Junior Walker

Whether it's Bobby Keys, David Sanborn, or Clarence Clemons, every time a pop sax player starts to blow, it's hard not to hear echoes of Junior Walker. With his specialty being a passionate, sweet growl, he made great, hard soul music in the mid-'60s; such fun cuts as "(I'm a) Road Runner," "Pucker Up Buttercup," "Hip City -- Pts. 1 & 2," and his trademark, "Shotgun," are now classics. He sang tough, too, with a scratchy, swinging delivery. The later work got swamped in glossy arrangements, but any of his best-of records still sound tough. By now "Junior Walker" is a style in itself, one that Foreigner deployed excellently on "Urgent" by getting the man himself to sit in. The Ultimate Collection is the more comprehensive, an un-dying testimony to the "cool" of sax. (PAUL EVANS)

From 2004's The New Rolling Stone Album Guide