Great sax solos

[ritchie]

great thread some really nice tunes.

got me thinking of sax solo's I liked and got me searching thro' a pile of cd's so I'm going to have a 'canny night' in.

in the meantime...,

check out ...if you get the chance..,

'session man's blues' by Pete Atkin and 'one fine day' by Sarah Mclaghlan.

There is another Pete Atkin song which mentions charlie parker playing 'my old flame' but my filing system is all to c*ck so i can't find it.

mind you I also like 'what ever gets you thro' the night' by Lennon and 'Young americans' by what's his name...so there is no accounting for taste.

[Dayna]

Billy Joel---Only The Good Die Young
Still Rock & Roll To Me
Twistin The Night Away---?

[Des]

Oh God what about the fab solo on Steely Dan's 'Aja' - was it Wayne Shorter?

[RobHall]

I love the sax on Andre Wiliams' "Bacon Fat" (well, I love everything about it). No idea who the sax player is, but if this ain't funky, then I don't know what is.

Rob

[Adam Blake]

;]What about that marvellous tribute to Roland Kirk that sticks out like a briliant sore thumb on Ian Dury's "Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick" ??

What about it, Adam? There it is at number 5 in the original list.
..

DOH!!

[Charlie]

OK, the next ten:

11. Jr Walker (*), Shotgun (or Shake & Fingerpop)
12. Lou Reed, Walk on the Wild Side (Ronnie Ross, baritone)
13. Nina Simone, I Put a Spell on You (Buddy Lucas)
14. Mahmoud Ahmed, Bemen Sebeb Letlash (Tewodros Meteku and Feqadu Amde-Mesqel)
15. Andre Williams, Bacon Fat (sax: ???)
16. Fats Domino, Blue Monday (Herb Hardesty, baritone; not Lee Allen, see reply below)
17. Orchestra Virunga, Ahmet Sabit (Rodie)
18. The Beat, Mirror in the Bathroom (Saxa)
19. David Bowie, Young Americans (David Sanborn)
20. The Crystals, He’s a Rebel (probably Steve Douglas+)

+ In his book about producer Phil Spector, Richard Williams notes that the usual sax players on Spector's early LA sessions were Steve Douglas and Jay Migliori, so it's unlikely that Plas Johnson was on ‘He’s a Rebel’, as Norman guessed. Pity, since that might have satisfied Dayna, who nominated Henry Mancini’s ‘Pink Panther’, on which Plas did play the sax. But as she realised, that’s for a different list, sax instrumentals, which we could open up in a while, after we’ve explored the outer reaches of this one(beyond which sit Johnny Hartman and Pete Atkin, wondering why they haven’t been let in).

I’ve just spent a ridiculous amount of time trying to find out who played sax on Bacon Fat, but still don’t know the answer.

[gordonfmoore]

David Bowie himself possibly played the sax? At least I remember a picture of him with a sax in his hands and mouth, ohhh, er, perhaps not, I was so very young.


edit: oh yes he did http://music.barnesandnoble.com/search/ ... &wrk=59845

there's a turn up, Bowie amongst the great saxophonists of all time. His mum will be pleased.

[There is a David Sanbourne mentioned, but I prefer the real Dave :) ]

[NormanD]

16. Fats Domino, Blue Monday (Lee Allen, I think)

It's a baritone sax solo played by Herb Hardesty:

Dave Bartholomew was the one who decided who would play the solos. If it was swing or traditional, he would choose Hardesty, if it was more gutbucket or bluesy, he preferred Lee Allen. Examples of solos by Allen are "I'm In Love Again", "I Can't Go On", "It's You I Love", "Wait And See", "Telling Lies". Compared to Hardesty's melodic, refined style, Allen sounds a little crude, albeit powerful and exciting. Music critic Hank Davis has called Hardesty's solo on "Blue Monday" "as close to perfection as one can imagine. The eight-bar sax break is a gem of almost frightening economy. It is one of the most memorable, bluesy and yet simple runs in all of r&b." And that on a baritone sax, an instrument that Herb had never played before and didn't even like. Ref: http://www.rockabilly.nl/references/mes ... rdesty.htm

norman

[Con Murphy]

This reminds me that I was going to revive the “skeletonsâ€

[Adam Blake]

Yep. "Oh Bondage Up Yours" has a terrible sax solo in it by Lora Logic. But its only playing the tune as well as it knows how and I infinitely prefer it to any amount of cocktail lounge "dinner jazz" widdling!

[howard male]

Rob wrote -

If I have to nominate one to throw out to accommodate Jr Walker, let it be "Baker Street". The sax solo is certainly notable, but it's too sacharine and lacks spark and spontaneity for me, I've never liked it.

Charlie wrote -'

Baker Street' is so unusual in being an easy listening classic with a very unusual sax part, I think it should stay there to confirm we are not completely adrift from reality. Apart from which, I really like the record.

I like the record too and I agree with Charlie that Baker Street was (I don't know if it still is, as I've not heard it for years) a great, haunting and original single. However I agree with Rob that it shouldn't be in this list. The reason being, the sax part isn't really a solo. It strikes me more as an orchestrated motif. Just as a repeated brass riff on a record wouldn't be considered a solo, so it is with this sax line. Yes it does make the record special and it's what you remember about it, but no, it isn't a solo - unless there's a separate solo which I don't remember which takes that melody off somewhere else.

And I'm with Norman for 'Walk on the Wild Side' - I love records which save up a little surprise for you at the end. Specially such an effortlessly sleazy and slinky surprise as this apparently effortless solo.

And, no, that definitely wasn't Bowie playing on Young Americans, he was a far more rudimentary player, though not without his own raspy wheezy charm. I'll try and think of a track Bowie played on to nominate (don't worry, that's a threat rather than a promise!)

[Con Murphy]

Incidentally, has anyone heard that urban legend that Bob Holness was the saxophonist on Baker Street? I've got a feeling that Chris Evans started that one, although it wouldn't surprise me if it was another radio broadcaster, one who shares a name with the song.

[RobHall]

However I agree with Rob that it shouldn't be in this list. The reason being, the sax part isn't really a solo... ...Yes it does make the record special and it's what you remember about it...

As in the guitar solo thread, I would argue that - for inclusion in these discussions - it doesn't necessarily have to be a solo, but that it should be what makes the record special.

Rob

[Charlie]

+ In his book about producer Phil Spector, Richard Williams notes that the usual sax players on Spector's early LA sessions were Steve Douglas and Jay Migliori, so it's unlikely that Plas Johnson was on ‘He’s a Rebel’, as Norman guessed.

I just spoke to Richard, who is near-to-certain it was Steve Douglas who played the tenor sax solo on He's a Rebel. Jay Migliori was a baritone sax player.

[Dominic]

Yep. "Oh Bondage Up Yours" has a terrible sax solo in it by Lora Logic. But its only playing the tune as well as it knows how and I infinitely prefer it to any amount of cocktail lounge "dinner jazz" widdling!

Me too. X-Ray Spex were the first "proper" band I ever saw. Lora Logic had alredy left to form Essential Logic, one of those great shambolic post-punk bands with more ideas than ability - I saw them at a legendary gig at Davidstow village hall with Stiff Little Fingers and Robert Rental & The Normal. The Stiff Little Fingers drummer threw his sticks into the audience at the end of each encore; when they were called back for a fourth (Johnny was a good man, for the third time) he had to go & ask for them back.