Joe Houston

Joe Houston, a honking R&B saxman of wallpaper-peeling potency, recorded for virtually every major independent R&B label in Los Angeles during the 1950s. When the jump blues tradition faded, he segued right into rock & roll, even cutting budget Twist and surf albums for Crown that didn't sound very different from what he was doing a decade before. Houston played around Houston, Texas with the bands of Amos Milburn and Joe Turner during the late '40s. It was Turner who got the young saxist his first deal with Freedom Records in 1949. Houston found his way to the West Coast in 1...