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Great Players Who sparked your love of Sax music

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#20 (I’M A) ROAD RUNNER-JR. WALKER & THE ALLSTARS
JR. WALKER - TENOR
MIKE TERRY - BARITONE

HOF: Mike Terry - Pre Production Inductee

Interesting note from the NET;
("(I'm a) Road Runner" is a hit song by Junior Walker & the Allstars, and was the title track of the successful 1966 album Road Runner. Written by the team of Holland–Dozier–Holland, it was released on the Tamla (Motown) label in 1966 and reached the top twenty in the U.S. and the UK. [1][2]

Walker plays the distinctive tenor saxophone solo, backed by Mike Terry on baritone saxophone with Willie Woods on guitar. During production of the record, it was discovered that Walker could play the song only in two keys. So Walker sang in a key that he couldn’t play, and after being recorded, the saxophone track was sped up to match)
 
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OK, odd one out: While I like the sound of some players, I'm not that much of a fan. I'd have 10 X as many albums featuring guitarists. The sax is simply the easiest instrument that takes the place of the voice. It's very expressive, so has become my means of making music. Outside of somewhere like this I don't listen to sax music.
 
I finally got to look through this thread...wonderful read!

When I was 9 years old they asked me what instrument I wanted to play in school and I picked the sax. Unfortunately, they made me stop playing shortly thereafter because I needed braces :-(

That started my long journey of playing many different instruments over the years. I ended up with the bass and played fretted and fretless electric bass in many different bands .

But I always listened to a ton of jazz and one day a couple of years ago I was listening to one of my favorite contemporary players, Ken Thomson.(alto and bass clarinet) Ken's main 2 projects are Slow/Fast which has some wonderful arrangements:
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W9iag-gbtXE
,
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=prehq-z_g8A
and Gut Bucket which is an avant garde group that I really enjoy
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BM4R5dRMfj8


I said, you know what? I love the sax so much I'm going to give it a go! That's it!

I also love Coltrane, Dolphy and too many others to name as I have lots and lots of recordings and can appreciate everything from the most free form Coltrane to the most refined Getz.
 
MNSaxMan said:
I wonder who it was on the Bari in that song? Thomas "Beans" Bowles did some Motown stuff too, but I think Terry did a majority of Motown stuff...
Read more…


#20 (I’M A) ROAD RUNNER - JR. WALKER & THE ALLSTARS
JR. WALKER - TENOR
MIKE TERRY - BARITONE

#9 LOVE IS LIKE AN ITCHING IN MY HEART – SUPREMES - MIKE TERRY- BARITONE

#13 (R&B) HELPLESS - KIM WESTON - MIKE TERRY - BARITONE

#19 SOMETHING ABOUT YOU-FOUR TOPS - MIKE TERRY - BARITONE

#5 (U.K. #34) IT’S THE SAME OLD SONG - FOUR TOPS
MIKE TERRY - BARITONE

#1 (U.K.#10) I CAN’T HELP MYSELF -FOUR TOPS - MIKE TERRY - BARITONE

#1 (U.K. #40) BACK IN MY ARMS AGAIN - SUPREMES - MIKE TERRY - BARITONE

#1 (U.K.#3) WHERE DID OUR LOVE GO - SUPREMES - MIKE TERRY - BARITONE

#8 QUICKSAND-MARTHA & THE VANDELLAS - MIKE TERRY - BARITONE

#6 (R&B) MY LONELY ROOM - MARTHA AND THE VANDELLAS
MIKE TERRY - BARITONE

#6 JUST LIKE ROMEO & JULIET-REFLECTIONS - MIKE TERRY - BARITONE

#1 (U.K.#1) BABY LOVE-SUPREMES
HANK COSBY and MIKE TERRY (bari. solo by MIKE TERRY per MIKE TERRY) BARITONE & SAX SECTION

#12 (U.K.#3) THIS OLD HEART OF MINE - ISLEY BROTHERS
MIKE TERRY - BARITONE

#2 THE HORSE - CLIFF NOBLES & CO. - MIKE TERRY - BARITONE

#4 HEAT WAVE - MARTHA & THE VANDELLAS –
ANDREW “MIKE” TERRY –BARITONE

#5 MY WORLD IS EMPTY WITHOUT YOU - SUPREMES ? BARITONE

"MY WORLD" listed in our research book (over 500 pages) but I have never been able to confirm that it is Mike Terry. There are "suggestions" that it is but nothing is documented by a reliable source. If anyone does find credit given to Mike for this song please let me know.

