"The Deacon's Hop" by Big Jay McNeely

KOSMO's VINYL of the Week:
This week we are in Los Angeles on the 13th December, 1948, for the Ralph Bass produced "The Deacon's Hop" by Big Jay McNeely, first released as a 78RPM record on Savoy in January 1949...

"Legendary A&R man/producer Ralph Bass first witnessed the 21-year-old tenor saxophonist Cecil McNeely at Johnny Otis Barrelhouse Club in Watts and signed him then and there. As many can testify, McNeely was a no-holds-barred, full-on, live performer and he was also not a jazz musician slumming it - he was what he he was - a prototype rocker. Savoy Records boss Herman Lubinsky convinced Cecil on a tougher stage name of "Big Jay" and from then until at least 2009, Big Jay kept on honkin'. He left us in 2018, aged 91." - KV