JANICE'S BLUES ALLEY PRESENTS
Big Jay McNeely
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As one of the titans who made tenor sax the solo instrument of choice during rock's primordial era, Big Jay McNeely could peel the paper right off the walls with his sheets of squealing, honking horn riffs. His mighty tenor sax squawking and wailing with wild-eyed abandon, McNeely blew up a torrid R&B tornado from every conceivable position -- on his knees, on his back, even being wheeled down the street on an auto mechanic's "creeper" like a modern-day pied piper.
Cecil McNeely and his older brother Bob (who blew baritone sax lines with Jay in unison precision on some of Jay's hottest instrumentals) grew up in the Los Angeles neighborhood of Watts, where jazz reigned on the bustling nightlife strip. Inspired by Illinois Jacquet and tutored by Jack McVea, McNeely struck up a friendship with Johnny Otis, co-owner of the popular Barrelhouse nitery. Ralph Bass, a friend of Otis, produced McNeely's debut date for Savoy Records in 1948 (Savoy boss Herman Lubinsky tagged the saxist Big Jay, in his eyes a cooler and more commercial name than Cecil). McNeely's raucous one-note honking on "The Deacon's Hop" gave him and Savoy an R&B chart-topper in 1949, and his follow-up, "Wild Wig," also hit big for the young saxist with the acrobatic stage presence.
From Savoy, McNeely moved to Exclusive in 1949, Imperial in 1950-1951, King's Federal subsidiary in 1952-1954 (where he cut some of his wildest waxings, including the mind-boggling "3-D"), and Vee-Jay in 1955. McNeely's live shows were the stuff that legends are made of. He electrified a sweaty throng of thousands packing L.A.'s Wrigley Field in 1949 by blowing his sax up through the stands and then from home plate to first base on his back. A fluorescently painted sax that glowed in the dark was another of his showstopping gambits.
In 1958, McNeely cut his last hit in a considerably less frantic mode with singer Little Sonny Warner. The bluesy "There Is Something on Your Mind" was committed to tape in Seattle but came out on L.A. disc jockey Hunter Hancock's Swingin' imprint the next year. McNeely's original was a huge smash, but it was eclipsed the following year by New Orleans singer Bobby Marchan's dramatic R&B chart-topping version for Fire. Since then, it's been covered countless times, including a fine rendition by Conway Twitty.
Honking saxists had fallen from favor by the dawn of the '60s, so McNeely eventually became a mailman and found religion, joining the Jehovah's Witnesses. Happily, his horn came back out of the closet during the early '80s. McNeely went on to record for his own little label and tour the country and overseas regularly. Big Jay remained active well into the 21st century; in 2014 he released a collaboration with the group the Engenius, and in 2016 he dropped an album that mixed re-recordings of his classic hits along with new material titled Blowin' Down the House: Big Jay's Latest & Greatest. Big Jay McNeely died in September 2018 at the age of 91.
-- Bill Dahl of All Music Guide.
Janice's Notes . . .
Big Jay McNeely was the star of the shows aboard the 'Doo-Wop Cruise' May 12-19, 2012, with Matt The Cat. I was fortunate enough to be one of the original "Night Prowlers" on board. Imagine the joy and excitement of meeting such an Icon and talking with him in person! He was as great as ever, and still going strong at the age of 85. I will always remember those performances and the cruise. I made lots of new friends aboard this cruise.
