Big Jay McNeely
Encyclopedia
Big Jay McNeely is an American
rhythm and blues
saxophonist
.
and Lester Young
, he teamed with his older brother Robert McNeely, who played baritone saxophone
, and made his first recordings
with drummer Johnny Otis
, who ran the Barrelhouse Club that stood only a few blocks from McNeely's home. Shortly after he performed on Otis's "Barrel House Stomp." Ralph Bass
, A&R
man for Savoy Records
, promptly signed him to a recording contract
. Bass's boss, Herman Lubinsky, suggested the stage name
Big Jay McNeely because Cecil McNeely did not sound commercial. McNeely's first hit
was "The Deacon's Hop," an instrumental which topped the Billboard
R&B
chart
in early 1949. The single was his most successful of his three chart entries.
Thanks to his flamboyant playing, called "honking," McNeely remained popular through the 1950s and into the early 1960s, recording for the Exclusive, Aladdin, Imperial, Federal, Vee-Jay, and Swingin' labels. But despite a hit R&B ballad
, "There Is Something on Your Mind," (1959) featuring Little Sonny Warner
on vocals
, and a 1963 album
for Warner Bros. Records
, McNeely's music career began to cool off. He quit the music industry in 1971 to become a postman. However, thanks to an R&B revival in the early 1980s, McNeely left the post office and returned to touring and recording full time, usually overseas. His original tenor sax is enshrined in the Experience Music Project
in Seattle, and he was inducted into The Rhythm & Blues Hall of Fame.
Big Jay McNeely regularly performs at the International Boogie Woogie Festival in The Netherlands, and recorded an album with Martijn Schok, the festival's promoter, in 2009. The album is entitled Party Time, and one track from the album, "Get On Up and Boogie" (Parts 1, 2, and 3)", is featured on the vintage music compilation This is Vintage Now (2011).
's lively solo on Lionel Hampton
's smash 1942 hit "Flying Home." Jacquet refined the honking technique in 1944 on the first Jazz at the Philharmonic
concert in Los Angeles. Among the other saxophonists who started having honking hits in the late 1940s were Hal Singer
(with the number one R&B hit "Cornbread", Lynn Hope, Joe Houston
, Wild Bill Moore
, Freddie Mitchell
, and many more.
McNeely was credited with being the most flamboyant performer. He wore bright banana- and lime-colored suits, played under blacklights that made his horn glow in the dark, used strobe lights as early as 1952 to create an "old-time-movie" effect, and sometimes walked off the stage and out the door, usually with the club patrons following along behind. At one point, in San Diego, police arrested him on the sidewalk and hauled him off to jail, while his band kept playing on the bandstand, waiting for him to return. The honking style was fading somewhat by the early 1950s, but the honkers themselves suddenly found themselves providing rousing solos for doo wop groups; an example was Sam "The Man" Taylor's eight-bar romp on The Chords
' 1954 "Sh-Boom
." Bill Haley
also used honking sax men Joey D'Ambrosio and Rudy Pompilli
on his rock and roll
records, including "Rock Around the Clock
." However, the rise of the electric guitar
essentially ended the dominance of the tenor sax in rock and roll by 1956.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
rhythm and blues
Rhythm and blues
Rhythm and blues, often abbreviated to R&B, is a genre of popular African American music that originated in the 1940s. The term was originally used by record companies to describe recordings marketed predominantly to urban African Americans, at a time when "urbane, rocking, jazz based music with a...
saxophonist
Saxophone
The saxophone is a conical-bore transposing musical instrument that is a member of the woodwind family. Saxophones are usually made of brass and played with a single-reed mouthpiece similar to that of the clarinet. The saxophone was invented by the Belgian instrument maker Adolphe Sax in 1846...
.
Biography
Inspired by Illinois JacquetIllinois Jacquet
Jean-Baptiste Illinois Jacquet was an American jazz tenor saxophonist, best remembered for his solo on "Flying Home", critically recognized as the first R&B saxophone solo....
and Lester Young
Lester Young
Lester Willis Young , nicknamed "Prez", was an American jazz tenor saxophonist and clarinetist. He also played trumpet, violin, and drums....
, he teamed with his older brother Robert McNeely, who played baritone saxophone
Baritone saxophone
The baritone saxophone, often called "bari sax" , is one of the largest and lowest pitched members of the saxophone family. It was invented by Adolphe Sax. The baritone is distinguished from smaller sizes of saxophone by the extra loop near its mouthpiece...
