To hear tenor saxist
A.C. Reed bemoan his fate on-stage, one might glean the impression that he truly detests his job. But it's a tongue-in-cheek complaint --
Reed's raspy, gutbucket blowing and laid-back vocals belie any sense of boredom.
Sax-blowing blues bandleaders are scarce as hen's teeth in Chicago; other than
Eddie Shaw,
Reed's about all there is. Born in Missouri, young Aaron Corthen (whether he's related to blues legend
Jimmy Reed remains hazy, but his laconic vocal drawl certainly mirrors his namesake) grew up in downstate Illinois. A big-band fan, he loved the sound of Paul Bascomb's horn on an obscure
Erskine Hawkins 78 he heard tracking on a tavern jukebox so much that he was inspired to pick up a sax himself.
Arriving in Chicago during the war years, he picked up steady gigs with
Earl Hooker and
Willie Mabon before the '40s were over. In 1956, he joined forces with ex-
Ike Turner cohort
Dennis "Long Man" Binder, gigging across the southwest for an extended period.
Reed became a valuable session player for producer
Mel London's Age and Chief labels during the early '60s; in addition to playing on sides by
Lillian Offitt,
Ricky Allen, and
Hooker, he cut a locally popular 1961 single of his own for Age, "This Little Voice."
More gems for Age -- "Come on Home," "Mean Cop," "I Stay Mad" -- followed. He cut 45s for USA in 1963 ("I'd Rather Fight Than Switch"), Cool ("My Baby Is Fine," a tune he's recut countless times since) and Nike ("Talkin' 'Bout My Friends") in 1966, and "Things I Want You to Do" in 1969 for T.D.S.
Reed joined
Buddy Guy's band in 1967, visiting Africa with the mercurial guitarist in 1969 and, after harpist
Junior Wells teamed with
Guy, touring as opening act for
the Rolling Stones in 1970. He left the employ of
Guy and
Wells for good in 1977, only to hook up with Alligator acts
Son Seals, and then the Master of the Telecaster,
Albert Collins.
Reed appeared on
Collins' first five icy Alligator LPs, including the seminal Ice Pickin'.
During his tenure with
Collins,
Reed's solo career began to reignite, with four cuts on the second batch of Alligator's Living Chicago Blues anthologies in 1980 and two subsequent LPs of his own, 1982's Take These Blues and Shove 'Em! (on Ice Cube Records, a logo co-owned by
Reed and drummer
Casey Jones) and I'm in the Wrong Business! five years later for Alligator (with cameos by
Bonnie Raitt and
Stevie Ray Vaughan). Until his death from cancer in February of 2004,
Reed remained an active force on the Chicago circuit with his band the Spark Plugs (get it? AC spark plugs? Sure you do!). ~ Bill Dahl