2008 release. New York was loaded with blasting R&B tenor saxophonists during the '50s. Their frantic wails helped define Rock 'N' Roll during it's formative years. In that scene, Big Al Sears was a titan among titans. Prior to his full-fledged leap into the R&B arena, Big Al played with the orchestras of Andy Kirk and Duke Ellington, later blowing his mighty horn loud and long on Johnny Hodges' 1951 instrumental hit 'Castle Rock'. Sear-iously deals with his swinging 1949-56 sides as a bandleader for Coral, RCA Victor, Herald, and Groove, when scorching instrumentals were in vogue and the bespectacled sax player was in the vanguard of it all. Backed by a coterie of New York heavy hitters including sax man Budd Johnson, guitarist Mickey Baker, bassist Milt Hinton, and drummer Panama Francis, Sears rattles the rafters time and again with barn-burners such as 'Rock And Roll Ball', 'Here's the Beat', 'Great Googa Mooga', 'Right Now, Right Now' and more. Bear Family.