Sax on the beach, or, your favorite songs w/horns.

Cafe Society
1

What’s your favorite songs featuring horns (a whole section or solo)? Here’s a few of mine:

  1. Most of Chicago’s big hits.

  2. Ditto Earth, Wind, and Fire (and the Phoenix Horns work w/Genesis & Phil COllins (don’t throw things))

  3. “Judy in Disguise (with glasses)” - John Fred & His Playboy Band

  4. “Penny Lane” - Beatles

  5. “Baker Street” - Gerry Rafferty

  6. “The One You Love” - Glen Frey

  7. “Java” - Al Hirt

  8. “Rise” - Herb Alpert

  9. “Grazing in the Grass” - Friends of Distinction

  10. “Age of Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In” - The Fifth Dimension

There’s more of course, but these come immediately to mind.

Side note: HATED Blood, Sweat, and Tears stuff. The horns always sounded, I don’t know, cheesy?

2

Soulfinger!

By the Barkays.

You just gotta dance.

3

“Pick Up The Pieces” by Average White Band.

One of the songs that reminds people that a saxophone can be used for things other than
[ul]
[li]Porn[/li][li]Kenny G.[/li][/ul]
I play the saxphone and I can’t stand KennyG.

4

Friends of Whoozis…? I love “Grazing in the Grass,” but I thought it was a Hugh Maskela tune. The one with the cowbells, y’know?

My pick is the entire ROCK OF AGES live album by The Band…their 1971-72 New Year’s Eve concert, featuring a five-man horn section (staffed by musicians interinstrumentally skilled enough to encompass everything from tuba and baritone saxophone to English horn and E-flat clarinet) overseen by New Orleans legend Allen Toussaint.

5

Know Your Product by The Saints.

Side 2 of the Funhouse record, by the Stooges.

I Hate Music by Mad.

Ascension by John Coletrane (either version).

6

Most anything by James Brown…Maceo Parkers solo albumns…Reel Big Fish and some of that No Doubt/ska type music. Its all good.
peace,
JB

7

Oh Bondage, Up Yours- X-Ray Specs

and

New York’s All Right (If You Like Saxophones) - Fear

8

Theme to ** “Cagney and Lacey” **

9

“Do That Stuff” by George Clinton/Parliament/Funkadelic et al

10

I agree with almost all of Mr. Blue Sky’s choices; he saved me from having to type all that. However, I do love Blood, Sweat and Tears.

Other favorites:

“Love is the Answer” by England Dan and John Ford Coley.

“Our House” by Madness.

“The Captain of Her Heart” by Double.

“Zoot Suit Riot” by Cherry Poppin’ Daddies.

“Brand New Day” by Sting (I LOVE this song)

I know there are so many more, but I can’t think of them right now. Looking forward to what others say.

Sheri

11

Three old old ones I like…

  1. “True Love Ways” (Buddy Holly…Sweet.)

  2. “Reminiscing” (Buddy Holly…IIRC this was with King Curtis)

  3. “I Want That” by Johnny Kidd and the Pirates (British band. This was a single B-side). Most insane solo I’ve ever heard.

12

Careless whisper (George Michael) would be my second choice after the already mentioned awesome Baker Street.

13

I think its a requirement for sax players not to stand Kenny G. I do and so do all my sax friends, as well as most musicians I know. They recognize his lack of talent, I just can’t stnad that he always plays almost a half-step sharp due to his style of playing, his massive vibrato sounds sick too.
As for cool songs with horns:
Superman by Goldfinger
Anything by Reel Big Fish
Maceo Parker is cool too(Pass the Peas)
Mighty Mighty Bosstones are another cool ska group
Chicago songs are cool too

14

Most of The [English] Beat’s stuff. Very simple, but effective.

“In My Own Dream” by the Butterfield Blues Band. Killer solo at the end. Totally revised my image of David Sanborn.

I second the Earth Wind and Fire and AWB references.

15

Okay, I come to this late, I apologize, press of business, you know.

My assumption is that this is really more of a popular music thread than one about other genres and is really about horn sections behind singers, so I’ll try to keep it in those parameters.

Nobody likes Kenny G 'cause it’s the weasel horn. I don’t care if Coltrane DID play it, face it, it’s that weasel horn sound. (Kenny G also has all the musical taste of a dead pig in the sunshine but what the heck.)

I like most everything that has swinging horns behind it and y’all have mentioned quite a few of my personal favorites. (The Band and Maceo in particular.)

Let me also mention some other stuff:

Taj Mahal’s work with brass players, most especially his “The Real Thing” with five tubas, recorded live at the Fillmore East. DISCLAIMER: The fact that one of the performers on this album is my mentor and friend in no way affects my recommendation of an incredible body of work. In fact, the man is all over this thread but it can’t be helped.

Every single Motown song with the big horns behind 'em . . . the Supremes, the Temps, the Tops, Smokey Robinson, etc. Every time I hear one of those old songs with the big bari and bass sax licks I want one of my own all over again. (Like I don’t have enough problems with tubas.)

The collected works of Wilson Pickett, with those Muscle Shoals guys.

And always, always, always, any blues band with horns. The way it oughta be.

your humble TubaDiva
okay, so I’m prejudiced.

16

My son, who is learning to play the trumpet, has a thing for anything by Kool and the Gang. He also loves the coronet in The Good, The Bad and the Ugly.

17

This’ll sound weird, but KC and the Sunshine has an ass-kicking horn section.

There. I said it and I’m proud of it.

18

Easy for me – Swingout Sister’s version of Am I The Same Girl has awesome horns. My very favorite, must--crank-it horn song.

19

Since no one has mentioned it, I’ll chime in with one of my favorites:

“Vehicle” by the Ides of March

Lyrics, in case you don’t remember off the top of your head.

And of course anything by the JB’s.

20

Springsteen - Jungleland