Ray Charles, David “Fathead” Newman and Me…

I didn’t have any qualms about being called "Fathead". It was not derogatory to me at all...My music instructor from high school gave me the nickname... I had this bad habit of memorizing the music. He wanted to make sure that I read the music. I had some music on my bandstand one day when we were playing "Sousa’s March." The music was upside down on my music stand. He knew that I could barely read the music upright let alone upside down. He walked behind me and thumped me on the head in class and called me "Fathead". He said: ‘You are supposed to read the music, not memorize the music.’ ...After class they all started calling me "Fathead" and it stuck. By now, it is like a trademark.
David Newman on "Fathead"

***Fathead: Ray Charles Presents David Newman (1959) signed by David “Fathead blows Hard Times”***

I had no idea that I was going to become an Atlantic recording artist. Ray had just said that he was going to feature me. I really didn’t know that he would be presenting me as such, and that I was going to become an Atlantic artist myself. Because Ray was recording for Atlantic. I just thought we were really doing an instrumental, and Ray was just going to feature me. But what he did is, he set it up. It was called Ray Charles Presents Fathead. It was like setting me up. And hence, from that recording on, I became an Atlantic artist, and I signed a contract then.
David Newman

***The Sound Of The Wide Open Spaces (1960) signed by David***

Ray gave us a lesson in music appreciation. Before I encountered Ray, my only real love was jazz and bebop. With Ray I learned how to respect and admire and love all other forms of music. This music is an incredible gift. I want to expand my mind and expand the music as it comes through me, put my stamp on it, my feeling, and see what comes out. I want to explore other areas, bridge the generations. You can’t close yourself off as music moves on.
David Newman

***Fathead Comes On (1963) signed by David***

This music is a gift, it’s an incredible gift. What happens is the music doesn’t really come from me or from us; this music comes through us. So I want to explore what I can do in all the different areas of music. I don’t necessarily want to stick to a certain form insofar as the music goes. I want to expand my mind and expand the music as it comes through me and as I feel it.
David Newman

***House Of David (1967) signed by David***

He has one of the kindest, sweetest dispositions of anyone I'd ever known. They called him "Fathead" but I called him "Brains" because of his keen intelligence. He had it all covered - down and dirty blues and high flying bop. And he put it together with a smoothness that had me wishing I could blow sax half as good as him.
Ray Charles on David "Fathead" Newman

***The Many Facets Of David Newman (1969) signed by David***

I respect him as a man, and we kind of have that respect as men — and I respect his playing. I broke a lot of bread with David. The thing I like about him is whatever he plays, for me, I can understand it, I can feel it, how he expresses himself. He’s just the kind of player that I like, and there are many others, but David is one that I had the experience of being around a lot, so I know him from A to Z! He’s a very soulful man, and he can play in almost every setting… He’s on most of my recordings. Every time I use a small band, I always use David. He has a beautiful sound, a warm sound, and he always finds the blue notes.

Hank Crawford on David Newman

***More Soul (1960) signed by David, Hank Crawford***

***Indigo Blue (1983) signed by David, Dr. John, Hank Crawford, Bernard “Pretty” Purdie, Howard Johnson, Melvin Sparks***

***Fire! Live At The Village Vanguard (1989) signed by David, Hank Crawford, Stanley Turrentine, David Williams***

Born in Corsicana, Texas in 1933, David "Fathead" Newman was raised in Dallas and began playing the piano and saxophone. He graduated from Lincoln High School and attended Jarvis Christian College on a scholarship where he studied music and theology. After two years, David left college to go on the road with Buster Smith, a hard blowing alto saxophonist who was the great Charlie Parker's mentor.

***Captain Buckles (1971) signed by David***

On the road in 1951, David met Ray Charles who was playing in Lowell Fulson's band. The two became good friends, and when Ray started his own band in 1954, David joined him as a baritone saxophonist. "because that was the only opening." David later switched to tenor saxophone and became the featured soloist on many of Ray's earliest hits: "The Right Time", "Unchain My Heart", "What'd I Say", and "Lonely Avenue." In 1958, Ray Charles produced and played piano on David's first album, Fathead: Ray Charles Presents David Newman. An instrumental jazz album, it featured Ray's blues and gospel piano with David's warm, burnished tenor. One of the highlights is "Hard Times", a song written by Paul Mitchell that has an infectious groove that never ceases to inspire. It is an early soul jazz recording which helped define the genre and has since become a standard.

***The Best Of David Newman (1971) signed by David***

After ten years with The Ray Charles Band, David left to pursue a solo career with Atlantic Records. He released over thirty-eight albums as a leader in his storied career and he also participated as a session musician on important recordings with Aretha Franklin, Aaron Neville, BB King, Joe Cocker, Dr. John, and Lou Rawls among many others. Throughout his career, David's talents and artistry were always evolving. Never rooted in his past work, David sought challenges with contemporary music. In 2003, he played tenor sax on Dr. Lonnie Smith's Boogaloo To Beck, a greasy, soul jazz excursion into Beck's very recent oeuvre. "Loser", "Sexx Laws", and "Jack Ass" never sounded funkier or groovier. And he explained his interest in Rap and Hip Hop in a revealing Downbeat interview in 1998:

“So I want to explore and to play in other areas, even see how my music fits into the Rap situation — I mean, poetically. I don’t really see anything wrong with Rap. It’s just the content in Rap that’s a little offensive sometimes. But the Rap music itself is really an extension of the music, coming from Louis Armstrong.”

***Front Money (1977) signed by David***

***Down On The Deuce (1984) signed by David, Hank Crawford, Howard Johnson, Cedar Walton***

I saw David many times over the years. He was so soulful on tenor saxophone and he was an accomplished flutist. He was always happy to sign albums and he signed a lot over the years. I told him how much I loved "Hard Times", so he signed his first album "Fathead blows Hard Times." He laughed when I showed him the Doug Sahm And Friends cover. It was a legendary 1972 session with Bob Dylan, Dr. John, David Bromberg, Flaco Jimenez, Augie Meyers and host of other Tex-Mex greats. I asked him about the session. David said slyly, "It was really smokey. There was a haze in the studio. I'd never seen so much smoke. I don't really remember that much."

***Doug Sahm And Band (1972) signed by David, Dr. John, David Bromberg***

Late in his career, David released a tribute to Duke Ellington, Mr. Gentle, Mr. Cool (1994), a fine album of eleven Ellington compositions including the rather obscure title cut. Although Duke wrote this song about his two trumpet players Shorty Baker (Gentle) and Ray Nance (Cool), he could have been thinking about David Newman. Just a kind, gracious, talented man, not a Fathead...but Mr. Gentle, Mr. Cool...David Newman.