SEARS, Big Al
Seariously

CD with 28-page booklet, 25 tracks, playing time: 82 mns. - He invented R&B saxophony! He started with Duke Ellington and ended up leading the house bands on those fabulous rock'n'roll tours! Jazz and R&B fans will want this. Tenor sax comes no better! New York was loaded with blasting R&B tenor saxophonists during the 1950s. Their frantic wails helped define rock 'n' roll during its formative years. In that scene, Big Al Sears was a titan among titans. Prior to his full-fledged leap into the R&B arena, Big Al played with the orchestras of Andy Kirk and Duke Ellington, later blowing his mighty horn loud and long on Johnny Hodges' 1951 instrumental hit 'Castle Rock'. 'Sear-iously' deals with his swinging 1949-1956 sides as a bandleader for Coral, RCA Victor, Herald, and Groove, when scorching instrumentals were in vogue and the bespectacled saxist was in the vanguard of it all. Backed by a coterie of New York heavy hitters including saxman Budd Johnson, guitarist Mickey Baker, bassist Milt Hinton, and drummer Panama Francis, Sears rattles the rafters time and. Big Al's big tone could instantly ignite any audience.