| Curtis Ousley sure ended up with the perfect | | | | Here is a small list; |
| nickname! King Curtis was indeed the "king" of the | | | | Big Joe Turner - Buddy Holly - Ruth Brown - Delaney |
| rock & roll saxophone. His sound was big, rich, | | | | & Bonni |
| sweet and very expressive. One of the few that you | | | | Aretha Franklin - Goerge Benson - Sam Cooke - The |
| just know who it is when you hear it. | | | | Rascals |
| Born in 1934, he was just a young teenager as the | | | | Waylon Jennings - Freddie King - Esther Philips - Nina |
| jump blues and rhythm and blues scene of the 40's | | | | Simone |
| gave birth to rock & roll by the end of that | | | | Lavern Baker - The Coasters - John Lennon - Eric |
| decade. He had made his move from Texas to New | | | | Clapton |
| York in the early 50's and landed a gig with Lionel | | | | Duane Allman - Fats Domino - Roberta Flack - Otis |
| Hampton's band. This was the same band that Illinois | | | | Redding |
| Jacquet played with about 10 years earlier. Jacquet of | | | | Wilson Pickett. |
| coarse had rocked the sax world with his screaming | | | | And... |
| sax solo on Flying Home with this same band. | | | | Besides playing great sax solos on tons of records he |
| King Curtis had noted alto players Earl Bostic, Louis | | | | produced and arranged many of his recordings and |
| Jordan, and 2 fellow Texan tenors, Illinois Jacquet, and | | | | other artists as well. But the best thing about King |
| Arnett Cobb as his main influences on the saxophone. | | | | Curtis is how lyrical his phrasing was and how beautiful |
| He had his roots firmly planted in this honking and | | | | his tone sounded. As a player he inspired every |
| screaming rockin' R&B sax style that dominated | | | | saxophonist who was interested in blues, R&B, |
| this genre of music in the 40's and 50's. But as the 50's | | | | rock & roll, jazz and soul. |
| wore on, the music changed and so did King Curtis. | | | | Speaking of soul, he was obviously a big fan of Ray |
| His versatility showed as he went from the swingin' big | | | | Charles. Much of the soul and R&B stuff he |
| bands and smaller jazz combos like Horace Silver | | | | recorded had that feel to it. Like Curtis's version of |
| through the rock & roll groups like The Coasters | | | | One Mint Julep, a song also recorded by Ray Charles. |
| and Buddy Holly to soul like Aretha Franklin and Wilson | | | | I don't know if he invented that "slapping" sound on the |
| Pickett. One of the last recordings he did was in July, | | | | reed but he was the first guy I knew of who did it... it's |
| 1971 for the John Lennon album Imagine. Curtis was | | | | a cool affect. |
| killed later that summer, August 13th. | | | | Al Caiola is a guitarist who was just as busy in the |
| Here are just a small handfull of the many album's King | | | | New York recording studio scene as King Curtis. |
| Curtis recorded. From left to right; Live at The Fillmore | | | | These guys did many sessions together and finally in |
| West, 1971 - Blow Man Blow!, 1962 - The Best of King | | | | 1962 released a fantastic and fun instrumental called |
| Curtis, 1962 - Soul Meeting, 1960 - Live at Small's | | | | Guitar Boogie. This guy Al Caiola starts it with some |
| Paradise, 1957 | | | | really good rock & roll picking and King Curtis |
| There are close to 60 King Curtis albums counting all | | | | sounds like he picked the perfect reed that day... listen |
| the compilations and imports. He was the most in | | | | to a bit of Guitar Boogie with Al Caiola and King Curtis. |
| demand session saxophonist of his time and appears | | | | Long live the king! |
| on close to 220 other albums as a sideman! | | | | |