by Robert Wilkinson
We begin our musical weekend celebrating the birthdays of three great talents all born on February 7. Our lead off artist is one of the great sax virtuosos of the 20th century. Everyone loved this guy and his work! The other two were also hitmakers in their own time.
King Curtis (born Curtis Ousley, February 7, 1934 – August 13, 1971) was one of the great tenor, alto, and soprano sax players of the middle of the 20th century, playing just about every style there is. From Wikipedia, we read
As a student pursuing music, he turned down college scholarships in order to join the Lionel Hampton Band. During his time with Hampton, he was able to write and arrange music and learn guitar. In 1952 Curtis decided to move to New York and became a session musician, recording for such labels as Prestige, Enjoy, Capitol, and Atco. He recorded with Nat Adderley and Wynton Kelly, Buddy Holly, and Andy Williams.Stylistically, Curtis took inspiration from saxophonists Lester Young, Louis Jordan, Illinois Jacquet, Earl Bostic, and Gene Ammons. Known for his syncopated and percussive style, he was both versatile and powerful as a musician. He put together a group during his time as a session musician that included Richard Tee, Cornell Dupree, Jerry Jemmott, and Bernard Purdie.
Here are some great clips of his better known tunes.
We’ll begin with his work with the Coasters, since that pretty much introduced him to the world!
Here’s the timeless teen age lament first released in 1958! “Yakety Yak.”
Also from the Coasters, a very funny 1959 live lip-synched performance on Dick Clark’s Saturday Night Beech-Nut Show of “Charlie Brown.”
He’s playing on this classic which was the “flip side” of “Charlie Brown.” From 1959, here’s the original studio version of “Three Cool Cats”
He also put the sax on this 1959 hit, “Along Came Jones”
From 1961, the original studio version by the Coasters with King Curtis on sax grinding out “Little Egypt”
Buddy wrote this but gave writing credit to King Curtis so he’d have royalties. This is literally the last song he recorded with the Crickets. From a session in November 1958, "Reminiscing."
Those sessions also produced Waylon Jennings’ first recording, with Buddy on guitar and Curtis on sax. For your enjoyment, the Cajun classic “Jole Blon.” Here’s the flip side, “When Sin Stops Love Begins”
He made his sax “the second voice” on this 1958 #2 hit by LaVern Baker. “I Cried A Tear.”
From 1960, an audio-only studio recording of King Curtis with Nat Adderley, Wynton Kelly, Sam Jones, and Belton Evans coolin’ on the smooth groove of “Jeep’s Blues”
His was the blasting sax behind the first version of this classic recorded by the Top Notes in February 1961! "Twist and Shout."
From 1962, the Sax Man in a twisting, groovin’ period piece with a Farfisa organ playing the lead! “Mr. Crow”
From 1962, the Shirelles scored on this flip side of "Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow" with “Boys” and yes, that's King Curtis on wailin' sax at the break!
From 1962, the studio version of “Soul Twist”
He backed Sam Cooke on this extraordinary live 38 minute performance not released at the time. This is said to be the greatest live soul album in history. King Curtis on sax. Two Aquarians getting down in Miami in segregated Amerika.Sam Cooke Live at the Harlem Square Club – 1963
From 1963, the studio version of “Misty”
From 1965, he backed Aretha on this monster hit! “Respect” (He played on 5 of her albums: I Never Loved A Man the Way I Love You,, Aretha Arrives, Lady Soul, Soul ’69, Aretha Live at Fillmore West)
Here’s a great live performance by King Curtis and the Kingpins of “Memphis Soul Stew”
From 1967, “In the Pocket”
From 1968, “I Heard It Through the Grapevine”
From 1969, he played sax for the Rascals on “Of Course”
In 1970, he won a Grammy for this gem! “Games People Play” with Duane Allman
On the Imagine album, in February 1971 he played the wailing sax backing John Lennon in JL's pounding psychedelic masterpiece! "I Don't Wanna Be a Soldier Mama I Don't Wanna Die"
I found it again! Here’s a brilliant one hour 10 minute audio-only live set at the A&R Studios from July 1971! Delaney and Bonnie with Duane and Gregg Allman and King Curtis
I found these last year so am keeping them as singles. The first is 18 minutes of ”Only You Know and I Know.” and the second is ”Goin’ Down the Road Feelin’ Bad.”
Also from 1971, a video of King Curtis and and Kingpins performing “A Whiter Shade of Pale”
Recorded one week before he was murdered in August 1971, I found some audio-only clips from Live at the Fillmore West, with the Sax Man accompanied by Billy Preston and the Memphis Horns! While I couldn’t find all of the tracks, these are in the order of the set list.
We’ll close this tribute with some great video clips from Montreux in 1971 a couple of months before he died. Welcome to the awesome duet of King Curtis and Champion Jack Dupree live! They’re in the order of the set list.
“Everything’s Gonna Be All Right”
“Get With It” (audio-only)
They closed Montreux with “I’m Havin’ Fun” (audio-only)
Last year I had their entire 39 minute Montreux set in a clip titled “King Curtis and Champion Jack Dupree Blues at Montreux 1971” but this year it’s gone.
