From:   "Dik de Heer" 
Date:  Tue Sep 24, 2002  1:17 am
Subject:  Born To Be With You : Steve Douglas
 
STEVE DOUGLAS

Born Steven Douglas Kreisman, 24 September 1938, Los Angeles, California
Died 19 April 1993, Los Angeles, California

Sax player Steve Douglas was a founding member of the Sleepwalkers,
a group that transformed into one of L.A.'s most important rock 'n' roll
bands, Kip Tyler and the Flips. This group included pianist Larry Knechtel,
drummer Sandy Nelson and future Beach Boy Bruce Johnston (though not
all at the same time). They cut two strong singles for Challenge ("Jungle
Hop"/"Ooh Yeah Baby" and "Shadow Street"/"She's Got Eyes") and a 45
for Lee Rupe's Ebb label ("She's My Witch"/"Rumble Rock"), before Duane
Eddy raided the band to form his touring unit. At first only Steve Douglas and
drummer Mike Bermani left to go on the road with Duane ; Knechtel followed
them a year later.
The first Duane Eddy session that Douglas plays on is the September 1958
one that produced "Cannonball"/"Mason Dixon Lion". His sax is also featured
prominently on "Peter Gunn", "Yep!", "Hard Times", "Lonesome Road", "Detour"
and others. Douglas: "We took a long time with those records. I remember that
'3.30 Blues' took us two and a half days. We were getting paid by the side,
but that didn't bother us - we were young!" However, touring in the fifties
could
be pretty gruelling and Douglas soon had enough. Jim Horn, who had replaced
Steve in Kip Tyler's group, would become Duane's new sax player, both in the
studio and on the road.
Phil Spector was an old schoolmate of Steve (in fact, Phil's sister Shirley had
managed Kip Tyler and the Flips) and made his sax an essential ingredient of
the Wall Of Sound. If you hear a sax solo on a Philles record from 1962-64,
there's a 90% chance that you hear Steve Douglas. Soon he was one of the
busiest sax playing session men on the West Coast, along with Plas Johnson
and Jackie Kelso. Also he was a touring member of groups behind Elvis Presley
(Steve has a brief role in the "Girls Girls Girls" movie), Eric Clapton and Bob
Dylan.
In 1981, Douglas moved to San Francisco to pursue a solo career, releasing an
instrumental album, "Hot Sax" in 1982. He died of heart failure in a L.A.
recording
studio while working with Ry Cooder in 1993.

More info in the book "Duane Eddy" by Rob Finnis and John P. Dixon, that
accompanies Duane's first Bear Family box-set, devoted to the Jamie years.

The CD's "Wail Man Wail" (Hollowbody HC 12003) and "The Ebb Story" (Ace 524)
both include three tracks by Kip Tyler and the Flips, from the Challenge and Ebb
vaults respectively.