Cecil James "Big Jay" McNeely (April 29, 1927 – September 16, 2018) was an American R&B saxophonist.

Biography

Lester Young Lester Willis Young (August 27, 1909 – March 15, 1959), nicknamed "Pres" or "Prez", was an American jazz tenor saxophonist and occasional clarinetist. Coming to prominence while a member of Count Basie's orchestra, Young was one of the most i ...

, McNeely teamed with his older brother Robert McNeely, who played

baritone saxophone The baritone saxophone (sometimes abbreviated to "bari sax") is a member of the saxophone family of instruments, larger (and lower-pitched) than the tenor saxophone, but smaller (and higher-pitched) than the bass saxophone, bass. It is the lowe ...

, and made his first recordings with drummer

Johnny Otis Johnny Otis (born Ioannis Alexandres Veliotes (Greek language, Greek: Ιωάννης Αλέξανδρος Βελιώτης)); December 28, 1921 – January 17, 2012) was a Greek American singer, musician, composer, bandleader, record producer, ...

, who ran the Barrelhouse Club that stood only a few blocks from McNeely's home. Shortly after he performed on Otis's "Barrel House Stomp." Ralph Bass, A&R man for

Savoy Records Savoy Records is an American record company and label established by Herman Lubinsky in 1942 in Newark, New Jersey. Savoy specialized in jazz, rhythm and blues, and gospel music. In September 2017, Savoy was acquired by Concord Bicycle Music. ...

, promptly signed him to a recording contract. Bass's boss, Herman Lubinsky, suggested the

stage name A stage name or professional name is a pseudonym used by performers, authors, and entertainers—such as actors, comedians, singers, and musicians. The equivalent concept among writers is called a ''nom de plume'' (pen name). Some performers ...

Big Jay McNeely because Cecil McNeely did not sound commercial. McNeely's first hit was "The Deacon's Hop," an instrumental which topped the ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

'' R&B

chart A chart (sometimes known as a graph) is a graphics, graphical representation for data visualization, in which "the data is represented by symbols, such as bars in a bar chart, lines in a line chart, or slices in a pie chart". A chart can repres ...

in early 1949. Big Jay McNeely performed for the famed fifth Cavalcade of Jazz concert held at

Wrigley Field Wrigley Field is a ballpark on the North Side, Chicago, North Side of Chicago, Illinois. It is the home ballpark of Major League Baseball's Chicago Cubs, one of the city's two MLB franchises. It first opened in 1914 as Weeghman Park for Charl ...

in Los Angeles produced by Leon Hefflin, Sr. on July 10, 1949. It was at this concert that McNeely and

Lionel Hampton Lionel Leo Hampton (April 20, 1908 – August 31, 2002) was an American jazz vibraphonist, percussionist, and bandleader. He worked with jazz musicians from Teddy Wilson, Benny Goodman, and Buddy Rich, to Charlie Parker, Charles Mingus, an ...

got into a showdown that resulted in pillows being thrown along with other items. His recording of "Blow Big Jay Blow" catapulted him into National prominence. McNeely and his Orchestra would come back to Los Angeles, to perform at the eleventh Cavalcade of Jazz on July 24, 1955 along with Lionel Hampton's Orchestra. The Medallions, The Penguins and James Moody would also be featured that same day. Thanks to his flamboyant playing, called "honking," McNeely remained popular through the 1950s and into the early 1960s, recording for the Exclusive, Aladdin, Imperial, Federal, Vee-Jay, and Swingin' labels. But despite a hit R&B

ballad A ballad is a form of verse, often a narrative set to music. Ballads were particularly characteristic of the popular poetry and song of Great Britain and Ireland from the Late Middle Ages until the 19th century. They were widely used across Eur ...

, " There's Something on Your Mind," (1959) featuring Little Sonny Warner on vocals, and a 1963 album for Warner Bros. Records, McNeely's music career began to cool off. He quit the

music industry The music industry are individuals and organizations that earn money by Songwriter, writing songs and musical compositions, creating and selling Sound recording and reproduction, recorded music and sheet music, presenting live music, concerts, ...

in 1971 to become a postman. However, thanks to an R&B revival in the early 1980s, McNeely left the post office and returned to touring and recording full-time, usually overseas. His original tenor sax is enshrined in the Experience Music Project in

Seattle Seattle ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the 18th-most populous city in the United States. The city is the cou ...

, and he was inducted into the Rhythm and Blues Music Hall of Fame. In 1989, Big Jay McNeely was performing with Detroit Gary Wiggins (European Saxomania Tour II) at the Quasimodo Club in

West Berlin West Berlin ( or , ) was a political enclave which comprised the western part of Berlin from 1948 until 1990, during the Cold War. Although West Berlin lacked any sovereignty and was under military occupation until German reunification in 1 ...

the night the

Berlin Wall The Berlin Wall (, ) was a guarded concrete Separation barrier, barrier that encircled West Berlin from 1961 to 1989, separating it from East Berlin and the East Germany, German Democratic Republic (GDR; East Germany). Construction of the B ...

