The Blues Room #558
Wednesday 12 October 2016
9pm-10pm, FreeFM89.0, Hamilton, NZ.
For many years Nate has been following a vintage blues radio show hosted by Jeff Harris called Big Road Blues. Jeff presents his 2-hour show each Sunday from 5 to 7 PM (EST) on WGMC Jazz90.1 (Rochester, NY) and it streams live on the web from
http://www.jazz901.org/listen-live/. Jeff has kindly given permission for Big Road Blues to be re-run on The Blues Room each month, on the second Wednesday. This episode here is a classic example of what you'll hear from Jeff; superb tracks, great commentary, and a taste of classic and often rare and forgotten blues. As Jeff's shows are two hours long, Nate will post a link for listeners to check out the second half of his show. For archived shows of Big Road Blues please check out
http://sundayblues.org/. So a big thank you goes out to Jeff and we look forward to sharing some of his outstanding shows on The Blues Room.
Today's show is part two of a look at some of the great New York based sax men who's honkin' sound was heard on hundreds of records in the 40's and 50's. This show is one of several sax based shows this year that Jeff has aired, starting a few months ago with one based in Chicago, followed by two spotlighting some great L.A. Horn blowers. Illinois Jacquet is cited as the one who kicked off the era of honkin' sax in 1945 with his famous solo on "Flying Home" while working with Lionel Hampton's band. As Big Jay McNeely said of of the songe, "every time we picked up our horns we were just elaborating on that, trying to make it bigger, wilder, give it more swing, more kick. If you want to know where rhythm and blues began, that's it brother."
Today Jeff spins some great honkin' sax records, some cut by the horn men themselves and others featuring their raucous playing behind some great blues singers, both well known and obscure. The records were issued on a myriad of small New York independent labels such as Atlas, Derby, Coral, Apollo, Groove, Savoy and bigger players such as King and Atlantic. Among those featured today are legendary horn men such as Hal Singr and Freddie Mitchell who played on countless sessions as well as recording some exciting sides under their own names. Then there were sax men primarily know for their session work such as the prolific Sam “The Man” Taylor, Budd Johnson and Big Al Sears. There were the sax men who lead their own band and were stars in their own right such as Eddie “Cleanhead” Vinson, Paul “Hucklebuck” Williams, Red Prysock, Earl Bostic and Bullmoose Jackson. Others heard today include the incendiary Noble “Thin Man” Watts, the rising star King Curtis, Willis “Gator” Jackson, Buddy Lucas, Frank Culley, Sil Austin, Buddy Tate, Jesse Powell and others.
Sil Austin once said, "exciting horn, honking horn, gutbucket horn is what kids wanted to hear, so I made sure I played more of that. They called it rock 'n' roll. And the records sold."
Big Road Blues Show :: Rockin' And Jumpin' – Honkin' Sax From New York Pt. 2
1. Buddy Lucas - Hustlin Family Blues
2. Buddy Lucas - Big Bertha
3. Wynonie Harris w/ Buddy Lucas - Triflin' Woman
4. Joseph "Google Eyes" August w/ Buddy Tate - Rock My Soul
5. Rene Hall w/ Buddy Tate - Blowin' Awhile
6. Wynonie Harris w/ Buddy Tate - Mr. Blues Is Coming To Town
7. Arbee Stidham w/ Hal Singer - Stidham Jumps
8. Hal Singer - Buttermilk And Beans
9. Fank Floorshow Culley - After Hours Session
10. Jimmy Rushing w/ Frank Culley - Lonesome Daddy Blues
11. Frank Floorshow Culley - Floorshow
12. Freddie Mitchell - Moondog Boogie
13. Honey Brown w/ Freddie Mitchel - Rockin' And Jumpin'
14. Bullmoose Walker w/ Sam Taylor - Big Fat Mamas Are Back In Style Again
15. Sam "The Man" Taylor - Oo-Wee
16. Champion Jack Dupree w/ Jesse Powell - Fifth Avenue Blues
