Semi OT: RIP Bobby Keys

[skipclone 1]

Another groundshaker soundmaker gone:

https://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/rolling-stones-saxophonist-bobby-keys-dead-at-70-20141202

[Larryz]

RIP Bobby Keys! A Great Sax Player...

[whitefang]

It's too bad. Just too young.

 

I didn't think he was all that "great" as a sax player, but he did have a presence about him. And he was well liked among his peers. Nothing wrong with that!

Whitefang

[LeftyBlues]

He was "only" 70 to boot. He's toured with those London boys for something like 45 years!! Speaking of yonder Stones, they're ramping up for some more gigs in '15 in South America and may play a few pubs here in the States to get rolling. Be still my beating heart...

[Larryz]

+1 The Rolling Stones have used him since '68, so they must have liked him and his sax playing...he will be missed...

[desertbluesman]

RIP Bobby Keys

[whitefang]

I think the interesting part in all this is that NObody probably paid all that much attention to the sax in "Brown Sugar".....in fact, I'm having trouble conjuring up any memory of it. I'll probably have to go to YouTube to find a clip and give it a listen. put THAT fact together with the fact Mr. Keys was NOT what one would call a "household name", and if you'd have approached anybody who was young "back in the day" and told them Bobby Keys died, without mentioning what he'd done or where they may have heard his playing, you'd get probably a lot of "Who"? blank stares. But at least he got proper recognition at the end. In fact, until Brian Williams explained just who he was and what he'd done, I had NO idea who he was! In fact, a friend of mine, a notorious Stones freak from way back, ALSO didn't know who he was! He'd assumed the sax part was just played by some session guy hangin' 'round the studio at the time!

Whitefang

[Larryz]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bobby_Keys <--- Bobby Keys was a well known session musician playing rock and roll since he was a kid starting out with Bobby Vee and Buddy Holly. He was a well known session musician and toured with the Rolling Stones for decades. He was evidently well liked and played on albums with Lynard Skynyrd, The Who, George Harrison, Eric Clapton, Joe Cocker, Elvis, Sheryl Crow, John Lennon...etc. According to the Wiki article he was also a promoter and booked musicians like Fats Domino and Jerry Lee Lewis for Ronnie Woods club...He may not be a household name, but there were many that considered him worthy as a sax player...a major sax rock and roll stylist...

[whitefang]

Well, I NEVER claimed he WASN'T known among his PEERS.

Whitefang

[Larryz]

No one claimed you did...I'm just posting his story so that we all know his contributions to the rock and roll world as he was well known to some of the biggest names out there and they called upon him to record with them. Most rock and roll Sax players are not well known while many Jazz players and pop players are well known...I mean he's not a household name like Kenny G. Have you ever heard of Charlie DeChant? I heard him play live with Hall and Oates but for the life of me, I could not tell you his name. One of the best rock and roll sax players out there and his most memorable solo is on their recording of Maneater...

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_saxophonists <---here's a list of famous sax players...you'll find Bobby Keys on it...

[Bottom End]

Bobby Keys this month, Raphael Ravenscroft last month, too many great rock'n'roll sax players passing away in 2014

[Larryz]

RIP Raphael Ravenscroft...

[whitefang]

Nice list. And I've heard and heard OF a lot of the names on it. There doesn't seem to be a lot of names listed as "rock" sax players, and I found it amusing to see BILL CLINTON'S name on it, too.

 

But I'd like to have seen some mention of where their sound could be found.

 

I also noticed it was missing the name of BILL JUSTIS, who wrote and recorded the original version of "RAUNCHY", the song George Harrison supposedly impressed John Lennon with. And that song was credited as the first rock'n'roll instrumental hit.

 

The list also didn't include Billy Vaughn. But Vaughn didn't play saxophone exclusively. He was one of them "Multi-instrumentalists".

