Junior Walker

Motown's skilled but mostly anonymous instrumentalists very rarely stepped out on their own. The lone exception to the rule was tenor saxman Junior Walker, whose rough-and-ready, old-school R&B was a marked contrast with the label's typically smooth product. Walker's squealing, gutbucket style was inspired by jump blues and early R&B, particularly players like Louis Jordan, Earl Bostic, and Illinois Jacquet. Possessed of a raspy voice, Walker's singing nonetheless complemented the energy of his sax playing, and he cut a wealth of danceable, party-hearty R&B for Motown during his heyday in the second half of the 1960s.