HISTORY OF TOP 40 SAX SOLOS-BILLY JOEL

JSAXL

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Jul 17, 2001, 9:30:42 PM7/17/01

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Hi Billy Joel fans, I am writing a book that traces the history of sax solo in
Top 40 hits from 1955-2000. I am aware of four hits that Joel has done with sax
solos;

JUST THE WAY YOU ARE
BIG SHOT
YOU MAY BE RIGHT
IT'S STILL ROCK AND ROLL TO ME

Do any of you know of any others that I can add to the book?

Thanks for your time.

John Laughter
JS...@aol.com
Rock & Roll Saxophone
Contemporary Saxophone

Turnstiles

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Jul 18, 2001, 8:52:30 AM7/18/01

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How dare you leave off "Stiletto". ;-) Turnstiles Dan

js...@aol.com (JSAXL) wrote in message news:<20010717213042...@ng-fb1.aol.com>...

JSAXL

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Jul 18, 2001, 10:24:36 PM7/18/01

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Thanks Dan. By the way, do you know who played the solo [sax section] on Big
Shot?

John

Compchick

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Jul 19, 2001, 6:02:22 AM7/19/01

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>Thanks Dan. By the way, do you know who played the solo [sax section] on Big
>Shot?

The soloist on all of them would have to be Richie Cannata (sp?), right?

There are certainly other sax solos, but they wouldn't be top 40 songs. Do you
want them anyway?
The Mocked One
"Always ready for the next barrage... not that there has to be a next
barrage..."

To stop future mistakes... I'm male. "Chick" is the last part of my last name.

JSAXL

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Jul 19, 2001, 9:43:43 PM7/19/01

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Compchick, I appreciate the offer but I am having to stay with the ones that
made "Top 40" hits due to the length of the book. I am tracing all the
solos/bios/photos and a lot of history so we can only add so much to the book.

Thanks

John Laughter

Vinnie

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Jul 22, 2001, 12:36:16 PM7/22/01

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Richie Cannata was the soloist for much of Joel's early career, until Mark Rivera
came along.

Vitor Cunha

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Jul 23, 2001, 4:46:15 AM7/23/01

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> JUST THE WAY YOU ARE
> BIG SHOT
> YOU MAY BE RIGHT
> IT'S STILL ROCK AND ROLL TO ME

And Only the good die young? Does it count?

VC

Toonces464

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Jul 24, 2001, 1:14:50 PM7/24/01

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And "Scenes"...though I dunno if it made Top 40 since I can't get to my Top 40
book right now...

*******************************************
"There are people who have lost every trace of human kindness..." - Billy Joel

Peter Miles

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Jul 26, 2001, 1:34:54 PM7/26/01

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Hi there everyone,

I have only just found this newsgroup.

I am a devoted BJ fan, but in addition to Billy, I really loved many of his
band members. I see people here mention Richie Cannata and Marc Rivera.

What is everyone's views as to who was the better saxophonist.??

Personally, I really enjoyed Richie Cannata. No-one has ever been able to
play the sax part of Just the Way you are, as well as Richie.

I have been to at least one concert on every BJ concert tour whenever he
toured here to Sydney Australia. As good as Marc Rivera was, he never got
the same feeling that Richie had for JTWYA.

By the way, does anyone know where Richie Cannata is these days.?? Where did
he go, once he left Billy.?? Does he play still.

Cheers

Pete
Vinnie wrote in message <3B5B028D...@optonline.net>...

Gary Myles

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Jul 26, 2001, 5:56:08 PM7/26/01

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Peter Miles <pete...@tpg.com.au> wrote:

> Hi there everyone,
>
> I have only just found this newsgroup.
>
> I am a devoted BJ fan, but in addition to Billy, I really loved many of his
> band members. I see people here mention Richie Cannata and Marc Rivera.
>
> What is everyone's views as to who was the better saxophonist.??
>
> Personally, I really enjoyed Richie Cannata. No-one has ever been able to
> play the sax part of Just the Way you are, as well as Richie.

I might be wrong but did Phil Woods not play the original solo on the
album?

IMO Mark has a better sound (especially in the top register) but Richie
deserves lots of credit for his original solos (NYSoM, OtGDY, YMBR to
abbreviate just a few!).

Just MHO

Gary

James Morrissey

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Jul 26, 2001, 6:09:42 PM7/26/01

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>> By the way, does anyone know where Richie Cannata is these days.?? Where
did
> he go, once he left Billy.?? Does he play still.

He's "put together a horn section" if we can believe Billy as he says during
the Millennium Concert, and he (Richie) showed up to do New York State of
Mind.

JQM

Peter Miles

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Jul 30, 2001, 3:08:44 AM7/30/01

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Gary,

You could well be right, I do not know for sure, but Richie certainly played
in Billy's band, on his early tours to Australia, late 70's and early 80's.
I have to say, the way Richie played in the live concerts seemed to me the
same style as that recorded on the Stranger.

Billy was always a great showman, but his band also contributed, and I liked
the way BJ allowed them all to have their cameo roles. Richie played some
great virtuosic parts. Liberty De Vito was brilliant on drums.

Later in the 80's Marc Rivera also played great virtuosic parts too. I
remember a concert in the Sydney Exhibition Centre, (which held 12,000)
where he walked off stage and suddenly starting playing these haunting
melodies as he strolled around the concert centre, and then after about 5
minutes, he was spotlighted in the back row of the concert hall, sitting in
the aisle at the top of the stairs, he eventually worked his way back to
stage. These were the days of the 3-3.5 hour concerts.!!! Those were the
days......eh.!!!!

Billy always gave value for money.

Cheers

Peter.

Gary Myles wrote in message
<1ex6cx4.1ni381a122npi0N%gary...@utvinternet.com>...

Stuart Zuckerman

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Apr 16, 2021, 6:39:22 PM4/16/21

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I just stumbled on this website with memories of early Billy Joel songs. “JTWYA” was the song my wife and I chose
Afro our first dance at our wedding in 1978. It had special meaning for me because I went to high school with Richie
Cannata. At the time, we both played clarinet. He was a few years behind me and may have switched to sax in high school. I went off to college in New England but high school friends kept talking about seeing Billy Joel at small clubs on Long Island. Richie was already playing for Joel then.

I think Richie still teaches, and has a website