THE UNIVERSE OF POPULAR MUSIC OVER THE PAST CENTURY HAS BEEN SHAPED BY WHAT SEEMS LIKE AN ENDLESS SUCCESSION OF ARTISTS, EACH CONTRIBUTING TO ITS CONSTANT EVOLUTION. YET ONE INSTRUMENT HAS REMAINED A CONSTANT THROUGHOUT THAT JOURNEY: THE SAXOPHONE. ITS PLACE IN JAZZ IS UNDENIABLE, BUT IT HAS ALSO BEEN ESSENTIAL TO R&B, SOUL, SWING, FUNK AND ROCK'NROLL. PARKER, COLTRANE, MULLIGAN, YOUNG, HAWKINS, KING CURTIS, ANDREW LOVE, MACEO PARKER, FELA KUTI, PEE WEE ELLIS, ARE JUST A HANDFUL OF THE HUNDREDS OF REMARKABLE SAXOPHONISTS WHO HAVE LEFT THEIR MARK. RAYMOND HILL WAS PLAYING ROCK 'N' ROLL BEFORE ANYONE ELSE. BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN'S STORY COULD NEVER HAVE BEEN WRITTEN WITHOUT CLARENCE CLEMONS, AND THE ROLLING STONES WOULD NEVER HAVE SOUNDED THE SAME IN THE 1970S WITHOUT BOBBY KEYS. THROUGHOUT THE HISTORY OF POPULAR MUSIC, THE SAXOPHONE HAS REMAINED AN INDISPENSABLE VOICE.
SCOTTISH MUSICIAN DEKE MCGEE IS A CONTEMPORARY ARTIST WHO HAS REDEFINED THE INSTRUMENT WITH A SINGULAR VOICE OVER THE PAST THREE DECADES. A SESSION PLAYER, SIDEMAN, SONGWRITER AND SINGER, HIS MUSICAL JOURNEY BEGAN WITH THE JAZZ AND R&B HE DISCOVERED AS A TEENAGER, EVENTUALLY DEVELOPING INTO A STYLE THAT IS BOTH UNMISTAKABLY HIS OWN AND IMPOSSIBLE TO IMITATE. AS A SAXOPHONIST, MCGEE'S GREATEST STRENGTHS LIE IN THE IRRESISTIBLE GROOVE OF HIS PLAYING, A TECHNIQUE THAT IS AS UNPREDICTABLE AS IT IS SPONTANEOUS, AND A THOROUGHLY MODERN RHYTHMIC CONCEPTION THAT BOTH HONORS AND COMPLEMENTS THE ARTISTS WHO CAME BEFORE HIM. MCGEE IS ALSO A BLUES MUSICIAN. LISTENING TO THIS ALBUM REVEALS AN ARTIST WHO MOVES EFFORTLESSLY BETWEEN THE RAW AUTHENTICITY OF CLASSIC RHYTHM AND BLUES AND THE UNINHIBITED SPIRIT OF THE BLUES, PUSHING BLACK MUSIC BEYOND ANY BOUNDARIES PREVIOUSLY IMAGINED. MCGEE IS A DEEPLY ACCOMPLISHED AND REMARKABLY IMAGINATIVE ARTIST. HE BRINGS THE LANGUAGE OF THE SAXOPHONE IN ROOTS MUSIC INTO THE PRESENT DAY, DOING SO WITH THE HUMILITY AND FEARLESS CONFIDENCE THAT DEFINE HIS INDEPENDENT SPIRIT. WITHOUT QUESTION, HE IS A MODERN MUSICIAN—ELEGANT, ORIGINAL, AND FULLY COMMITTED TO HIS ART.