David Newman

David Newman (Feb. 24, 1933 — Jan. 20, 2009) was an American jazz-funk saxophonist and flutist. He joined the Ray Charles band in 1954 and spent a decade as a featured saxophonist on recordings including “Lonely Avenue,” “The Right Time,” and “Unchain My Heart.”

Newman opened a parallel bandleader career on Atlantic with Fathead: Ray Charles Presents David Newman and maintained a substantial album catalog across Atlantic, Prestige, Muse, and HighNote. Newman also recorded and toured with Herbie Mann and logged session work with Aretha Franklin, B.B. King, Dr. John, and other jazz, soul, and R&B artists across five decades.

Background

David Newman Jr. was born Feb. 24, 1933, in Corsicana, Texas, and grew up in Dallas. His parents kept records by Duke Ellington, Louis Armstrong, Count Basie, and other swing-era bandleaders, while Newman encountered Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie through friends. He took up alto saxophone around age 12 or 13 and studied at Lincoln High School under band director J.K. Miller, who gave him the “Fathead” nickname. Newman played in school jazz and marching ensembles and sang alto in the choir alongside future musicians Cedar Walton and James Clay. He received a scholarship to Jarvis Christian College in Hawkins, Tex., where he studied music and theology for two years.

Newman entered the Dallas–Fort Worth circuit while still in high school. He played bebop with tenor saxophonist Red Connor and teenage Ornette Coleman and worked local engagements with pianist Doug Fernell. Connor led a bebop band that gave Newman regular experience with repertory by Parker and other modern-jazz players. Alto saxophonist Henry “Buster” Smith recruited Newman after hearing him at a club sit-in and became his principal early mentor. Smith led a Dallas big band and assembled smaller units for road dates and backing engagements.

Smith paired Newman with saxophonist Leroy Cooper in several small groups. Newman and Cooper also backed guitarist Zuzu Bollin and appeared on Bollin’s 1951 Torch single “Why Don’t You Eat Where You Slept Last Night” (b/w “Matchbox Blues”). Smith employed Newman on engagements behind T-Bone Walker, while Newman also worked with Fort Worth guitarist Lowell Fulson. Pianist Lloyd Glenn recruited Newman for his first extended professional road tour on a package with Big Joe Turner, Walker, and Fulson, which worked Black theaters and dance halls across the regional circuit.

Newman met Ray Charles through the Fulson organization in 1951, when Charles played piano and sang with Fulson. Smith subsequently assembled a small group with Newman and Cooper for Charles dates across southern states and into California. Charles formed a permanent band in 1954 and recruited Newman that September. Tenor saxophonist Don Wilkerson occupied the tenor chair, so Newman joined on baritone with occasional alto.

Newman entered Atlantic sessions with Charles soon after joining the band. A Nov. 18, 1954, Atlanta date placed him on “Come Back Baby” and “Greenbacks,” followed by an April 1955 Miami session for “A Fool for You,” “This Little Girl of Mine,” “Hard Times,” and “A Bit of Soul.” Wilkerson left around 1956, and Newman moved to tenor. He appeared on subsequent Atlantic recordings including “The Ray,” “I Surrender, Dear,” “Sweet Sixteen Bars,” “Swanee River Rock,” and “Talkin’ ’Bout You,” while Charles also featured his saxophone work on the instrumental LP The Great Ray Charles.

The Charles band combined R&B material with an instrumental repertoire that included compositions associated with James Moody, Horace Silver, Max Roach, and Milt Jackson. Hank Crawford joined on baritone saxophone in 1958, while Marcus Belgrave occupied a trumpet chair alongside Lee Harper. Newman played tenor and alto with this lineup at the Newport Jazz Festival on July 5, where the band recorded “Blues Waltz,” “In a Little Spanish Town,” “Sherry,” and other performances for Atlantic. An Oct. 28 New York session placed Newman with Belgrave, trumpeter John Hunt, Crawford, bassist Edgar Willis, and drummer Teagle Fleming on “Early in the Morning,” “The Right Time,” “Carrying That Load,” and “Tell Me How Do You Feel.”

Charles then organized an instrumental session around Newman and the working small-band personnel. Newman selected material from the road repertoire with Crawford, who supplied “Weird Beard,” “Bill for Bennie,” and “Sweet Eyes” and arranged much of the program. Newman contributed “Fathead,” while Charles arranged “Mean to Me” and “Willow Weep for Me.” Crawford also brought Paul Mitchell’s “Hard Times” into the program.

Newman recorded the album in New York on Nov. 5, 1958, with Charles, Belgrave, baritone saxophonist Hank Crawford, bassist Edgar Willis, and drummer Milt Turner. The sextet cut “Fathead,” “Tin Tin Deo,” “Bill for Bennie,” “Hard Times,” “Mean to Me,” “Sweet Eyes,” “Weird Beard,” and “Willow Weep for Me.” Charles presented the session to Atlantic as a Newman feature, and Newman signed with the label after the recording. Atlantic issued the material as Ray Charles Presents David Newman — Fathead, Newman’s first album as a bandleader.

Discography:

• Fathead: Ray Charles Presents David “Fathead” Newman (1959)
• The Sound of the Wide Open Spaces!!!! (1960 • James Clay & David “Fathead” Newman)
• White Open Spaces (1960)
• Straight Ahead (1961)
• Fathead Comes On (1963)
• Bigger & Better (1968)
• Double Barrelled Soul (1968 • Brother Jack McDuff & David Newman)
• House of David (1968n)
• The Many Facets of David Newman (1970)
• Captain Buckles (1971)
• Lonely Avenue (1971)
• The Weapon (1973)
• Newmanism (1974)
• Mr. Fathead (1976)
• Front Money (1977)
• Keep the Dream Alive (1977)
• Concrete Jungle (1978)
• Scratch My Back (1978)
• Resurgence! (1981)
• Still Hard Times (1982)
• Heads Up (1986)
• Back to Basics (1987)