TEXAS TENORS & THE BIG BEAT
By Marshall Bowden

Texas is a miniature of the cultural and musical melting pot that is American music. Texas shares a border with Louisiana, inheriting some of that state's French and Caribbean roots, and when it comes to the blues, Texas has its own style. Texas blues is not like Delta blues or Chicago blues or blues from the other southern states. Texas blues is a stylistic mélange made by musicians from backgrounds as varied as you can imagine: Mance Lipscomb, Lightnin' Hopkins, Big Mama Thornton, Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown, and Pee Wee Crayton are just a few of Texas' widely varied blues performers.

Texas turned the roadhouse into a cottage industry, with its country ethos and rock n' roll bad boy subtext. The state has inherited a vast array of music—country, blues, cowboy songs, Cajun, Mexican, R&B, Rock & Roll. Hell, Texas even has its very own gumbo—chili!! Texas has another musical tradition, the Texas tenor. The Texas tenor is a tenor sax slinger with a sound as wide open and freewheeling as the Lone Star State. Honed by blues influences, able to honk and walk the bar with the best of the R&B tenor men, sharpened by the study of jazz greats Lester Young and Ben Webster, with a sprinkling of Coleman Hawkins. Some of them weren't even born in Texas and many ended up somewhere else, but they all were stamped by a similar configuration of influences that allowed listeners to discern a unique set of voices on the jazz horizon. These musicians and their recordings have given me some of my most pleasurable listening moments, but you won't hear about them in most educational programs or read about them in many of the jazz histories at your local bookstore. That's largely because they did one thing and did it well—they could swing hard, play beautifully, and execute ideas that connect instantly with the listener without making any stylistic concessions.

In many ways Arnett Cobb sounds the closest to Lester Young—just listen to his playing on the recent Prestige reissue Movin' Right Along, and particularly to his work on the track "Softly, As In a Morning Sunrise." His statement of the melody and solo rely on a total relaxation, a flirting with the beat that demonstrates the improvisor's impenetrable armor of cool. Then, on the following track, "Fast Ride" he'd playing a rablle-rousing Illinois Jacquet-style R&B intro before launching into a near-KC swing groove (it's just a bit too fast) that again recalls Young. The fat, open sound that most of the Texas tenors use is a more muscular sound than that of Young, but Cobb is capable of affecting much the same tone of urbane sophistication as Lester.

Interestingly, Cobb was Illinois Jacquet's replacement in Lionel Hampton's band, playing with the group from 1942 until 1947. He took over the tenor solo in Hampton's classic piece "Flying Home", which had made Jacquet famous. Cobb reworked the solo and became almost as famous for it as Jacquet had, even recording "Flying Home No. 2" with Hampton. Like Jacquet before him, Cobb became known as a "wild man" and was encouraged to play histrionic shrieks and squawks. While he was quite popular, Cobb's talent as a unique tenor saxophonist was largely overlooked during this period. He was sidelined by a spinal operation and illness from 1948 to around 1951. In 1956 or '57 (sources vary) he had a near-fatal car crash and was told he would not play again. He had already recorded several sessions for Prestige, and these continued to be released during his recuperation. Soon he was again playing and recording for Prestige, and his new recordings demonstrated that he was more than, in Leroi Jones' words, "an old swinging work horse stomper." Listen to the heartbreaking beauty of Cobb's interpretation of "(I Don't Stand) A Ghost of a Chance (With You)" and you'll forget about the "wild man" moniker forever.

Illinois Jacquet recorded his famous solo on Hampton's "Going Home" when he was just 19 years old. He continued to work with Hampton until he supposedly realized, one night in Detroit that people were coming to hear him as much as they were coming to hear the Hampton band. Afterward he worked with Cab Calloway and Count Basie while leading his own successful groups on the side. From 1950 on he was a principal soloist with Norman Granz's Jazz at the Philharmonic tours, and he later toured Europe with Arnett Cobb and Buddy Tate as Texas Tenors. Just like Cobb, Jacquet became known initially as a saxophone "wild man" who could drive audiences into a frenzy by playing squeaks, squawks, and prolonged high notes. This was due, in part, to the nature of the Jazz at the Philharmonic audience, which was not generally an audience of jazz aficionados but rather the general public. They came to see a blowing session and, as Granz himself noted, the concerts were selling excitement, not music. On his own, Jacquet became a much mellower player, working with small groups and his own Jazz Legends big band. His work on ballads is transcendent and often echoes the work of Coleman Hawkins, who certainly influenced Jacquet.

