Before the guitar became the most popular instrument for rock and roll, it was the tenor sax that everyone wanted to hear on R&B albums. By far, the most popular man on the horn was Hal “Cornbread” Singer (1919-2020), who started by playing with swing bands like Jay McShann’s before going out on his own and having a ton of popular “screaming sax” hits, most notably the classic hits “Corn Bread” and “Beef Stew”. This two disc, 44 song set includes hits from his singles, as well as some fantastic pieces from his stint with pianist Sir Charles Thompson, such as “Blue Monday Caravan”, “Cooking with Cookie” and “Disc Jockey Boogie”. The relentless backbeat was like a wave for Singer to surf over, and besides singles, he also released an impressive album , Blue Stompin’ with Ray Bryant/p, Charlie Shavers/tp, Wendell Marshall/b and Osie Johnson/dr that has stomping takes of “Midnight”, “Windy” and the title tune. Singer smoked like a Cohiba throughout his career, and if you want to know how a sax can sweat, check out this guy.