From:   "Dik de Heer" 
Date:  Fri Feb 22, 2002  1:15 am
Subject:  Born To Be With You : Big Al Sears
 
BIG AL SEARS

Born Albert Omega Sears, 22 February 1910, Macomb, Illinois
Died 23 March 1990, Long Island, New York

R&B and jazz saxophonist.
Al Sears is one of the most influential "honkers" of the fifties.
He took up the tenor sax in 1927 and got his break in Chick Webb's
band the next year. By the mid-thirties he had launched his own
career as a bandleader and subsequently played with Andy Kirk,
Lionel Hampton, Duke Ellington and Johnny Hodges (whose orchestra
had a # 4 R&B hit in 1951 with the much-covered "Castle Rock",
co-written by Sears, who also plays the lead sax).
Embracing R&B in the fifties, Sears was a central figure in Alan
Freed's house band and was frequently teamed on stage with other
honker greats such as Sam "The Man" Taylor and Red Prysock.
Along with Jesse Stone, Big Al composed Freed's theme song
"Right Now, Right Now". His solo records were issued on Coral,
RCA/Groove and Herald. Sears also plays the sax solo on Joe Turner's
"Flip, Flop and Fly". In the sixties he was hired as an executive at
ABC-Paramount Records, where he recorded several jazz albums.
After retiring from the label in 1980, he remained a popular figure on
the R&B and blues circuit. Al Sears succmbed to cancer in 1990.

CD: Sear-iously (Bear Family BCD 15668). 25 of his solo recordings,
1949-1956.