Eddie Stout is at it again. His Austin, Texas, based Dialtone Records has just released a brand-new album by the Japanese rhythm & blues band with the weird name. As the title suggests these instrumental juggernauts are accompanied by five female vocalists from the Lone Star State. This intercontinental release is stunning.  

I first heard of Bloodest Saxophone back in 2012, when Stout evoked their name in an interview that I did with the renowned Austin based blues impresario. How he found these guys or how they found him maybe isn’t as important as the fact that they found each other.

Back in 2013, Stout went to Japan with the great Houston based vocalist Jewel Brown to make a record with this six-piece band. In 2014, I asked Brown what she thought of these cats. Her response to me was that they are SIMPLY OUTSTANDING!  It might be helpful to note that Miss Jewel Brown had been a featured vocalist in bands led by Arnet Cobb, Dizzy Gillespie and Lionel Hampton among others. She also had an eight year stint with Louis Armstrong and worked with the famous “house” bands at Don Robey’s famed Peacock Studios in her hometown of Houston. So, when she described this band as some of the best musicians she had ever worked with, I decided to keep an ear on these guys. The resulting album entitled Roller Coaster Boogie, which saw a 2015 release, lived up to the effusive advanced billing that I received from Brown.

The fact is that Bloodest Saxophone had already been around for a few years by the time I had first became aware of their music. Here on Texas Queens 5 they celebrate their 20^th year together.

This time Stout brought Bloodest Saxophone to Texas to record a couple of albums, an instrumental heavy affair, entitled appropriately enough, In Texas, and the gem which we are discussing today. Eddie Stout has always had the ability to match the right singers with the right material. He brings in the right musicians for the appropriate backing. He never has to look to far, as he has set up shop in the talent rich capitol of Texas. Yet this time he reached out halfway around the world and paired them with singers in his own backyard.

Bloodest Saxophone is bandleader Koda “Young Corn” Shintaro on tenor, Osikawa Yukimasa on baritone, Coh “Colonel Sanders” on trombone, Shuji “Apple Juice” on guitar, The TAKEO “Little Tokyo” on upright bass, and Kiminori “Dog Boy” on drums and congas. Guest musician Nick Connolly handles the piano and organ duties throughout.

Out of the gate we have Diunna Greenleaf setting the bar quite high. This veteran Houstonian nails the Big Maybelle classic I’ve Got a Feeling. It is her only contribution to an album that doesn’t have a weak link.

All five singers take on the very familiar Willie Dixon tune I Just Want to Make Love to You. The Texas Queens found some head room in this oft covered classic and have a good time in the process.

Then there is Crystal Thomas, from the Texas outpost of Shreveport, Louisiana. She covers the Mac Rebeneck ballad Losing Battle that was a “B” side to a Johnny Adams hit in 1962.  Thomas who was the long-time trombone player in Johnny Taylor’s band, sounds like a natural behind the vocal mic. She returns to the spotlight later in the program for a wonderful reading of the Big Mama Thornton Peacock Records classic You Don’t Move Me No More.

Jai Malano sings a full three songs on the album, in addition to her great contribution on the previously mentioned Willie Dixon tune. Malano demonstrates some unique chops and a musical sensibility that is all her own. Malano sounds like everything you ever loved about the best blues and soul singers you ever heard, yet delivers the goods without a hint of nostalgic sentimentality. Her first solo vocal offering is on the Memphis 60’s soul classic written and recorded by Rufus Thomas, Walking the Dog. Nick Connolly’s organ is central to the great punchy arrangement. There is a wonderful tenor sax solo by Koda Shintaro. Guitarist Shiju channels Steve Cropper before dropping into a brief solo where his own voice on his instrument can be heard.

Malano also does a great job of the Charles Sheffield early 60’s Excello classic It’s Your Voodoo Working before singing Amos Miburn’s I Done Done It.

After Malano’s first vocal turn on Walking the Dog the band performs the first of the two instrumental offerings, an original barnburner by Shintaro. The tune includes scorching solos by guest musicians tenor giant Mark “Kaz” Kazanoff and guitarist Johnny Moeller. The second instrumental, which closes the set, is the band’s greasy run through the Lafayette Thomas tune Cockroach Run. Johnny Moeller again makes an appearance on this tune which he previously recorded 20 years ago on a Moeller Brothers album entitled The Bull Creek Sessions.

One of the many album highlights is when the spotlight shines on Lauren Cervantes. First off, she tangles with the great calypso inspired tune by Louis Jordan Run Joe and comes out on top. Then she sings a number by Carl Erskine originally recorded by Lucky Milander and his Orchestra in the 1950’s entitled Grape Vine. Cervantes is again up to the task.  

Angela Miller sings the melancholic tune originally done by Mabel John Don’t You Hit Me No More. Miller and Cervantes of the Austin based group the Soul Supporters sing background vocals throughout this twelve-song set.

Texas Queens 5 by Bloodest Saxophone is a great example of how timeless great rhythm & blues can sound played by true artists like the musicians heard on this album. If there was any intimidation for a band with the word saxophone in their name traveling to deep in the heart and soul of the Texas tenor titans, it doesn’t show. This latest album  by Bloodest Saxophone has San Antonio’s Rocky Morales , Houston’s Illinois Jacquet, Dallas’ David “Fathead” Newman and Fort Worth’s King Curtis sittin’ up, smilin’ and bobbing their heads.

- David Mac

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