Buster Bennett

Joseph "Buster" Bennett was an American blues saxophonist and vocalist.

Bennett as born in Florida and played early in Texas, but spent most of his active career (roughly 1938 to 1947) in Chicago, where he moved when he was 19 years old. He was employed as a session musician for Melrose Records from 1938 to 1942, where he played on recordings with Big Bill Broonzy, Yas Yas Girl, Monkey Joe, and Washboard Sam. Concomitantly he also played on sessions with Jimmie Gordon under Sammy Price's direction.

After his contract with Melrose expired he signed with the American Record Corporation, who was interested in him as a frontman but chose to record little of his rural blues repertory in favor of more commercially viable material. He then signed with Columbia Records in 1945 for three years, where he was marketed as a Louis Jordan sound-alike.

By the early 1950s he was essentially out of music, both because of the decline in Chicago blues recording and because of his own failing health. He retired to Texas, where he lived out the remainder of his life.

References

*Eugene Chadbourne, [http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=11:kcfyxqr5ldfe~T1 Buster Bennett] at Allmusic