Raphael Ravenscroft - Baker Street Saxophonist Dies R.I.P

Sad news reported by the Press Association:


BAKER STREET'S SAX SOLOIST DIES
By Scott D'Arcy, Press Association
The musician behind one of the most recognisable saxophone solos - on Gerry
Rafferty's hit Baker Street - has died.
Raphael Ravenscroft, 60, who found fame almost overnight following the release
of the 1978 track, went on to work with music icons such as Pink Floyd, Abba and
Marvin Gaye, and more recently he worked as a session musician for pop artists
Daft Punk and Duffy.
He died following a suspected heart attack early on Sunday.
Ravenscroft is reported to have been paid £27 for the session with a cheque
that bounced, while the hit reached number three in the UK charts and number two
in the US and Rafferty was said to have earned £80,000 a year from the royalties
on the song alone.
In a radio interview in 2011, Ravenscroft said hearing the song annoyed him.
He said: "I'm irritated because it's out of tune. Yeah, it's flat. By enough
of a degree that it irritates me at best."
He had already appeared on one disco album by Maxine Nightingale, Right Back
Where We Started From, in 1976, as an arranger but emerged as one of pop-rock's
most prominent sax men.
In 1990 Ravenscroft, also a former tutor of music at York College, published a
successful instruction book, The Complete Saxophone Player.
In 2011, he recorded a tribute to commemorate the funeral of Rafferty called
Forgiveness, which combined his saxophone playing with the voices of
Grammy-nominated choir Tenebrae.
This summer Ravenscroft, of Exeter, Devon, organised a charity
gala concert in memory of a local schoolgirl who died after falling from a wall in May this
year.
ends
210306 OCT 14

 

Sad news. I always liked his sax on Pink Floyd's "The final Cut".

 

The sax on Baker Street is such a recognizable musical "hook". I immediately heard it when I read the thread title.

RIP.

 

RIP.

 

What a great sax player and song. RIP.

 

Bummer.

 

R.I.P.

Baker Street: Great vocal; great sound; great song; great arrangement; great playing.

"I'm irritated because it's out of tune. Yeah, it's flat.”

I'm not hearing the sax being flat. If anything, after the intro, and the sax comes in, the first note that he slides up to is sharp.

I always thought the vocal has a Lennon “Girl” element to it.

 

RIP

 

RIP

"Baker Street" is great song and I have always liked it as it has that really recognizable sax solo and sound.

 

Great song !!
The sax made it memorable.
RIP

 

Instantly recognizable and likeable. One of the best sax riffs in rock. R.I.P. (With a name like that he could only have been a sax player..)

 

RIP. The music will live on

 

Bob Holness is dead!!

RIP

 

Did some great work with Robert Plant as well....very sad

 

R.I.P.

 

RIP Ralph. The solo on Baker Street meant a lot to me as an 18 year old just moved to London in '78.

 

RIP Ralph. The solo on Baker Street meant a lot to me as an 18 year old who had just moved to London in '78.

 

RIP Ralph. The solo on Baker Street meant a lot to me as an 18 year old who had just moved to London in '78.

 

Reported as heart attack. Only 60. What a bummer, RIP. I don't think he was so worried about only getting £27 for Baker Street as I heard an interview in which he said he was paid £5K session fees as a result of the big hit. 30+ years ago that was a vast amount.

 

Sad to hear. Loved his solo album "Her Father Didn't Like Me Anyway". Hard to find album but a great listen.
RIP.

 

RIP

 

Absolutely the best rock saxophonist, bar none. Loved all of his work......Floyd (Two Suns...), Robert Plant (Pledge Pin), and many others, but who could ever forget Baker Street. I still get chills when I hear his work on that tune.

 

What a distinctive sax he played. RIP.

 

Also the Sax player on the still unreleased ABBA classic "Just Like That"