05 Bobby Smith - That's For Sure

Bobby Smith - That's For Sure 2:13

Session date: September 9, 1952

Bobby Smith: alto sax
probably members of the Erskine Hawkins Band

BOBBY SMITH was an alto sax star of Erskine Hawkins' Band for many years. He also made a good number of sides for both Apollo and Timely, but on "That's For Sure," we get solos from baritone, tenor, and trombone. Who the players are, is anybody's guess.


Highly regarded alto saxophonist with esteemed jazz star Erskine Hawkins’ band for much of the 1940’s and 50’s, Smith – along with the rest of Hawkins’ band, moonlighted as session players for Apollo Records behind such rock acts as Eddie Mack, The Larks and Sam “The Man” Taylor.

Smith was the musical director, frequent writer and arranger for much of Apollo’s output at the dawn of the 1950’s in addition to cutting records under his own name for the label. Born in 1907, making him one of the most senior figures who would go on to dabble in rock at the beginning, he learned multiple instruments as a child – piano and drums among them – but focused on saxophone and starting in the 1930’s cut his teeth with The Sunset Royal Serenaders. In the time he was with them, nearly a decade in all, he honed his writing and arranging skills, penning among other songs “How ‘Bout That Mess”.

In the early 1940’s he joined Hawkins where he’d make his biggest impact, composing the group’s 1945 #1 hit “Tippin’ In” which he later revived with Apollo Records for the rock vocal idiom with The Larks. With jazz’s appeal having crested, though still certainly strong, like many jazz musicians Smith found a side-job leading sessions for an independent label in need of qualified versatile musicians. It was with Apollo where he and the band got to record under their own names including cutting some respectable rock records.

As Apollo Records impact began to wane by the mid-1950’s Smith’s tenure with the label came to an end and he focused on jazz exclusively after that. When he passed away in 1995 at the age of 88 he’d personally navigated one of the wider swaths of music in the 20th Century, including for a short time being entrusted with helping to firmly establish rock ‘n’ roll.

https://www.spontaneouslunacy.net/artists-bobby-smith/