It was recorded in 65 and released in December and hit #5 in 66. Mike apparently left Motown in 66 so it may have been played by another Funk Brothers studio musician. Hopefully we will find out one day.

I found a few credits years ago on the internet given to Mr. Bowles on several songs but Mr. Moss sent the corrections after he reviewed our research along with the following statement;

"Hi
Just read your piece on 'Beans' Bowles. Don't know where you got the info from but 'Beans' did NOT play bari on any of the songs you credited him with. All were played by Andrew 'Mike' Terry with the exception of 'What's going on' which was early 70s by which time Mike had left.

Without going through every track, I can categorically tell you that Mike Terry played baritone sax on EVERY session that featured the instrument until he left Motown in 1966. His sound was never replaced and, unless it was a track recorded before his departure, the baritone wasn't used again. Bowles may have played flute on some tracks and may (and I say this cautiously) may have played tenor in the very early days, but it would have been less than a handful I can tell you. One musician told me that the top brass at Motown put Bowles on the road as tour manager in the early sixties. He certainly did not play baritone on any recordings after 1959.

I have written an extended article on Mike (c 5000 words) and am working on his biography.”
Best
Rob Moss
Mike Terry Biographer
5/12/2009
 
Dick Heckstall-Smith (Colosseum/John Mayalls Bluesbreakers/Jack Bruce) inspired me to want to play tenor sax.
It only took another 44 years to get round to it.
I know Mark Hamilton who now plays with The Beat, he is the son of Andy Hamilton, my band's founder.
 
A great song, and the very song I broke my live sax-playing cherry on, last Saturday. We've been playing it for Years using a keyboard as the sax part. A live horn, sounds much better 😀

For me, it has to be Angelo Moore. One of the great Soul Voices in one of the best bands I've ever had the pleasure to see.

 
As a kid in 4th grade, I kind of backed into it. I wanted to play the trombone, but my arms were too short. Then I wanted to play the trumpet, but the band teacher only had one saxophone player so he asked me if I would play alto. I did and loved it. I stopped playing, but, cliché though it is, when I heard Charlie Parker, years later as an adult, I had to play alto again.
 
I remember decades ago when I was virtually homeless and cycling around France with all of my belongings on my bike. It was a beautiful summer evening when I rolled into Rennes, hungry, tired and not knowing where I was going to sleep that night. I sat on a bench feeling pretty sorry for myself. After a few minutes of self pity I heard the dreamy sounds of someone practising alto coming from an open window nearby. I was hooked! Told myself that if ever I got back on my feet I would learn to play sax. That was such a long time ago and I am still learning. I had to put aside my ambitions for about twenty years when my lovely partner, Anna, became very ill with dementia with complications. Sadly she died eighteen months ago. To help me cope with my loss I dug out my horns and am now becoming quite obsessed with playing again. In fact, I've just bought a beautiful new TWO1 which is my pride and joy. Saved by the sax!
 
LeMooch said:
I remember decades ago when I was virtually homeless and cycling around France with all of my belongings on my bike. It was a beautiful summer evening when I rolled into Rennes, hungry, tired and not knowing where I was going to sleep that night. I sat on a bench feeling pretty sorry for myself. After a few minutes of self pity I heard the dreamy sounds of someone practising alto coming from an open window nearby. I was hooked! Told myself that if ever I got back on my feet I would learn to play sax. That was such a long time ago and I am still learning. I had to put aside my ambitions for about twenty years when my lovely partner, Anna, became very ill with dementia with complications. Sadly she died eighteen months ago. To help me cope with my loss I dug out my horns and am now becoming quite obsessed with playing again. In fact, I've just bought a beautiful new TWO1 which is my pride and joy. Saved by the sax!
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So sorry to hear of your loss. A touching story too about what inspired you to take up sax.

Enjoy your sax 🙂

Jx
 
A fellow (but somewhat younger) adult sax player asked me this question, and for a long time I didn't know the answer - like @Jazzaferri, I just started playing sax.
She'd commented that during her youth, almost every pop song had a sax in it and that's what had started her interest.

More recently, I have come to realise that many of the "pop" stars and groups that were big in my youth, and most of those that I really liked do indeed have sax solos in them (not just sax players)
Maybe my sub-conscious was influenced while I was busy becoming an engineer?
 
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The little known sessions musicians who played on thousands of hits but received little fame. Plas Johnson in the sax world. for one. One of the "wrecking crew." At the time I didn't know who he was but his playing on Pink Panther really touched me.

Funny to think that on the Beach Boys recordings the stars only sang. The wrecking crew did all the instrumental work ass it saved money and got a better product.
 
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