Herbert Hardesty (March 3, 1925 – December 3, 2016) was an American musician who played tenor saxophone and trumpet. He is best known for his association with the New Orleans pianist Fats Domino and the producer Dave Bartholomew, beginning in 1948. He released six 45-rpm records as Herb Hardesty between 1959 and 1962. His first CD of these recordings, together with others made but not issued in 1958, were released worldwide in July 2012 by Ace Records (United Kingdom) as The Domino Effect.
Early life
Hardesty was born in New Orleans, Louisiana, on March 3, 1925. He began trumpet lessons in school at the age of six and used a trumpet given to his stepfather by Louis Armstrong. He also took lessons from Professor Valmore Victor and began playing in a local Works Progress Administration big band. By 1939, he was getting paid to play with bands led by Papa Celestin, Sidney Desvigne, and others. Chick Webb also asked him to perform with his orchestra.
Hardesty enlisted in the military in 1941 even though he was two years below the minimum draft age. At the United States Army Air Corps base in Jackson, Mississippi, he volunteered to play saxophone in the band, and his commanding officer purchased an alto saxophone, which Hardesty learned to play in two days. His Army training continued at Tuskegee, Alabama, and he was a radio technician in the 99th Flying Training Squadron, stationed in Morocco, Italy, and Germany, making him part of what is now known as the Tuskegee Airmen. When time permitted he played trumpet and alto saxophone with local European musicians. After the war ended, Hardesty returned to New Orleans and attended Dillard University.
Early career
His first trio performed at the Hurricane Bar (3726 S. Claiborne Avenue, in New Orleans, a few blocks from where he was living) with Hardesty playing double bass accompanied by a guitarist and pianist, similar to Nat King Cole's group. Shortly after this Hardesty purchased a tenor saxophone and began taking lessons, and by 1948 formed a group, the Four Dukes, which performed at Club Desire in New Orleans; Hardesty played trumpet and tenor sax.
Hardesty met Dave Bartholomew in 1946, and by January 1949 Bartholomew asked Hardesty to go into the studio to record with Chubby Newsome for De Luxe Records, for the album New Orleans Lover Man. Other musicians on this session included the drummer Earl Palmer, the bassist Frank Fields, the guitarist Ernest McLean, who together with Bartholomew and Hardesty (by this time primarily playing tenor sax) were the core of the studio band which during the 1950s recorded many hit records at Cosimo Matassa's J&M Recording Studio. Later in 1949, Hardesty toured for about six months with the singer Roy Brown.
Upon returning to New Orleans, Hardesty again recorded with Bartholomew, including the November 29, 1949, sessions for Jewel King ("3 x 7 = 21") and Tommy Ridgley ("Shrewsbury Blues"). On December 10, 1949, he recorded on "The Fat Man" with Fats Domino, the first release for the future Rock and Roll Hall of Fame member. During the first half of the 1950s, Hardesty continued to do studio work with Domino and other artists, including Lloyd Price (Hardesty contributed the saxophone solo on "Lawdy Miss Clawdy"), Shirley and Lee, Smiley Lewis, T-Bone Walker, Big Joe Turner, Little Richard, and others, and occasionally performed in local clubs. In 1953, he helped Ray Charles organize and rehearse a band for a tour.
Touring with Fats Domino and solo recordings
In 1955, Bartholomew asked Hardesty to begin touring with Fats Domino. When the band played at the 5-4 Ballroom in Los Angeles, California, in March 1955, a photographer took a picture of Hardesty playing tenor sax on his back, and it appeared in the April 18, 1955, issue of Life magazine, the first time that Domino was mentioned in Life, although he was not in the photograph. This same trip to Los Angeles also included recording sessions that resulted in hits for Domino, including "Blue Monday", on which Hardesty played the baritone saxophone solo because the other musician was unable to get the right sound; it was the first and only time that Hardesty played baritone sax. One music writer said this solo "is as close to perfection as one can imagine. The eight-bar sax break is a gem of almost frightening economy. It is one of the most memorable, bluesy, and yet simple runs in all of r&b." Other well-known tenor saxophone solos by Hardesty with Domino were on "I'm Walkin'", "Ain't That a Shame", and "Let the Four Winds Blow".