Jackie Brenston

Pinpointing the inaugural rock & roll recording remains an exercise in futility, yet Jackie Brenston’s 1951 Chess release “Rocket 88” stands as a compelling early exemplar that already contained every essential ingredient: lyrics too slurred to decipher, centered on automobiles, alcohol, and romantic pursuits; Raymond Hill’s aggressively wailing tenor saxophone; and a thick, percussion-driven rhythmic foundation.

At the time a novice producer, Sam Phillips captured the track in Memphis for Brenston’s first session, with the singer and saxophonist supported by Ike Turner’s Kings of Rhythm—the outfit Brenston had entered the year before. Turner himself sat at the piano while Willie Kizart contributed heavily distorted, gritty guitar lines. Credited to Jackie Brenston & His Delta Cats, the single ascended to the top of the R&B charts and held that position for more than four weeks. Subsequent Chess efforts, however, never recaptured that same intensity, although “Real Gone Rocket” came close.

Brenston’s visibility faded rapidly thereafter. Additional Chess singles, among them the Edna McRaney duet “Hi-Ho Baby,” failed to register, prompting a 1955 return to Turner’s band, where he remained on baritone saxophone through 1962. During this period he fronted the Kings of Rhythm on several strong sides: “Gonna Wait for My Chance” and “Much Later” for Federal in 1956, “You’ve Got to Lose” for Chicago’s Cobra label in 1958 (where he also recorded behind Otis Rush and Buddy Guy), and “You Ain’t the One” for Sue in 1961. A last single on Mel London’s Mel-Lon imprint marked the end of his recording activity; afterward he drove trucks and displayed scant interest in revisiting past successes.