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01. The Goof 02. Ice Water 03. Big Jay Shuffle 04. Rock Candy 05. Whipped Cream 06. Hot Cinders |
07. 3-D 08. Hard Tack 09. Nervous Man, Nervous 10. Mule Milk 11. Let's Work 12. Beachcomber |
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01. I Hope You're All Right 02. Insect Ball 03. Tenderly 04. Havana Hop 05. Flying Home 06. Minnie 07. Back. . .Shack. . .Track 08. Honky Tonk |
09. I Got A Woman 10. Things Ain't What They Used To Be 11. How High The Moon 12. Oh, What A Fool 13. Roadhouse Boogie/Let 'Em Roll 14. There Is Something On Your Mind 15. Deacon's Hop 16. My Darling Dear |
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01. Harlem Nocturne 02. Camden Bounce 03. Some Kinda Boogie 04. Just Because 05. Jumpin' With Jay |
06. Strollin' Sax 07. Pembridge Court 08. Catalina Swing 09. Rockin' The Reeds |
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01. Gila Moon 02. Zydeco Stroll 03. Summertime 04. Phoenix Hambone 05. All The Wine Is Gone 06. Short On Bread |
07. Young Girl Blues 08. Mercury Falling 09. Mean Man Blues 10. Camelback Drive 11. Big Jay's Shuffle 12. Scooby-Doo Blues |
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01. Flying Home 02. There Is Something On Your Mind 03. Back. . .Shack. . .Track 04. I Got The Message 05. Psycho Serenade 06. Minnie 07. My Darling, Dear 08. Oh No, Daddy-O |
09. Blue Couch Boogie 10. I Love You, Oh Darling 11. Oh, What A Fool 12. Before Midnight 13. After Midnight 14. Havana Hop 15. Annie Lou 16. Sungi Mungi |
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01. Big Jay's Shuffle 02. Perdido 03. You Don't Have To Go 04. Big Boy 05. Big Jay's Count 06. Cisco's |
07. Sunset 08. Deacon's Hop 09. Further On Up The Road 10. Shake It, Shake It, Baby 11. (The Closing) The Party's Over |
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01. Roadhouse Boogie 02. Salt & Pepper 03. Real Crazy Cool 04. Tall Brown Woman 05. Deacon Blows For Ray 06. Deacon's Hop 07. Blow, Blow, Blow 08. The Goof 09. Body And Soul 10. Insect Ball |
11. Tenderly 12. Bamboo Vamp 13. Oh What A Fool 14. You Send Me 15. There Is Something On Your Mind 16. Back. . .Shack. . .Track 17. My Darling Dear 18. Minnie 19. I Got The Message 20. Psycho Serenade |
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01. Insect Ball 02. Sad Story 03. All That Wine Is gone 04. Don't Cry Baby 05. Let's Do It 06. I'll Never Love Again 07. Love From The Heart 08. Old Black Mule 09. The Deacon Blows For Ray 10. Tall Brown Woman |
11. Deacon Rides Again 12. Blow, Blow, Blow 13. Jay walk 14. Night Ride 15. Jet Fury 16. Deacon's Express 17. The Goof 18. Penthouse Serenade 19. Just Crazy 20. Big Jay Shuffle |
| Disc 1 01. Wild Wig 02. Sunday Dinner 03. Deacon's Groove(Cool Blood) 04. Man Eater 05. California Hop 06. Cherry Smash 07. The Deacon's Hop 08. Artie's Jump 09. Midnight Dreams 10. Blow Big Jay 11. Boogie In Front 12. Willie The Cool Cat 13. Gingercake 14. K & H Boogie 15. Roadhouse Boogie 16. Hoppin' with Hunter 17. Tondelayo 18. Junie-Flip 19. Jay's Frantic 20. Let's Split 21. Real Crazy cool 22. Deacon's Blowout 23. Insect Ball 24. Sad Story 25. All That Wine Is Gone 26. Don't Cry Baby 27. Tall Brown Woman 28. Deacon Blows For Ray |
Disc 2 01. Let's Do It Over 02. I'll Never Love Again 03. Love From The Heart 04. Old Black Mule 05. Deacon Rides Again 06. Blow, Blow, Blow 07. Jay Walk 08. Night Ride 09. Jet Fury 10. Deacon's Express 11. The Good 12. Penthouse Serenade 13. Just Crazy 14. Big Jay Shuffle 15. Third Dimension (3-D) 16. Nervous Man, Nervous 17. Rock Candy 18. Texas Turkey 19. She Don't Work 20. Hot Cinders 21. Mule Milk 22. Ice Water 23. Whipped Cream 24. Beachcomber 25. Let's Work 26. Strip Tease Swing 27. Hard Tack |
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01. I Can't Stop Loving You 02. Dixieland Boogie 03. Big Fat Mama 04. I Want To Be With You 05. Pretty Girls Everywhere 06. Jay Meets Rinus 07. Toom Toom 08. Insect Ball |
09. Get On Up And Boogie 10. Party Time 11. Big Ali 12. Critical Times 13. You Are My Life 14. I Love You So Much 15. Boogie Till The Break Of Dawn |
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01. Love Will Never Fail 02. Love Is Stronger Than Hurt 03. My Love Never Ended 04. I've Been Mistreated 05. You Don't Have to Go Home 06. Party (Live) |
07. Big Jay's Hop 08. Blow Blow Blow 09. Willie the Cool Cat 10. Rock Candy 11. Nervous Man Nervous 12. Get on Up & Let's Boogie (Live) |