, and made his first recordings
Sound recording and reproduction
Sound recording and reproduction is an electrical or mechanical inscription and re-creation of sound waves, such as spoken voice, singing, instrumental music, or sound effects. The two main classes of sound recording technology are analog recording and digital recording...
with drummer Johnny Otis
Johnny Otis
Johnny Otis is an American singer, musician, talent scout, disc jockey, composer, arranger, recording artist, record producer, vibraphonist, drummer, percussionist, bandleader, and impresario.He is commonly referred to as The Godfather Of Rhythm And Blues.-Personal life:Otis, the son of Alexander...
, who ran the Barrelhouse Club that stood only a few blocks from McNeely's home. Shortly after he performed on Otis's "Barrel House Stomp." Ralph Bass
Ralph Bass
Ralph Bass , born in The Bronx, New York of an Italian-American-Catholic father, and a German-American-Jewish mother, was an influential rhythm and blues record producer and talent scout for several independent labels and was responsible for many hit records. He was a pioneer in bringing black...
, A&R
A&R
Artists and repertoire is the division of a record label that is responsible for talent scouting and overseeing the artistic development of recording artists. It also acts as a liaison between artists and the record label.- Finding talent :...
man for Savoy Records
Savoy Records
Savoy Records is an American record label specializing in jazz, R&B and gospel. Starting in the mid 1940s, Savoy played an important part in popularizing bebop.Savoy Records is an American record label specializing in jazz, R&B and gospel. Starting in the mid 1940s, Savoy played an important part...
, promptly signed him to a recording contract
Recording contract
A recording contract is a legal agreement between a record label and a recording artist , where the artist makes a record for the label to sell and promote...
. Bass's boss, Herman Lubinsky, suggested the stage name
Pseudonym
A pseudonym is a name that a person assumes for a particular purpose and that differs from his or her original orthonym...
Big Jay McNeely because Cecil McNeely did not sound commercial. McNeely's first hit
Hit record
A hit record is a sound recording, usually in the form of a single or album, that sells a large number of copies or otherwise becomes broadly popular or well-known, through airplay, club play, inclusion in a film or stage play soundtrack, causing it to have "hit" one of the popular chart listings...
was "The Deacon's Hop," an instrumental which topped the Billboard
Billboard (magazine)
Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis...
R&B
Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs
Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs, is a chart released weekly by Billboard in the United States.The chart, initiated in 1942, is used to track the success of popular music songs in urban, or primarily African American, venues. Dominated over the years at various times by jazz, rhythm and blues, doo-wop, soul,...
chart
Record chart
A record chart is a ranking of recorded music according to popularity during a given period of time. Examples of music charts are the Hit parade, Hot 100 or Top 40....
in early 1949. The single was his most successful of his three chart entries.
Thanks to his flamboyant playing, called "honking," McNeely remained popular through the 1950s and into the early 1960s, recording for the Exclusive, Aladdin, Imperial, Federal, Vee-Jay, and Swingin' labels. But despite a hit R&B ballad
Ballad
A ballad is a form of verse, often a narrative set to music. Ballads were particularly characteristic of British and Irish popular poetry and song from the later medieval period until the 19th century and used extensively across Europe and later the Americas, Australia and North Africa. Many...
, "There Is Something on Your Mind," (1959) featuring Little Sonny Warner
Little Sonny Warner
Little Sonny Warner was an American blues singer.Haywood S. Warner was born in 1930 in Falls Church, Virginia, and in the early 1950s, Warner sang as a backing vocalist for Van Walls on the Atlantic Records releases "After Midnight" and "Open the Door"...
on vocals
Human voice
The human voice consists of sound made by a human being using the vocal folds for talking, singing, laughing, crying, screaming, etc. Its frequency ranges from about 60 to 7000 Hz. The human voice is specifically that part of human sound production in which the vocal folds are the primary...
, and a 1963 album
Album
An album is a collection of recordings, released as a single package on gramophone record, cassette, compact disc, or via digital distribution. The word derives from the Latin word for list .Vinyl LP records have two sides, each comprising one half of the album...
for Warner Bros. Records
Warner Bros. Records
Warner Bros. Records Inc. is an American record label. It was the foundation label of the present-day Warner Music Group, and now operates as a wholly owned subsidiary of that corporation. It maintains a close relationship with its former parent, Warner Bros. Pictures, although the two companies...
