Sax Kari
| Sax Kari | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Background information | |
| Birth name | Isaac Columbus Toombs, Jr. |
| Also known as | Saxton Kari Candy Yams Ira Green Texas Red Dirty Red Morgan |
| Born |
February 6, 1920 Chicago, Illinois, U.S. |
| Died | October 1, 2009 (aged 89) Tampa, Florida, U.S. |
| Genres | R&B, disco, funk |
| Occupation(s) | Musician, bandleader, songwriter, record producer |
| Instruments | Vocals, guitar, piano, organ, saxophone |
| Years active | 1930s–1990s |
Sax Kari (February 6, 1920 – October 1, 2009), born Isaac Columbus Toombs, Jr., sometimes known as Isaac Saxton Kari Toombs or simply Saxton Kari, was an American multi-instrumentalist, bandleader, songwriter, record producer, A&R man and promoter, who had a wide variety of roles during a career in African American entertainment and R&B music lasting from the 1920s to the 1990s. He also used pseudonyms, including Ira Green, Texas Red, Dirty Red Morgan, and Candy Yams.
He was born in Chicago, the son of Tennessee-born Isaac Columbus Toombs and his wife Irene. As a child, he ran away from home and from the age of nine performed in vaudeville as a comic entertainer with Butterbeans and Susie, who gave him the nickname "Candy Yams" for his relatively light freckled complexion. He learned to play piano, guitar, and reed instruments, and by 1940 was living in Gary, Indiana, with his mother. He worked in bands as a guitarist, and in 1942 took Charlie Christian's place in the orchestra at the Lyon's Den club in Oklahoma City. He began working with and for club owner and entrepreneur Denver D. Ferguson in Indianapolis in the early 1940s, promoting concerts and helping Ferguson set up the network later known as the "chitlin' circuit".
He formed his own eighteen-piece touring band, and settled in Detroit around 1945. He made his first recordings with his orchestra for Imperial Records in 1947, followed by recordings with vocalist Roosevelt "Whiskey" Sheffield for Apollo in 1949. In 1953, he released his most successful record, "Daughter (That's Your Red Wagon)", an answer song to Ruth Brown's "(Mama) He Treats Your Daughter Mean", which reached #8 on the Billboard R&B chart. The record was credited to "Swinging Sax Kari" and featured singer Gloria Irving.
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