Product Dimensions: 8'X 10"in 11”x14” matte
Author/Artist: Center for Southern Folklore Archives

For over 50 years, Fred Ford played baritone sax, becoming a blues/jazz/R&B fixture among several generations of Memphis musicians. He travelled with B.B.King, Johnny Otis and many others. Ford’s career extended from the late 1940s to the late 1990s and included recordings with a broad mix of recording artists including Little Richard, Jerry Lee Lewis, B.B. King, Rufus Thomas, Lightnin' Hopkins, Junior Parker, Esther Phillips and Big Mama Thornton, Charlie Rich, Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown and Alex Chilton. Ford started playing professionally with the Douglass High School’s Douglass Swingsters Orchestra and the Andrew Chaplin Band in the late 1940s, before graduating from high school. He performed on Rufus Thomas’ recording Do the Funky Chicken but his most famous recording - the 1952 classic Hound Dog by Big Mama Thornton - had him barking instead of playing sax. Jim Dickinson described the session. It's basically drums and guitar and a little bass,'' said producer Jim Dickinson. ``And the horn players were all sitting around because they had been called for the session. And they barked at the end like dogs!” Locally in Memphis Fred Ford teamed with Robert “Honeymoon” Garner and Bill Tius to play classic jazz tunes in many venues including The Peabody and the Center for Southern Folklore. Ford is featured in the Center’s documentary film about Memphis Music, All Day & All Night: Memories from Beale Street Musicians. Fred Ford passed away November 26, 1999 at the age of 69.