Al Sears

Al Sears
Al Sears (left) with Johnny Hodges, 1946
Background information
Birth name	Albert Omega Sears
Born	(1910-02-21)February 21, 1910 Macomb, Illinois, U.S.
Died	March 23, 1990(1990-03-23) (aged 80) St. Albans, New York City, U.S.
Genres	Jazz
Occupation(s)	Musician
Instrument(s)	Saxophone

Albert Omega Sears (February 21, 1910 – March 23, 1990)^[1] was an American jazz tenor saxophonist and bandleader, sometimes credited as Big Al Sears.

Sears was born in Macomb, Illinois, United States.^[2] His first major gig came in 1928 when he replaced Johnny Hodges in Chick Webb's ensemble.^[2] Following this he played with Elmer Snowden (1931–32), then led his own groups between 1933 and 1941.^[2] In the early 1940s he was with Andy Kirk (1941–42) and Lionel Hampton (1943-44) before he became a member of Duke Ellington's Orchestra in 1944, replacing Ben Webster.^[2] He remained with Ellington until 1949,^[2] when first Jimmy Forrest and then Paul Gonsalves took over his chair. He played with Johnny Hodges in 1951–52 and recorded the tune "Castle Rock" with him;^[2] the tune became a hit but was released under Hodges's name.

Sears was in Alan Freed's band when Freed did live shows, being introduced as "Big Al Sears."^[2] He played as a studio musician on R&B albums in the 1950s and recorded two albums for Swingville in 1960. He also owned several record labels, including Arock, Serock, and Gator.^[1]

In 1990, he died in St. Albans, New York, at the age of 80.^[1]

Discography

As leader

• Grade A Dance Music with a Swing Beat (Audio Lab, 1960)
• Swing's the Thing (Prestige, 1960)
• Rockin' in Rhythm with Taft Jordan and Hilton Jefferson as the Swingville All-Stars (Prestige, 1960)
• Things Ain't What They Used to Be (Swingville, 1961)

As sideman

• Mildred Anderson, No More in Life (Prestige, 1961)
• Aretha Franklin, Aretha (Columbia, 1961)
• Al Hibbler, After the Lights Go Down Low (Atlantic 1957)
• Johnny Hodges, Castle Rock (Norgran, 1955)
• Johnny Hodges, In a Tender Mood (Norgan, 1955)
• Budd Johnson, Blues a la Mode (Felsted, 1958)
• Jimmy Witherspoon, Goin' to Kansas City Blues (RCA Victor, 1958)

References

Other sources

• Scott Yanow, Al Sears at Allmusic
• Scott DeVeaux and Barry Kernfeld. "Sears, Al." The New Grove Dictionary of Jazz, 2nd ed. Oxford University Press.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Al Sears.

• About Al Sears