Album Notes

Blues and Soul fans from Amsterdam to Australia have seen Sax Gordon in the bands of some of the music's brightest stars. Solomon Burke, Kim Wilson, Sherman Robertson, and Junior Watson are just a few in recent years to have benefited from Gordon's exciting and unique sound. But now, for the first time on record, we have a chance to hear three-time W.C. Handy Award nominee Sax Gordon live and on the loose, doing his own thing. This recording captures the modern-day sax wildman in top form, blasting through a set that shows off the whole spectrum of extreme R&B sax sounds. Wild sax the way it should be, from the rockinest horn man on the planet today!

Live at the Sax Blast was recorded in September 2002, when Boston Blues Festival founder/director Greg Sarni presented two of today's greatest exponents of R&B saxophone in conjunction with his yearly festival. Topping the bill that night at the newly revitalized Regent Theater in Arlington, MA was the greatest living legend of honking sax, Big Jay McNeely himself. Appearing first, Boston's own contender in the screaming sax category, Sax Gordon Beadle. The excitement and energy of Gordon's opening set that night has been captured on Live at the Sax Blast.

"I been seeing Big Jay whenever I could but I never had to open a show for him before!" Gordon said when asked about performing before the greatest R&B sax honker the world has ever seen. The pressure doesn't seem to have done any harm as Gordon takes it to the limit, pushing the horn to the extremes right from the opening number until he treats the audience to the deep feeling of Melancholy Serenade, using extraordinary technique and control to conjure up the dark and dramatic mood that is the flip-side and oft-neglected part of the rockin' R&B sax tradition.

While many people think of the sax only as a Swing, Jump Blues, or Jazz instrument, Gordon's set shows a greater range of the instrument's possibilities. Tino's Dream and Walk With Me reflect the Soul/Gospel sound with soaring lines played with all the intensity of an impassioned Soul shouter. "I had to try Walk With Me after hearing a version by Texas preacher and Gospel sax player Dr. Vernard Johnson. I think it was only the second time the band played it but it came out pretty well. It sure helps to have such a great band to work with!" said Gordon about the top-shelf band of Boston/Rhode Island musicians that worked with him that night. Marty Ballou (bass), Marty Richards (drums) and Tom West (piano/organ) are all present on Gordon's highly acclaimed studio recordings while Chris "Stovall" Brown (guitar) is one of the first New England band leaders to have given Gordon a break when he came on the scene almost 20 years ago.

Other songs like DD Rider and FLA place the old R&B sax tradition into a newer, funkier context, while Gordon's signature originals Have Horn will Travel and That Little Town Rocks feature the straight-ahead honkin' and rockin' sound that will always be the trademark of R&B saxophone and Sax Gordon.