King of the Sax — Curtis Ousley
R&B, Rock, Blues, Jazz, Fusion — this Cat played with everybody.
Superstition. 13 — my lucky number. As Friday the thirteenth of August comes around, I reflect how on that day and date in 1971 it was extremely unlucky for one of the all time great Saxophone players — King Curtis.
Many stars in the music business have lost their lives whilst having fun or travelling to gigs — perishing in plane crashes, auto-wrecks, even drownings.
But King Curtis was stabbed to death in New York, outside his West 86th Street apartment late at night, after getting into an argument with a pair of drug dealers. He was carrying an air conditioner unit into his apartment when the men refused to move from the entrance.
Neighbours who knew him said he worked all the time. Every musician knew him, white and black, and his records and tapes sold well. He was a nice guy.
Curtis Ousley was born on 7 February 1934 in Fort Worth, Texas. He was adopted as a child, along with his sister, and attended I.M. Terrell…
