Ray Charles - Careless Love (ABC- Paramount 10345)

Careless Love

Leroy "Hog" Cooper
1928-2009
David "Fathead" Newman
1933-2009
Bennie "Hank" Crawford
1934-2009
One of the truly great horn sections of our time was anchored by three incredible saxophone players, who passed on within days of each other last month. Brother Ray believed in the power of the instrument, and by 1959 he had put together the winning combination of Fathead Newman on tenor, Hank Crawford on alto and Hog Cooper on baritone (pictured left to right behind him in the Ernest Withers photograph above) that would be heard on so many elemental and influential hit records.
All of them would go on to have impressive careers of their own, but the time they spent working together behind The Genius of Soul may well be remembered best of all.
May They Rest In Peace.
3 Comments:
Great job on this--- I know this song from my years growing up in New Orleans but Ray's version still is THE one, eh?
I guess Brother Ray needed his horn section at the big gig. Great post tribute to an amazing horn section. David Fathead Newman lived up this way and we got to see him live a few times. Just got his remembrance album to Ray, "Diamondhead" and "Life"
I saw Cooper play 5 days before he died. I worked with him for more than 2 years on his memoir which will be released around Nov 1, 2009. He was so humble that when people recognized his name he was always surprised. When I say people, I mean local people and legendary musicians like BB King. Leroy thought he was just an invisible musician in Ray's front line. I miss him so.
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