Hank Crawford

Bennie Ross " Hank " Crawford (born 21 December 1934 in Memphis, Tennessee; † January 29, 2009 ) was an American alto saxophonist of rhythm and blues, hard bop and soul, funk and fusion jazz. He was also a composer and arranger.

Life

Crawford began on the piano and started playing in church. In high school he was a member of the school band The Rhythm Bombers. As a saxophonist he called both rhythm-and - blues musicians such as Louis Jordan and Earl Bostic and Johnny Hodges as role models. His school friends included Booker Little, George Coleman and Phineas Newborn. After school, he began playing in Memphis in the bands of Junior Parker, Ike Turner, BB King and Bobby "Blue" Bland. In 1958 he arrived in Nashville, where he attended college, Ray Charles, in which he remained until 1963 ( initially as a baritone saxophonist, then as alto saxophonist, most recently as musical director of the companion volume, partly he also arranged for Charles). During his time with Charles, he also recorded his first solo album for Atlantic, where he brought out some rhythm-and - blues albums until 1970. In the 1970s, he joined the label CTI / Kudu by Creed Taylor, with clearer jazz and funk orientation ( I Hear a Symphony 1975 Arrangement David Matthews), in the 1980s to Milestone ( South Central, among other things, with Stanhope ). He took with his own groups and, inter alia, on with guitarist Melvin Sparks, organist Jimmy McGriff and with Eric Clapton and arranged for other musicians such as Etta James, Johnny Copeland, Lou Rawls and Dr. John.