). He played with a lot of others as well, back as far as Dion's "The Wanderer" (that one uncredited).

His illness required the Stones to hire a replacement for their latest tour of Australia and New Zealand, a guy named Karl Denson. That name may not be recognizable to many, but if you were around San Diego in the mid-late nineties, you may know him as as a co-founding member of the Greyboy Allstars, an acid jazz combo capable of some really, really funky stuff. More recently he's led two bands, Karl Denson's Tiny Universe and the Karl Denson Trio.

It's sad, really, what happened to Keys. Dude just partied too much. May that be a lesson to us, at least those of us who need it. We're given a finite amount of party passes in life. Take it from one who knows, if you want to party your whole life, space out use of those passes. When they're through, you're done. And, obviously, nobody has as many party passes as Key's brother from another mother, Keith Richards. I think Bill Wynman's went to him by default.

Really, what motivated this post was Denson, and that short time that the Greyboy Allstars ruled the roost at the Green Circle back in the mid nineties. Keys's passing, sad as it is, just gave me the tangent. I think you know where to find Stones music, and liner notes.

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Listen:
Bobby Keys - Steal From a King (streaming) at YouTube Tons more at YouTube
The Greyboy Allstars - Still Waiting mp3 at Ear It Now (?)
The Greyboy Allstars - V Neck Sweater mp3 at Fish Heads
Karl Denson's Tiny Universe - Five shows at Internet Archive Click on the selected show venue/date to go to another page with the entire set (scroll down for mp3s)
Visit:
Bobby Keys: Five great performances at The Guardian
Bobby Keys at Wikipedia
Karl Denson at Wikipedia

LET'S DO IT THIS WAY

If you ever wanted to hear the evolution of rhythm and blues into ska in just a few songs, a good place to start is with records that feature saxophonist Roland Alphonso. Originally a jazz man, he started playing sessions in the pre-ska days of Jamaican music. His first recordings were produced by Coxsone Dodd (Studio One), in 1956. Those recordings were lost on their way to New York to get mastered. The injustice, eh? Imagine that, your first recordings... poof, gone. He was later one of the founding members of the Skatalites, the archetypical ska band, and when they petered out, the Soul Vendors. The Soul Vendors are like godhead around here. One of the preeminent reggae backing bands of all time, like the Booker T and the MGs of Studio One.

Listen to these songs and you'll get an idea of how those first few years of ska evolved. It's like turning over an engine for the first time. Really? I don't know, sounded good.

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Listen:
Roland Alphonso and the Blues Blasters - Proof Rum mp3 at Hear Say
Roland Alphonso and the Studio One Orchestra - Cleopatra Rock mp3 at Club Clortez
Roland Alphonso - Lee Harvey Oswald mp3 at Soul Garage
The Ska-Ta-Lites - Leave Me Alone mp3 at Soul Garage
Visit:
Roland Alphonso - Bio at All Music
  

SAX RIOT

Probe is Turning On the People's M.O. is basically the "dig it or don't" type of posting. Title and artist, that's it. Sometimes the year, writing credits or catalog #s are included, but no bios, profiles or backstories, and rarely photos. It's there and it's rare, if you need further reason to download, do a little legwork. (In a way, it gives a little respect to the site visitors.) But, even a little legwork couldn't help me find more information on his latest post, "Riot" by Jeri Jorden. A web search turned up squat (only a mention on WFMU playlists and a small crappy scan of a Jorden LP). So, all I gots me is a hunch, far fetched at best.

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Jorden seems to have a strong accent and a few of the lines sound like they could be in French, and given the vintage of the song (I'm guessing late sixties), it could be that the riots she sings of were the uprisings of May 1968 in Paris. That's a guess, I could be wrong about the language. And she is singing "Stop the Riots", a decidely unhip sentiment given that the record sounds, well, not like an unhip record. Come to think of it, Jorden sounds more like a Dutch name. My theory is full of holes.

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Musically speaking, her singing is rather sedate, but that's not what prompted me to download it (and my guess is that it's not the reason it was posted). It's the incredibly abrasive saxaphones that got me. Seriously, it sounds like their reeds are made out of sandpaper. One sax wails ala Lara Logic (X Ray Spex' "Oh Bondage Up Yours"), while the other one just-fucking-blows. It sounds like someone was handed a baritone saxaphone and told "just do that fog horn thing you always do to annoy us..." On top of that, the guitarist, buried in the mix, is quietly manic.

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Jeri Jorden - Riots mp3 at Probe is Turning-On the People (scroll to session 188)
X Ray Spex - Oh Bondage Up Yours mp3 at Dancing Queen Records