Whitefang

[Larryz]

The list is made up of famous sax players. In the case of Bill Clinton and IMHO Van Morrison, they are not truly gifted sax players but they are famous none the less. Bill's secret to playing sax is just don't inhale...I'm sure there are many other great sax players that were not on the list. Maybe, if this was a sax forum, we would recognize more of the names on the list...like Bobby Keys.

 

Ps. Funny how the name of the guitar player (i.e. Sid Manker who co-wrote the song with Bill) on Raunchy didn't come up as he probably influenced George, John and Paul, more than Bill Justis did with his sax. Raunchy was the 2nd instrumental rock and roll song recorded in 1957. The 1st instrumental rock and roll song was recorded a year earlier in 1956 by Bill Dogget and it was a song I still play to this day: Honky Tonk. Funny how both songs became later hits by both sax and guitar players. My rendition of Honky Tonk came from The Ventures...

 

<---Semi OT: RIP Bobby Keys, here's his rendition of Honky Tonk...

 

[whitefang]

Well, Larry, Bill DIDN'T influence George, John or Paul. I don't think Sid did, either. It was probably that the scant guitar parts of "Raunchy" were popular for budding guitarists to play back then.

 

And it WAS back in those days that the sax was king of rock'n'roll solos. If Bobby Keys should be given ANY credit for anything, it would have to be his insistance on playing the saxophone in a genre that more or less seemed to have pushed it into the bckground, if not total obscurity.

 

I mean, you can mention Clarence Clemmons, but HE played mostly exclusively for one group. Same with Alto Reed. Both fine sax players, but neither got around like Mr. Keys seemed to have. And for as LONG!

Whitefang

 

PS: John, Paul and George often mention both Chuck Berry and Carl Perkins as major guitar influences. And remember, early rock'n'roll enthusiasts didn't ake either one too serious. Berry was by and large considered "just some COLORED guy blues and country player" And Perkins was a "Hillbilly picker". Only the passing of time would reveal the truth! That truth being that rock'n'roll ws making "cult level" inroads BEFORE anybody ever heard of that "Pelvis" guy!

 

[Larryz]

Bobby Keys deserves a lot of credit and not just for playing sax in the rock and roll genre. If anything the sax played a major part in early rock and roll and in later rock. It was pushed to the forefront for lead work in thousands of rock and roll songs...Most of the major sax players are better known in the jazz genre and only us older rock and roller guys still prefer the rock and roll sax...

 

As to the reason I mentioned George, John and Paul being influenced by Sid, it is because Raunchy was the song George [picked] to play for John and Paul on the bus in his audition. Because he played it note for note with the right feel, John agreed with Paul and hired him even though he was a bit too young...a guy named Duane Eddy also brought the song back on the guitar and made a hit out of it. He was the first to record the guitar in stereo...I didn't think he was a great guitar player at all, but he did make the charts. I think Bobby was much better on sax than Eddy was on guitar...

 

The Beatles were not influenced by Perkins and Berry as far as their guitar playing goes IMHO. It was because of their rock and roll music, lyrics and songwriting talent. Chuck wrote Roll Over Beethoven and Carl wrote Honey Don't. It was their songwriting and rock and roll genre that influenced the Beatles who copied them and other American artists in their early years starting out...There is no one that didn't take these two guys seriously in early days of rock and roll...other than the moms and pops at the time, who were a real drag Daddy-o...

[Bottom End]

Steve Berlin with the blasters and then Los Lobos is a great example of saxophone used in a rock setting.

[Larryz]

And in a Country Rock setting there's Jerry Eubanks (writer, vocals, sax, flute and keyboards) of the Marshall Tucker Band, formed in 1972...

[whitefang]

There IS a huge gap in the history of rock'n'roll music in which the saxophone does NOT make ANY appearance in ANY major single release.

 

I hail rockers like the Rolling Stones, Bruce Springsteen and Bob Seger and anyone ELSE who considered using a saxophone in any one of their songs, be it a designated single or some obscure track on an LP. It's sound, no matter how sparse it may have been used, always adds a bit of CLASS to a piece of music!

Whitefang