, McNeely's music career began to cool off. He quit the music industry in 1971 to become a postman. However, thanks to an R&B revival in the early 1980s, McNeely left the post office and returned to touring and recording full time, usually overseas. His original tenor sax is enshrined in the Experience Music Project
Experience Music Project
The EMP Museum is a museum dedicated to the history and exploration of both popular music and science fiction located in Seattle, Washington...
in Seattle, and he was inducted into The Rhythm & Blues Hall of Fame.
Big Jay McNeely regularly performs at the International Boogie Woogie Festival in The Netherlands, and recorded an album with Martijn Schok, the festival's promoter, in 2009. The album is entitled Party Time, and one track from the album, "Get On Up and Boogie" (Parts 1, 2, and 3)", is featured on the vintage music compilation This is Vintage Now (2011).
Tenor saxophone honkers
The honkers were known for their raucous stage antics and expressive, exhibitionist style of playing. They overblew their saxophones and often hit on the same note over and over, much like a black Southern preacher, until their audiences were mesmerized. The style began with Illinois JacquetIllinois Jacquet
Jean-Baptiste Illinois Jacquet was an American jazz tenor saxophonist, best remembered for his solo on "Flying Home", critically recognized as the first R&B saxophone solo....
's lively solo on Lionel Hampton
Lionel Hampton
Lionel Leo Hampton was an American jazz vibraphonist, pianist, percussionist, bandleader and actor. Like Red Norvo, he was one of the first jazz vibraphone players. Hampton ranks among the great names in jazz history, having worked with a who's who of jazz musicians, from Benny Goodman and Buddy...
's smash 1942 hit "Flying Home." Jacquet refined the honking technique in 1944 on the first Jazz at the Philharmonic
Jazz at the Philharmonic
Jazz at the Philharmonic, or JATP, was the title of a series of jazz concerts, tours and recordings produced by Norman Granz....
concert in Los Angeles. Among the other saxophonists who started having honking hits in the late 1940s were Hal Singer
Hal Singer
Harold Joseph "Hal" Singer is an American R&B and jazz bandleader and saxophonist.-Biography:Born in Tulsa, Oklahoma, Singer studied violin as a child but, as a teenager, switched to clarinet and then tenor saxophone, which became his instrument of choice...
(with the number one R&B hit "Cornbread", Lynn Hope, Joe Houston
Joe Houston
Joe Houston is an American tenor saxophonist who played jazz and rhythm and blues.-Biography:...
, Wild Bill Moore
Wild Bill Moore
William M. Moore , known as Wild Bill Moore, was an American jazz and R&B tenor saxophone player....
, Freddie Mitchell
Freddie Mitchell
Freddie Lee Mitchell, Jr. is a former American football wide receiver who played for the Philadelphia Eagles in the National Football League for four seasons. A four-sport athlete at Kathleen High School, Mitchell committed to the University of California, Los Angeles to play football for the Bruins...
, and many more.
McNeely was credited with being the most flamboyant performer. He wore bright banana- and lime-colored suits, played under blacklights that made his horn glow in the dark, used strobe lights as early as 1952 to create an "old-time-movie" effect, and sometimes walked off the stage and out the door, usually with the club patrons following along behind. At one point, in San Diego, police arrested him on the sidewalk and hauled him off to jail, while his band kept playing on the bandstand, waiting for him to return. The honking style was fading somewhat by the early 1950s, but the honkers themselves suddenly found themselves providing rousing solos for doo wop groups; an example was Sam "The Man" Taylor's eight-bar romp on The Chords
The Chords
The Chords are a 1970s British pop music group, commonly associated with the 1970s mod revival, who had several hits in their homeland, before the decline of the trend brought about their break-up...
' 1954 "Sh-Boom
Sh-Boom
"Sh-Boom" is an early doo-wop song. It was written by James Keyes, Claude Feaster, Carl Feaster, Floyd F. McRae, and James Edwards, members of the R&B vocal group The Chords and published in 1954. It was a U.S...
