PAUL " HUCKLE BUCK " WILLIAMS

No es el saxo un instrumento que aparezca con frecuencia en SENTIR EL BLUES, a pesar de que grandes saxofonistas participaron siempre de orquestas o grupos de Blues y  R&B , acreedor de un bagaje digno de encomio , ( acompañó en su momento a AMOS MILBURN , ver video ) hoy os presentamos al  saxofonista y director de orquesta Paul Williams obtuvo  uno de los primeros grandes éxitos de la era de R & B en 1949 con "El Hucklebuck", una adaptación de Charlie Parker "Ahora es el momento." La canción encabezó las listas de R & B durante 14 semanas en 1949, y fue uno de los tres Top Ten y otros cinco Top 20 R & B  éxitos instrumentales que Williams anotó de Saboya en 1948 y 1949. Había tocado  con Clarence Dorsey en 1946 y luego hizo su grabación debutar con King Porter en 1947 por el Paraíso antes de formar su propia banda a finales de ese año. Saxofonistas Noble "Thin Man" Watts y Wild Bill Moore, trompetista Phil Guilbeau, y vocalistas Danny Cobb, Jimmy Brown, Joan Shaw, y Connie Allen estaban entre miembros de la banda de Williams. Formó parte posterior de Atlantic Records 'banda de la casa en los años 60, y dirigió las Lloyd Price y James Brown orquestas hasta 1964. Después de dejar el negocio de la música temporalmente, Williams abrió una agencia de reservas en Nueva York en 1968. Su otro Top Ten golpea eran "35-30" en 1948 y "Walkin 'Around" en 1949.

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Paul "Hucklebuck" Williams (July 13, 1915 – September 14, 2002) was an American blues and rhythm and blues saxophonist and songwriter. In his Honkers and Shouters, Arnold Shaw credits Williams as one of the first to employ the honking tenor sax solo that became the hallmark of rhythm and blues and rock and roll in the 1950s and early 1960s.

After performing with Clarence Dorsey and King Porter he formed his own band in 1947. He was best known for his 1949 hit, "The Hucklebuck", a twelve-bar blues that also spawned a dance craze. The single went to number one on the U.S. Billboard R&B chart. He used the billing of Paul Williams and his Hucklebuckers thereafter.

Williams' recording was covered by Tommy Dorsey and Frank Sinatra, as well as by R&B artists Roy Milton and Lionel Hampton, but Williams' Savoy recording was still the best-selling rhythm and blues song of the year. Shaw points out that "The Hucklebuck" was an early example of crossover from R&B to mainstream popular music. The Williams version sold half a million copies by some estimates. The melody of the song was based on Charlie Parker's "Now's the Time".

In later years, during the rock era, in 1960, Chubby Checker peaked at number fourteen with his version of the song, while in 1963 Brendan Bowyer and the Royal Showband became the first Irish artists to top the Irish singles chart with their cover, staying at the top for seven weeks. British Rockabilly band Coast to Coast reached number 3 in the UK Singles Chart in 1981 with a cover called "(Do) the Hucklebuck". In 2010, Crystal Swing had a hit with the song.

With Tiny Grimes, Williams co-headlined the first Moondog Coronation Ball, promoted by Alan Freed in Cleveland on March 21, 1952, often claimed as the first rock and roll concert.

Williams later worked in the Atlantic Records house band, and was musical director for Lloyd Price and James Brown.

Williams died in September 2002, in New York City, at the age of 87.

                             

The song Boogie Mr. Williams appears on one of three album recordings. Paul Williams The Complete Recordings Volume 1 1947 - 1949, Paul Williams The Complete Recordings Volume 2 1949 - 1952, and Paul Williams The Complete Recordings Volume 3 1952 - 1956.

                                                                                       
                           

Composed by Paul Williams

Paul Williams:Alto Sax

Walter Cox:Tenor Sax

John Lawton:Trumpet

T.J. Fowler:Piano

Hank Ivory:Bass

Clarence Stamps:Drums

Recorded in Detroit, MI. Friday, September 5, 1947

Originally issued on the 1947 single (Savoy 659) (78 RPM)

This recording taken from the 1999 CD "Paul Williams:The Complete Recordings Vol. 1 1947-1949" 

                           

                          

R&B legend Amos Milburn filmed live from 1954 backed by The Paul Williams' Orchestra for the syndicated series "Showtime At The Apollo".