For our encore, the studio version of “Hot Potatoes” (the theme from Soul Train)
And for our second encore, the Master of the Sax grinding through “Harlem Nocturne”
Here are a couple of albums of great tunes!
From 1967, King Curtis and the Kingpins – King Size Soul
The 1977 French re-issue titled King Curtis - Sax Rock is gone, so instead, here’s some serious jazz from 1960 when he had Paul Chambers on Bass, Oliver Jackson on drums, and Wynton Kelly on piano. Have fun with this 40 minute album of great jazz! The New Scene of King Curtis - 1960 (by way of comparison, John Coltrane did Giant Steps the same year.)
Thanks for everything, Mister King Curtis. You died waaaay too young. I guess you shouldn’t have punched that junkie who stabbed you on a hot summer night on the upper West Side. But if you knew he would, I’m sure you wouldn’t have gone there. RIP to a beloved legend...
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We now turn the spotlight on Warren Smith (February 7, 1932 – January 30, 1980). One of Sam Phillips’ original stable of rockabilly artists at Sun Records, his first record outsold the initial offerings by Elvis, Johnny, and Carl! From Wikipedia,
Phillips liked what he heard, and decided that "Rock & Roll Ruby", a song credited to Johnny Cash, would be Smith's first record. (Smith later claimed that "Rock & Roll Ruby" was actually written by George Jones and sold to Cash for $40.) Smith recorded it on February 5, 1956. Phillips, who was hedging his bets over whether rock and roll would maintain its popularity, released that record with a country crooner, aptly named "I'd Rather Be Safe Than Sorry", on the flip side. By May 26, "Rock & Roll Ruby" had hit No. 1 on the local pop charts. Smith's first record for Sun went on to outsell the first Sun releases by Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash and Carl Perkins.
While he was fairly obscure, here are some of his biggest on Sun before he left for country music.
Written by Johnny before he was “the man in black,” “Rock And Roll Ruby.” Here’s the original! “Rock And Roll Ruby.”
This year I found this short live gem from the Town Hall Party of Warren bopping out “Rock And Roll Ruby”
“Red Cadillac and a Black Moustache”
The flip side of "Ubangi Stomp," “Black Jack David”
“Baby Let’s Play House” (Yes, this was an early Elvis hit, but back then artists often covered the same song as others on their record labels.)
From 1957, "Miss Froggie"
For the finale today, the flip side of "Miss Froggie" and a bigger hit, a tune written by Sun record colleague Roy Orbison! “So Long I’m Gone”
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The last of our trio features Alan Lancaster (7 February 1949), bass player and co-founder of the Status Quo. I remember groovin' to their very psychedelic phase shifting first hit in 1968, here delivered on Top of the Pops that same year, "Pictures of Matchstick Men." Last year’s 1968 live performance on German television as disappeared, but I found this promo clip of the Quo’s "Ice in the Sun."
From Beat Club, in 1969 we have a pair of tunes! The first is another phase shifting psychedelic tune titled “Technicolor Dreams” and the second is a weak ballad called “Are You Growing Tired of My Love”
From Beat Club in 1970, a live performance of boogie music! “Spinning Wheel Blues”
Mike Rossi co-wrote these big ones, “Caroline” and this rock masterpiece that sounds a lot like the Flamin’ Groovies at their best, “Down Down”
I found it again! It’s a great 25 minute clip of them live in 1970! Here’s Status Quo Live – 1970
Live at the Marquee in 1972, here are “Don’t Waste My Time” and “Paper Plane"
From TOTP in 1975, “Down Down”
From Top of the Pops in 1976, their a short version of “Rain” has disappeared, so instead from that same year on that same show, “Wild Side of Life”
From the same period, a rockin’ version of “Mystery Song”
They also scored big with some great rockers written by Rick Parfitt, including "Whatever You Want," and from the same 1982 show, "Rain," (not the Beatles tune)
From 1979, "Again and Again," and live in 1977, cranking out the John Fogerty rock and roll anthem "Rockin' All Over the World."
They also did it in Live Aid in 1985! "Rockin' All Over the World," which they followed with "Caroline"
We’ll close this brief set with 29 minutes of classic Quo live in Vienna in 1969! The Status Quo Live in Vienna - 1969
For our first encore, we now move and groove to 14 minutes of Status Quo live in Glasgow in 1976! "Roadhouse Blues”
For our second encore, from 1984, a one hour live show at the Milton Keynes Bowl! The Status Quo – End of the Road 1984
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In a weird coincidence, February 7 is the birthday of Walter Scott (February 7, 1943 – December 27, 1983) frontman for Bob Kuban and The In-Men who are one of the great "one hit wonders" in pop history. He sang "The Cheater," which made it to #12 on the charts in 1966. In a weird "Twilight Zone" twist, his wife's lover murdered him and they both did time. For your Twilight Zone experience for the evening, here's "The Cheater." For those who are into murder mysteries, here's a 20 minute clip that goes into Forensic Files: The Cheater Walter Scott
© Copyright 2024 Robert Wilkinson
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