Wednesday, July 04, 2007

Boots Randolph, R. I. P.

One of the greats from the soundtrack of my life.

Sax Player Boots Randolph Dead at 80 -- OrlandoSentinel.com: "He recorded more than 40 albums and spent 15 years touring with the Festival of Music, teaming with fellow instrumentalists Chet Atkins and Floyd Cramer.

As a session musician, he played on Elvis Presley's 'Return to Sender,' Roy Orbison's 'Oh, Pretty Woman,' Brenda Lee's 'Rockin' Round the Christmas Tree' and 'I'm Sorry,' REO Speedwagon's 'Little Queenie,' Al Hirt's 'Java' and other songs including ones by Buddy Holly and Johnny Cash.

He had his biggest solo hit with 'Yakety Sax,' which he wrote.

''Yakety Sax' will be my trademark,' Randolph said in a 1990 interview with The Associated Press. 'I'll hang my hat on it. It's kept me alive. Every sax player in the world has tried to play it. Some are good, some are awful.' "

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Sorry to hear that. An elderly friend of ours (who has now passed away) used to enjoy telling everyone she knew that Boots Randolph's daddy taught her to play the guitar.

Have a great Fourth, Bill! Oh, I'm about to start reading MURDER AMONG THE OWLS by some guy named Crider.

Unknown said...

It's been raining steadily here for 12-15 hours. No celebrations in Alvin.

Hope you like that book.

Ivan G Shreve Jr said...

Thanks for the heads up on Boots, Bill. If it weren't for you, I'd have no idea who's still among us.

Anonymous said...

Boots had another hit called "Lavender Sax" that was a favorite of my WWII Mom and Dad. My father passed away 20 years ago. He would have been 85 this year. He never heard a Boots Randolph song without getting up to do a few steps. I can still picture him and my Mom dancing to those beautiful saxaphone tones!!

Unknown said...

Boots was indeed one of the greats, for more than one generation.