Founding Fathers: Earl Bostic

The Label of an Early Earl Bostic EP Released in England (Vogue Records, 1951)

With his distinctive, growling saxophone and universally respected knowledge of jazz, blues and R&B, Founding Father Earl Bostic forged a twenty-year career that crossed numerous musical boundaries.

Born Eugene Earl Bostic in April, 1913, Earl Bostic was a university trained sax player who started his professional career at 18-years old with Terence Holder’s Twelve Clouds of Joy. Through the late ’30′s, he played with just about every major artist from or to pass through New Orleans.

Landing in New York in 1938, Bostic spent a number of years in residence at Small’s Paradise, where he often doubled on trumpet and guitar as well as sax. In 1945, he formed his own combo — which at various times included players like John Coltrane and Stanley Turrentine — and began fusing jazz and blues into some of the very earliest R&B hits. “Temptation,” his first on King, was a Number 10 R&B hit in 1948.

In 1951, he recorded two more Top 10′s: the Number 6 jukebox favorite, “Sleep,” and the Number 1 strut, “Flamingo.” A prolific recording artist, Bostic laid his smooth alto sax sound on nearly 30 recordings before he passed away from a heart attack while playing in Rochester, New York in 1966.

It’s our Gallery of Greats! Check out more Founding Fathers here…