." Bill Haley
Bill Haley
Bill Haley was one of the first American rock and roll musicians. He is credited by many with first popularizing this form of music in the early 1950s with his group Bill Haley & His Comets and their hit song "Rock Around the Clock".-Early life and career:...
also used honking sax men Joey D'Ambrosio and Rudy Pompilli
Rudy Pompilli
Rudy Pompilli in Chester, Pennsylvania on April 16, 1924 — died February 5, 1976) was an American musician best known for playing tenor saxophone with Bill Haley and His Comets.-Biography:...
on his rock and roll
Rock and roll
Rock and roll is a genre of popular music that originated and evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s, primarily from a combination of African American blues, country, jazz, and gospel music...
records, including "Rock Around the Clock
Rock Around the Clock
"Rock Around the Clock" is a 12-bar-blues-based song written by Max C. Freedman and James E. Myers in 1952. The best-known and most successful rendition was recorded by Bill Haley and His Comets in 1954...
." However, the rise of the electric guitar
Electric guitar
An electric guitar is a guitar that uses the principle of direct electromagnetic induction to convert vibrations of its metal strings into electric audio signals. The signal generated by an electric guitar is too weak to drive a loudspeaker, so it is amplified before sending it to a loudspeaker...
essentially ended the dominance of the tenor sax in rock and roll by 1956.
Album discography
- Big Jay McNeely (1954, 10", Federal RecordsFederal RecordsFederal Records was an American record label founded in 1950 as a subsidiary of Syd Nathan's King Records and based in Cincinnati, Ohio. It was run by famed record producer Ralph Bass and was mainly devoted to Rhythm & Blues releases. But also hillbilly and rockabilly recordings were released,...
) - A Rhythm and Blues Concert (1955, 10", Savoy RecordsSavoy RecordsSavoy Records is an American record label specializing in jazz, R&B and gospel. Starting in the mid 1940s, Savoy played an important part in popularizing bebop.Savoy Records is an American record label specializing in jazz, R&B and gospel. Starting in the mid 1940s, Savoy played an important part...
) - Big Jay McNeely in 3-D (1956, Federal), (1959, King RecordsKing Records (USA)King Records is an American record label, started in 1943 by Syd Nathan and originally headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio.-History:At first it specialized in country music, at the time still known as "hillbilly music." King advertised, "If it's a King, It's a Hillbilly -- If it's a Hillbilly, it's a...
) - Live at Cisco's (1963, Warner Bros. RecordsWarner Bros. RecordsWarner Bros. Records Inc. is an American record label. It was the foundation label of the present-day Warner Music Group, and now operates as a wholly owned subsidiary of that corporation. It maintains a close relationship with its former parent, Warner Bros. Pictures, although the two companies...
)--recorded live at a jazz club in Manhattan Beach, California, in 1962. - Swingin (1984, Collectable Records)--1957-1961 recordings, including unreleased sides.
- Live at Birdland, 1957 (1992, Collectable Records)--live performances recorded in stereo at the Seattle, Washington, Birdland Club in 1957.
- Nervous (1995, Saxophile Records)--rarities, live cuts and alternate takes (from the FederalFederal RecordsFederal Records was an American record label founded in 1950 as a subsidiary of Syd Nathan's King Records and based in Cincinnati, Ohio. It was run by famed record producer Ralph Bass and was mainly devoted to Rhythm & Blues releases. But also hillbilly and rockabilly recordings were released,...
and Swingin'Swingin'"Swingin" is the title of a song co-written and recorded by American country music singer John Anderson. Released in 1983, it was included on his album Wild & Blue. The song was the second of five Number One singles in Anderson's career, spending one week at the top of the Hot Country Songs charts...
vaults) from 1951 to 1957. - Crazy (1997, Saxophile Records)--same as Nervous above.
- Central Avenue Confidential (1999, Atomic Theory Records)--Big Jay plays jazz with a combo featuring Red Young on B-3 organ.
- Big Jay McNeely, The Deacon, Unabridged, Vol. 1, 1948-1950 (2006, Swingin' Records)--his complete 1948-1955 released output.
- Big Jay McNeely, The Deacon, Unabridged, Vol. 2, 1951-1952 (2006, Swingin' Records)
- Big Jay McNeely, The Deacon, Unabridged, Vol. 3, 1953-1955 (2006, Swingin' Records)
- Saxy Boogie Woogie (2008, Vagabond Records) with Axel ZwingenbergerAxel ZwingenbergerAxel Zwingenberger is a blues and boogie-woogie pianist, and songwriter. He is considered one of the finest boogie-woogie music masters in the world.-Biography:...
& The Bad Boys - Party Time (2009)