came down, "and Cold War legend has it that they blew down the Berlin Wall in 1989 with earth-shaking sonic sax torrents outside the Quasimodo Club in West Germany". McNeely and Wiggins toured in Germany and Italy with ''The International Blues Duo,'' Johnny Heartsman, Daryl Taylor (who worked with

Arnett Cobb Arnett Cleophus Cobb (August 10, 1918 – March 24, 1989)
accessed July 2010. was an American tenor saxophonist, somet ...

and Archie Bell & The Drells), Roy Gaines, Christian Rannenberg, Donald Robertson, Billy Davis Jr., "Hyepockets" Robertson, and Lee Allen. Big Jay McNeely regularly performed at the International Boogie Woogie Festival in The Netherlands, and recorded an album with Martijn Schok, the festival's promoter, in 2009. The album was entitled ''Party Time'', and one track from the album, "Get On Up and Boogie" (Parts 1, 2, and 3)", was featured on the vintage music compilation ''This is Vintage Now'' (2011). He died in

Moreno Valley, California Moreno Valley is a city in Riverside County, California, United States, and is part of the Riverside–San Bernardino–Ontario metropolitan area. It is the second-largest city in Riverside County by population and one of the Inland Empire's pop ...

, on September 16, 2018, of prostate cancer, at the age of 91.

Style

McNeely was credited with being the most flamboyant performer out of the saxophone honkers.

Discography

* ''Big Jay McNeely'', (1954, 10", Federal) * ''A Rhythm and Blues Concert'', (1955, 10",

Savoy Savoy (; )  is a cultural-historical region in the Western Alps. Situated on the cultural boundary between Occitania and Piedmont, the area extends from Lake Geneva in the north to the Dauphiné in the south and west and to the Aosta Vall ...

) * ''Big Jay McNeely in 3-D'' (1956, Federal), (1959,

King King is a royal title given to a male monarch. A king is an Absolute monarchy, absolute monarch if he holds unrestricted Government, governmental power or exercises full sovereignty over a nation. Conversely, he is a Constitutional monarchy, ...

) * ''Live at Cisco's'', (1963,

Warner Bros. Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (WBEI), commonly known as Warner Bros. (WB), is an American filmed entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California and the main namesake subsidiary of Warner Bro ...

) – recorded live at a jazz club in Manhattan Beach, California, in 1962. * ''Swingin' '', (1984,

Collectables A collectable (collectible or collector's item) is any object regarded as being of value or interest to a collector. Collectable items are not necessarily monetarily valuable or uncommon. There are numerous types of collectables and terms t ...

) – 1957–1961 recordings, including unreleased sides. * ''Live at Birdland, 1957'', (1992, Collectables – live performances recorded in stereo at the

, Washington, Birdland Club in 1957. * ''Nervous'', (1995, Saxophile) – rarities, live cuts and alternate takes (from the Federal and Swingin' Records vaults) from 1951–1957. * ''Blow the Wall Down,'' Sunset Studios, Sinzig/Rhein, Germany (1990) * ''Blues at Daybreak,'' Big Jay McNeely & Christian Rannenberg (1993) * ''Fool for the Ladies'', by EB Davis with Detroit Gary Wiggins & Big Jay McNeely (1996) * ''Crazy'', (1997, Saxophile) – same as ''Nervous'' above. * ''Central Avenue Confidential'', (1999, Atomic Theory) – featuring Red Young on B-3 organ. * ''Big Jay McNeely, The Deacon, Unabridged, Vol. 1, 1948–1950'' (2006, Swingin') – complete 1948–1955 released output. * ''Big Jay McNeely, The Deacon, Unabridged, Vol. 2, 1951–1952'' (2006, Swingin') * ''Big Jay McNeely, The Deacon, Unabridged, Vol. 3, 1953–1955'' (2006, Swingin') * ''Saxy Boogie Woogie'' (2008, Vagabond) with Axel Zwingenberger & The Bad Boys * ''Party Time'', featuring Martijn Schok, Rinus Groeneveld (2009) * ''Party Time Volume 2'', featuring Martijn Schok, Rinus Groeneveld (2011) * ''Life Story'', featuring Ray Collins' Hot-Club & Friends (2012) * Big Jay McNeely – ''Blowin’ Down The House – Big Jay’s Latest & Greatest'' (2016) * Big Jay McNeely – ''Honkin’ & Jivin’ at the Palomino'' (2017)

References

Bibliography

*''Nervous Man Nervous: Big Jay McNeely And The Rise of the Honking Tenor Sax'' (1995, Jim Dawson, Big Nickel Press)

External links

Official Website Big Jay McNeely

Big Jay McNeely MySpace page
page a
This is Vintage Now Dozens of vintage photos and album coversBig Jay McNeely and "Detroit" Gary Wiggins - Saxomania Tour EuropeBig Jay McNeely interview
at NAMM Oral History Library May 23, 2013 {{DEFAULTSORT:McNeely, Big Jay 1927 births 2018 deaths American male saxophonists American rhythm and blues musicians Jump blues musicians Soul-jazz saxophonists West Coast blues musicians Jazz-blues saxophonists Imperial Records artists Savoy Records artists Swingin' Records artists Vee-Jay Records artists Musicians from Los Angeles American male jazz musicians Exclusive Records artists 20th-century American saxophonists