” I Heard It Through The Grape Vine” by King Curtis

[Michael]

😎 Hey Johnny,
I was thinking/wondering about what new releases you have coming up or in the works–I was checking out this song by King Curtis and it’s one of those type of, quote, “I didn’t know he played that on his Sax” types of songs…….but it’s so, so good on the Saxophone! It sounds so much of your style of playing 🙂 I remembering reading a post someone put on one of your videos on youtube along the lines of asking if you we’re “stuck in the past” when it comes to the Saxophone LOL It was a compliment they we’re giving you…..because they just don’t make music like this no more. I would really encourage you to think about releasing this one in the future—don’t know of ANYONE out there who can capture the “essence” of his King Curtis’ playing like you can 🙂

[john]

Thanks for that Michael! I think I have everything King Curtis ever recorded. It was cool the way he recorded top hits of his day as sax instruments.

There’s a tune I’ve been wanting to share with everybody here but have never found a link for it on youtube or anywhere else so I thought I should make a video of it myself. It’s done now and I made a short post about it so you guys can check it out. This tune was included on an Al Caiola record I believe and it’s a cool little rockin’ shuffle that shows what a rock and roll sax sounds like. Al was no slouch himself as you’re about to find out:
https://howtoplaysaxophone.org/guitar-boogie-shuffle-al-caiola-featuring-king-curtis

[Michael]

I’m just speaking the truth about your playing–I do see an awful lot of similarities between your playing and players from this era…seems like they had a big influence on you? There’s just something about the Saxophone style of playing from that era that I don’t think today’s modern music can come close to……that’s not to say there’s not good stuff in today’s modern world of music—My wife loves Justin Timberlake’s song of “Mirrors” and I started learning it on Alto. It is a beautiful song and it’s perfect for the Alto Saxophone. Karaoke actually had a good backing track for it. But it doesn’t come close to the music from this era and you do such a fantastic job of capturing the essence of it in your own playing. I guarantee you one thing that, come this fall when I play at the event I was invited to for players of all levels—I will get more people “moving” when I play “Tequila” v.s. “Mirrors”; no doubt about that! 🙂

I saw the video and commented on it here on the blog and on your channel—-that is just amazing playing. I “hurts” to listen to because I’ve been working so, so hard on my Saxophone to improve and to get to that level of playing that you showed on that video is a dream of mine. I can’t help, at times, to feel like “I’ll never get there” those guys have been playing for years and they eat it like Candy! It’s almost mind-boggling to think about.

[Michael]

This song has got to be my very favorite one that King Curtis did—there’s just something about the rhythm, his tone, the way he plays it; that hits with me 🙂 I simply don’t think today’s modern Saxophone players can come close to this guy!

[Author]

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