King Curtis
(Born 7th February, 1934 in Fort Worth, Texas)
Born Curtis Ousley, probably the greatest and certainly the most well known R&B; sax man moved to New York when he was sixteen - one of his earliest gigs was playing saxophone in Lionel Hampton’s band.
His robust, strong style of playing quickly earned him work on the ever increasing session circuit and from 1956 onwards, he played with a succession of the greats of R&B;, including the Coasters, Aretha and Jimi Hendrix. The telling sax breaks on the Coasters sly and comic Leiber and Stoller hits are all down to Curtis.
Reasonably early in his recording career, he began to release his own sides, and had his first hit in 1962 with ‘Soul Twist’. 1967 saw probably his most well known release (‘Memphis Soul Stew’) which, whilst an excellent record, was not particularly representative of his accomplished and substantial solo recordings.
King Curtis had a prolific though fairly short lived recording career - in 1971 he was involved in a street fight and died from the stab wounds he received at the tragically early age of 37 - shortly after he had secured the role of leader of Aretha Franklin’s backing band.
If you see anything of Curtis’ in the record shops, it’s likely to be worth a little of your hard earned cash. Try "The Best Of King Curtis" on Blue Note Records if you can dig it out.
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Primer Picks |
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There isn't that much that is particularly easily available. If you can find The Capitol Jazz release "The Best Of" it will be worth your investment
Favourite Album:-
The Best Of
Favourite Track:-
Memphis Soul Stew
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Buy Now On-Line |
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