James Clay was another Texas tenor who is perhaps best known for his long service in Ray Charles' band. Clay retired after a decade with Charles, but later returned, playing with Billy Higgins in the 1980s. He also rehearsed with Ornette Coleman in Los Angeles in the 1950s and is sometimes said to have influenced Coleman, though he has never played anything remotely like the free jazz sound that Coleman made famous. On his debut Riverside recording, The Sound of Wide Open Spaces!!! (also Cannonball Adderley's debut as a producer; he "discovered" Clay in L.A.) it is usually accepted that Clay is overshadowed by the work of fellow Texas sax player David "Fathead" Newman as well as by Wynton Kelly's hyper-swinging piano work. Perhaps, but one must remember that Clay was only 24 at the time of this recording, and that he is much more bebop influenced than Newman. In general, this is not a groundbreaking recording, but much more of a blowing session—if you heard this performance in a nightclub, you would not feel you'd wasted your evening at all. On the later Cookin' at the Continental Clay is commanding and every bit the equal of Newman, and the recording also features solid performances by trumpeter Roy Hargrove and bassist Christian McBride.

David "Fathead" Newman is a giant presence in the annals of Texas musicians and has worked in a variety of performing and recording situations including R&B bands, small group work, backing vocalists, and big bands. Newman was influenced early on by Louis Jordan and later by Basie sideman Buster Smith. He preceded James Clay in Ray Charles' band and has continued to be a presence in the recording studio and on the music scene right up until today. His work on the recording Bluesiana, a collaboration between Newman, drummer Art Blakey, and pianist Mac Rebennack (Dr. John) is excellent, as is his playing on his two recordings with Clay, The Sound of Wide Open Spaces!!! and Cookin' at the Continental. Other standout recordings include Fathead—Ray Charles Presents David Newman, Straight Ahead, and House of David.

Buddy Tate first came to notice as a member of the original Count Basie band in the 1930s. Tate was influenced primarily by Ben Webster, Coleman Hawkins, and Herschel Evans, who he replaced in Basie's band. Tate had the big Texas tenor sound, and he also distinguished himself with his clarinet playing. A native of Sherman, TX, Tate played in bands led by such jazz luminaries as Hot Lips Page, Jimmy Rushing, and Andy Kirk. He toured into the '70s with Benny Goodman, Jay McShann, and fellow tenor saxophonist Paul Quinichette. A particularly interesting and excellent recording by Tate is Buddy Tate Meets Abdullah Ibrahim: The Legendary 1977 Encounter, on which Tate plays with the verve and vigor of a man half his age, and Ibrahim provides swinging and sympathetic accompaniment. Also worth checking out is the recording Milt Buckner/Illinois Jacquet/Buddy Tate, on which the two Texas tenor men play with legendary swing organist Buckner.

Dewey Redman came from a different generation of players, but he has the unmistakable hallmarks of the Texas tenor: an open, big sound, inventiveness, and a fierce independence. Though Redman moved to California before he was well known, he found his niche collaborating with another Lone Star graduate, Ornette Coleman. Redman recorded some excellent work with Coleman, drummer Elvin Jones, and bassist Jimmy Garrison. He has also worked with Charlie Haden and the Liberation Orchestra, Carla Bley, and Keith Jarrett. He played on such pivotal Jarrett recordings as Survivors Suite and Fort Yawuh. Much of his earlier work is now back in print, and standouts include Ear of the Behearer, recorded right as Redman was winding up his association with Ornette Coleman, and Tarik, a trio recording featuring drummer Ed Blackwell and bassist Malachi Favors. Redman, who is the father of young tenor star Joshua Redman, is far too often overlooked in the annals of jazz tenor sax players, despite his skill with forms that included bebop, the blues, music from other cultures, and his own unique style.