The Sounds Inside My Mind

I wrote up this post almost two months ago with the hopes of adding a few more examples. I haven’t gotten around to do that, so I’ll post it as-is.

After the recent death of Bobby Keys, I spent some time thing about my favorite rock n roll sax solos. The sax solo is a time-honored tradition, and I’m sure there are many lists already compiled that would be a much more interesting read than anything I could come up with, but I did think about one aspect of the sax solo that probably doesn’t get nearly enough attention: the sax player shout out by the front man. So, here is a list of some of my favorite shout outs.

• Bruce Springsteen to Clarence Clemmons: “Blow, Big Man, blow!”
• Randy Newman to Ernie Watts (imitating Springsteen): “Blow, Big Man, blow”
• Billy Joel to Richie Cannata: “All Right, Rico!”
• Stan Freberg to ?: “That’s close enough for jazz”
• Gary “U.S.” Bonds to Gene “Daddy G” Barge: “Blow Daddy!”