Home News Bands Big Jay McNeely (USA) - The King Of The Honkers Hot Club De Frank JZZZZZP THE BUSQUITO'S THE BUSQUITO'S X-MAS SHOW THE DYNAMITE HORNS THE SOULSNATCHERS THOMAS STREUTGERS / NOL SICKING KWARTET TOMMY TORNADO Dates References Contact 

Big Jay McNeely (USA) - The King Of The Honkers

BIG JAY MCNEELY (USA) - The King Of The Honkers !!!Tenor saxophonist Cecil "Big Jay" McNeely (born 1927!!) has been "the king of the honkers" for over 50 years, and he's still going strong. In 1948 he record for Savoy Records and had his first no.1 hit record "Deacon's Hop", For the next several years, Big Jay, according to The New Rolling Stone Encyclopedia of Rock & Roll, "was famed for his playing-on-his-back acrobatics and his raw, hard-swinging playing."During his act he'd leave the stage, walk across the top of the bar, and sometimes walk out the door of the club, often with a line of people following him. In 1959 Big Jay enjoyed his biggest hit, a blues ballad called "There Is Something on Your Mind," featuring Haywood "Little Sonny" Warner on vocals.The record stayed on the R&B charts for six months and reached as high as #44 pop. Other artists who have recorded Big Jay's song include B.B. King, Etta James, Freddy Fender, The Hollywood Flames, Gene Vincent, Albert King and Professor LonghairBig Jay retired from full-time music for 20 years, but in 1983 he returned to performing and hasn't looked back. In 1987 he played in a blues jam with B.B. King, Robert Cray, Etta James, Albert King, Junior Wells and others on the internationally-televised Grammy Awards. In 2000 the Experience Music Project in Seattle installed a special Big Jay McNeely exhibit that includes his original Conn saxophone; the Smithsonian magazine put the horn on its June 2000 issue cover, along with Jimi Hendrix's hat, Janis Jopin's feather boa, and Eric Clapton's Stratocaster. Big Jay isalso the subject of Jim Dawson's Nervous Man Nervous: Big Jay McNeely & the Rise of the Honking Tenor Saxophone (Big Nickel Press, 1995),the only book ever written about the R&B sax and its influences.These days Big Jay McNeely spends a good deal of time touring around the globe, honking and screamin' !!!

Om alle inhoud te kunnen zien hebt u de actuele versie van Adobe Flash Player nodig.