Big Jay McNeely R.I.P.

[Adam]

Cecil "Big Jay” McNeely passed away this morning at 6:15 am in Moreno Valley CA due to cancer.  He was a legendary R&B sax player, king of the honkers, whose first record was in 1948, and was playing until earlier this year.  He’s been in difficult shape for a couple of years, but performed in April & May.  I filmed his performance on his 91st birthday on April 29, 2018, and the last time I spoke with him, two weeks ago, he had a plan for his next album, a trio with sax, bass, and harmonica.  But he’s out of pain now, after an amazing life well-lived.  April 29, 1927-Sept 16, 2018.

 

 

 

Edited September 16, 2018 by Adam

[Adam]

 

[Hardbopjazz]

R.I.P. Jay.  

[mikeweil]

A real legend - R.I.P.

He must have toured Germany quite often, but somehow he never was in my area, or I didn't notice. I once sold a Fred Jackson CD on ebay to a guy who turned out to be a guitar player touring frequently with Big Jay. He sent me a disc in return with some rare material. Big Jay was what R & B sax was all about.

Edited September 17, 2018 by mikeweil

[chewy-chew-chew-bean-benitez]

An extreme legend, I saw him one time- it was wild!  even though it was a long time ago, i know he still toured--  RIP 

•  

 

Edited September 16, 2018 by chewy-chew-chew-bean-benitez

[jeffcrom]

RIP. I'll spin some of Big Jay's 78s tonight.

Edited September 17, 2018 by jeffcrom

[medjuck]

5 hours ago, chewy-chew-chew-bean-benitez said:

An extreme legend, I saw him one time- it was wild!  even though it was a long time ago, i know he still toured--  RIP 

•  

 

I saw him once  as part of a concert featuring LA R&B: Big Mama Thorton, Joe Liggens and the Honey Drippers, Lowell Fulsom, Screaming Jay Hawkins etc.  IIRC it was being filmed for the BBC. 

Edited September 17, 2018 by medjuck

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

RIP Big Jay and thanks for all those honks.

In 1990, he was playing in Berlin, in a club close to the wall, when it began to be taken down. Next day, Berlin papers announced "Big Jay blew the Berlin Wall down!"

This is similar to my favourite t-shirt

Thanks Adam for posting that video of his 91st birthday. Gonna overdose and play all my Big Jay later.

MG

[Adam]

2 hours ago, medjuck said:

I saw him once  as part of a concert featuring LA R&B: Big Mama Thorton, Joe Liggens and the Honey Drippers, Lowell Fulsom, Screaming Jay Hawkins etc.  IIRC it was being filmed for the BBC. 

Was this in 1982 or 83?  If so, it was for Channel 4, for a special called "Legends of Rhythm & Blues."  That includes some material of each of them in their daily lives at the time - Big Jay was working for the post office.  I think Charles Brown was in that too.

[Big Beat Steve]

I saw him in Munich in the late 90s and that concert really was something else. He was amazingly youthful. I am happy I got him to sign the LP covers I brought along.

RIP and thanks for blwoing up a storm.

[medjuck]

9 hours ago, Adam said:

Was this in 1982 or 83?  If so, it was for Channel 4, for a special called "Legends of Rhythm & Blues."  That includes some material of each of them in their daily lives at the time - Big Jay was working for the post office.  I think Charles Brown was in that too.

Yes. around then.  I think the tv host was Ian Whitcomb  though the concert mc was a local dj from the period. 

[Peter Friedman]

Back about 1952 or 1953 I was very much into Rhythm and Blues. Jay was the man for me on tenor. That honking wild style was my thing.

Within a year or so I drifted away from that style of tenor and became a bebop lover, and than added hard bop and west coast jazz.

That meant I no longer listened to Big Jay, and have not heard any of his playing for more than 50 years. 

But I still have a warm spot in my heart for one of the first  saxophone  players I dug.

[danasgoodstuff]

[chewy-chew-chew-bean-benitez]

http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/music/la-et-ms-big-jay-mcneely-obituary-20180917-story.html

[Adam]

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/17/arts/music/big-jay-mcneely-dies.html?rref=collection%2Fsectioncollection%2Fobituaries&action=click&contentCollection=obituaries&region=rank&module=package&version=highlights&contentPlacement=2&pgtype=sectionfront

https://www.laweekly.com/music/rip-big-jay-mcneely-april-29-1927-sept-16-2018-9870238

[chewy-chew-chew-bean-benitez]

although i dont think ive ever seen that pic on the net, or colorized, i recall seeing it long ago- it really is an iconic pic.  it was kind of like that when i saw him, except he had an ORANGE saxophone!

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

I saw him on TV once and he had a luminous saxophone. The lights went out and he went down on his back and all you could see was this sax in midair at a surprising angle - screamin!!!!

MG

[medjuck]

This was in the NY Times obit:

"Mr. McNeely’s breakthrough record, however, had come a decade earlier: “Deacon’s Hop,” a growling, percussive instrumental released on the Savoy label. Based on Lester Young’s tenor saxophone solo on the Count Basie Orchestra’s 1940 recording “Broadway,” “Deacon’s Hop” spent two weeks at the top of Billboard’s Race Records chart, as it was then called, in 1949."

Never knew that. 

Ooops just read the obit in the LA Times which tells a different story:

'Said McNeely to biographer Marc Myers: “A kid I knew in Watts had a record shop. He gave me a record by Glenn Miller that opened with the drummer playing the sock cymbal. I can't remember the name of the song, but I built a blues [riff] off of it called ‘Deacon’s Hop.’”'

B TW that obit reminded me of the DJ who mc'd the LA R&B concert I saw:  Hunter Hancock. 

Edited September 18, 2018 by medjuck

[Big Beat Steve]

44 minutes ago, medjuck said:

'Said McNeely to biographer Marc Myers: “A kid I knew in Watts had a record shop. He gave me a record by Glenn Miller that opened with the drummer playing the sock cymbal. I can't remember the name of the song, but I built a blues [riff] off of it called ‘Deacon’s Hop.’”'

 

Author Jim Dawson quotes McNeely as follows in his biography "Nervous Man Nervous - BIg Jay McNeely and the rise of the honking tenor sax" :

"Pete (owner of Pete Canard's Record Shop on 98th and Compton) played me Glenn Miller's "Nothing But Soul", and that was it. That drum sound tch tut, tut tch, just a sock cymbal. From that I wrote the tune, just from that little introduction".

BUT - neither Rust not Bruyninckx list such a tune recorded by Miller. So ....?

 

Edited September 18, 2018 by Big Beat Steve

[JSngry]

On 9/18/2018 at 2:51 AM, The Magnificent Goldberg said:

I saw him on TV once and he had a luminous saxophone. The lights went out and he went down on his back and all you could see was this sax in midair at a surprising angle - screamin!!!!

MG