***1/2 Sax Gordon

YOU KNOCK ME OUT

(Bullseye Blues & Jazz)

Gordon Beadle sexes up his saxophone all over this strong CD, with a big tone that leers and cheers -- and sheds some tears -- through 13 tunes. The Boston-based blues MVP rekindles the slow burn and the fireworks of the late-'40s/early-'50s honkers and wailers -- players like Big Jay McNeeley and Red Prysock and Noble Watts, with a little bit of King Curtis thrown in for soul on instrumentals like the hangover hazy "Crawling Home." Beadle's got a sense of humor that comes across most obviously in the few tunes with lyrics, like the musician's lament "20 Dollar Gig" and the title track, which is sung by a chorus of Beadle, guitarist Duke Robillard, and the most recent ex-Roomful of Blues vocalist, Sugar Ray Norcia. But it's also audible in the giddy joy he sprays all over the fast numbers, like "Speed Rack" and Watts's "90 MPH."

Still, for the old-timers Beadle models his surly and sensuous sound upon, life was more than inspiring strippers and walking the bar for tips. So when he dips into Red Tyler's "Lonely for You" or the gospel-sauced "Tino's Dream," he plays straight from the heart. His debut as a leader, Have Horn Will Travel, was spotty. This time Beadle emerges as the leading torchbearer of the sax-fired music that became rock and roll.

-- Ted Drozdowski