When Charlie Parker and other beboppers were demonstrating how complex and intellectual saxophone playing could be, the honkers favored a much more accessible, groove-oriented approach. Gordon Sax Gordon Beadle's funky, grits-and-gravy style of tenor sax playing is right out of the honker school, and his very extroverted You Knock Me Out is a throwback to the days when Willis Jackson, Big Jay McNeely, Arnett Cobb, Doc Sausage, and others weren't afraid to play the you-know-what out of their horns. Indeed, hard-blowing instrumentals like Crawling Home, Lorenzo Leaps In, and Speed Rack (all of them Gordon originals) sound like they could have been written in the late 1940s or early 1950s. Red Tyler's Lonely for You, with its dusky, evocative, Harlem Nocturne-ish mood, conjures up thoughts of an era of burlesque shows, Mike Hammer novels, and film-noir thrillers starring Veronica Lake and Alan Ladd. Though Gordon loves the honker era, the saxman/singer occasionally detours into 1960s soul. 90 MPH (one of the tunes he sings on), for instance, and BY-YA wouldn't have been out of place on a Stax release in the 1960s; the latter, in fact, has a Booker T-ish appeal thanks to Tom West's organ playing. No, this jazz/R&B/blues effort isn't innovative, and yes, Gordon plays his share of clichés, but he plays them with a lot of heart and passion, making You Know Me Out quite rewarding if you're a lover of the tenor saxophone's honker school. ~ Alex Henderson, Rovi

1		90 Mph
2		Mishnock Rock
3		Lonely For You
4		You Knock Me Out
5		Speed Rack
6		By-Ya
7		Lorenzo Leaps In
8		That Little Town Rocks
9		Tino's Dream
10		Big Mouth
11		Bug Hunt
12		Twenty Dollar Gig
13		Crawling Home

	Like us on Facebook
	@SoundHound	Follow