You Knock Me Out

At long last, there's someone who's getting people to sit up and notice the saxophone's capacity for bluesy fun: Sax Gordon. Gordon's second enjoyable feature album has a gale wind rushing out of his metal horn's bell. This Boston-based musician wants to transport listeners (and himself) back in time to smoke-filled dives where sax supermen Big Jay McNeely and Gatortail Jackson screeched and wailed while lying on their backs and kicking their heels in the air. In that spirit, Gordon pushes hard on opening track "90 MPH," an obscure funk tune, and doesn't let up till the fade of an original called "Crawling Home." Go hear "Speed Rack," where Gordon cuts loose with a vengeance. He puts over "Bug Hunt" with a swaggering confidence that's equal parts seriousness and screwball histrionics. Gordon has total command of the horn's high and low registers, from stratospheric shrieks to well-deep rumbles. His enthusiasm is boundless. World-class guitarist/album producer Duke Robillard lends the saxophonist expert support on all 13 tunes, sometimes offering well-organized solos in the vein of Elmore James and other heroes. --Frank-John Hadley