[JPL] Saxophonist Boots Randolph Dies (Washington Post Obit)

[Jazz Promo Services]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/07/03/AR2007070301
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Saxophonist Boots Randolph Dies

By Adam Bernstein
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, July 3, 2007; 6:10 PM

Boots Randolph, 80, a versatile saxophonist best remembered for his 1963
recording of "Yakety Sax," whose zany melody spiced the girl-chasing comedy
sketches of TV star Benny Hill, died July 3 at Skyline Medical Center in
Nashville. He had a cerebral hemorrhage.

Starting in the late 1950s, Mr. Randolph's saxophone abilities brought him
to prominence as one of Nashville's elite back-up, or session, players known
as the A-Team. He became a vital part of the "Nashville Sound" that blended
country and pop influences.

He was featured on such bubblegum hits as singer Brenda Lee's "Rockin'
Around the Christmas Tree" and "I'm Sorry"; Elvis Presley's first post-Army
release, "Elvis is Back!" (1960), featuring the bluesy "Reconsider Baby";
and singer Roy Orbison's "Mean Woman Blues" and "Oh, Pretty Woman."

Mr. Randolph's association with such stars launched his prolific solo career
in country-influenced rock, jazz and gospel. For years, he maintained a
schedule of more than 200 annual recordings and concert dates and made
dozens of solo albums that skipped across genres.

He remained a valuable supporting player to everyone from country pop star
Chet Atkins to Dixieland trumpeter Al Hirt ("Java") to the rock band REO
Speedwagon ("Little Queenie").

Homer Louis Randolph III was born June 3, 1927, in Paducah, Ky., and
finished high school in Evansville, Ind. He said a brother gave him the
nickname "Boots" to distinguish him from their father, also named Homer, but
he could never explain why.

Mr. Randolph grew up in a musical family. He and his siblings used to win
Depression-era talent shows at which food was the prize.

"There were times when we didn't have much to eat, but we always had music,"
he said in 2002. "It was standard for us to come home from one of those
[music] contests with the car loaded down with cans of corn and peas, boxes
of macaroni, bacon, bread and so forth."

Toward the end of World War II, he played sax, trombone and vibraphone in an
Army band. Afterward, he played with a Decatur, Ill.,-based group called
Dink Welch's Kopy Kats, and after a brief time in a Louisville, Ky., rock
outfit, he returned to start his own group in Decatur.

With guitarist James "Spider" Rich, Mr. Randolph had written a version of
what became "Yakety Sax," which had been inspired by the Coaster's hit
"Yakety Yak."

The Rich-Randolph composition caught the attention of Jethro Burns, of the
popular country comedy act Homer & Jethro. Burns successfully appealed to
his brother-in-law, Chet Atkins, then a rising RCA records executive, to
sign the saxophonist in 1958.

However, Mr. Randolph's first few RCA recordings, including one of "Yakety
Sax," were not mass-market breakthroughs. (Atkins's own reworking of the
song as "Yakety Axe" brought him a country hit in 1965.)

While RCA did not see Mr. Randolph as a solo artist, executives recognized
his adaptability and made him a session musician. He appeared on RCA's 1960
jazz album "The Nashville Allstars -- After the Riot At Newport" with
Atkins, guitarist Hank Garland and pianist Floyd Cramer.

That same year, his work on Presley's "Elvis is Back!" brought him far
greater prominence, and he became a reliable fixture of the rock star's
recording sessions.

"They knew I was versatile with the different sounds and I got to be the guy
they would hire to put on the sessions, but sometimes I'd record only one
song all night," Mr. Randolph once said.

In 1961, he left RCA to sign with a much-smaller company, Monument Records,
in the hope of bettering his solo career. The company issued a new release
of "Yakety Sax," from the 1963 album of the same name, that stayed for a
year on the pop charts. Hill, the slapstick British comedian, later took it
as his theme song, much to Mr. Randolph's delight.

Mr. Randolph had a series of popular singles, including "Hey, Mr. Sax Man,"
"The Shadow of Your Smile," "With Love." He became part of a touring group
called Master's Festival of Music that featured Atkins, Cramer, trumpeter
Danny Davis, singer-guitarist Roy Clark, fiddler Johnny Gimble and harmonica
player Charlie McCoy.

Moreover, Mr. Randolph became a personality on variety shows hosted by
Johnny Carson, Ed Sullivan and Jackie Gleason as well as country-centric
programs such as "Hee Haw" and "The Jimmy Dean Show."

In 1977, he opened Boots Randolph's, a 275-seat nightclub in Nashville's
historic Printer's Alley section. The club became his home base for 17
years. He ended his career playing with trumpeter Davis at the Stardust
Theater, across from the Opryland Hotel.

" 'Yakety Sax' will be my trademark," Mr. Randolph told the Associated Press
in 1990. "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."

Mr. Randolph appeared as himself in the feature film "That Tennessee Beat"
(1966) and played on the Hollywood soundtrack of Presley's "Blue Hawaii"
(1961).

Survivors include his wife of 59 years, Dee Baker Randolph of Whites Creek,
Tenn.; two children, Randy Randolph and Linda O'Neal, both of Nashville; a
sister; a brother; four grandchildren; and four great-grandchildren.