jeffcrom Posted December 30, 2015 Report Posted December 30, 2015 I spun a stack of R & B 78s last night. One of them was Imperial 5213, "Atom Bomb" / "Windy City Hop" by the great Texas/California saxophonist Joe Houston. I didn't know it at the time, but I played that record around the time Houston died at age 89 in an assisted living facility in Long Beach, California. A friend of Houston's said, "89! In blues years, that’s like 1,000 years old,” RIP. http://www.presstelegram.com/obituaries/20151229/joe-houston-legendary-saxophonist-dies-in-long-beach-at-89 Quote
JSngry Posted December 30, 2015 Report Posted December 30, 2015 Singles are the only way I can really engage Joe Houston, one or two at a time, but for those few moments, damn...when you got tone and time like that, what you do with them is between your conscience and your bills. This is one of the very few Joe Houston records of that "golden era" that shows that he got that tone and that time by practicing more than what he played on his records. All I can say is...if you don't at some level let "All Night Long" into your heart and let it move you to Do Right (Whatever That Means To You), then...may god have mercy on your "soul", especially if you are a tenor "player". RIP, and thanks for knowing how that shit works, really works. We ignore it at our peril. Quote
chewy-chew-chew-bean-benitez Posted December 30, 2015 Report Posted December 30, 2015 big town records (crown) 1978, i have an autographed copy of this it says in the obit he has been unresponsive since his 2011 stroke, that is so horrible Quote
Joe Posted December 30, 2015 Report Posted December 30, 2015 One of the great "uninhibited" tenormen. Quote
mikeweil Posted December 30, 2015 Report Posted December 30, 2015 Oh yeah! Great pic! I think I have some Joe houston on the LP shelf - thought he was very good and precise, but could bear him for just two or three tracks. Quote
Big Beat Steve Posted December 31, 2015 Report Posted December 31, 2015 I'd say if you have been comatose and unresponsive for 4 years or more following that stroke the end is a relief and a blessing for everybody concerned. R.I.P. He will be remembered for his 50s recordings, along with his fellow Honking Sax Men heroes. I spun his "Cornbread & Cabbage Greens" CD in remembrance yesterday before coming across this review. Robert Christgau sums up his work pretty much to the point. http://www.robertchristgau.com/get_album.php?id=1733 Quote
danasgoodstuff Posted January 4, 2016 Report Posted January 4, 2016 On 12/30/2015 at 8:04 AM, JSngry said: That looks like as much fun as Joe's records sound like! Quote
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