Red Prysock
Template:Infobox musical artist
Wilburt "Red" Prysock (February 2, 1926 – July 19, 1993)<ref name="amg">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> was an American R&B tenor saxophonist,<ref name="Larkin50">Template:Cite book</ref> one of the early Coleman Hawkins-influenced saxophonists to move in the direction of rhythm and blues, rather than bebop.<ref name="Komara 2006">Template:Cite book</ref>
CareerEdit
With Tiny Grimes and his Rocking Highlanders, Prysock staged a saxophone battle with Benny Golson on "Battle of the Mass".<ref name="Radio 2014">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> He first gained attention as a member of Tiny Bradshaw's band, playing the lead saxophone solo on his own "Soft", which was a hit for the Bradshaw band in 1952.<ref name="Larkin50"/> Prysock also played with Roy Milton and Cootie Williams.<ref name="Larkin50"/>
In 1954, he signed with Mercury Records as a bandleader and had his biggest hit, the instrumental "Hand Clappin'" in 1955.<ref name="Larkin50"/> During the same year, he joined the band that played at Alan Freed's stage shows.<ref name="Larkin50"/> He also played on several hit records by his brother, singer Arthur Prysock, in the 1960s.<ref name="Leigh 1997">Template:Cite news</ref>
Personal lifeEdit
Prysock was born in 1926 in Greensboro, North Carolina, United States,<ref name="Larkin50"/> and died of a heart attack in 1993 in Chicago, at the age of 67.<ref name="amg"/><ref name="Dead">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> He served in the United States Army during World War II, which was when he learned to play saxophone.<ref name="Komara 2006" /><ref name="Leigh 1997" /> He was buried at the Salisbury National Cemetery in Salisbury, North Carolina.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
DiscographyEdit
- Rock and Roll (Mercury, 1956)
- Fruit Boots (Mercury, 1957)
- The Beat (Mercury, 1957)
- Swing Softly Red (Mercury, 1958)
- Battle Royal with Sil Austin (Mercury, 1959)
- The Big Sound of Red Prysock (Forum Circle, 1964)
- For Me and My Baby (Gateway, 1964; reissued on CD in 2003)