Saxophonist Bobby Keys died yesterday; he was 70. Most folks will remember him from his decades long tenure as sax man for the Rolling Stones. Um, he's the one blowin' the horn during the "Brown Sugar" solo and during their groovy West Coast sike anthem "Can’t You Hear Me Knocking."

Keys began playing sax after hearing King Curtis records; Curtis' playing was striking, as Curtis didn't play his horn with jazz phrasing, but rather he phrased his notes like he was playing a guitar. Well, rock and roll had just exploded and Keys picked up on this alternate way of playing—smartly, obviously, as he turned it into work and then a career. First he picked up session work, even playing a little with Texas local Buddy Holly, and then went professional, backing teen-pop vocalist Bobby Vee; at the time Keys was only 15. His first run in with the Stones was in 1964 when they played the San Antonio Teen Fair, but it was only after an encounter with Mick Jagger at a Delaney & Bonnie session five years later did he get the tap to join the Stones' back line. He quickly became one of Keef's besties and ended up playing on every Stones record from Let it Bleed until It’s Only Rock ‘n Roll, then from Emotional Rescue through the Stones' most recent album, A Bigger Bang. And he also was almost always touring with the band, including this year's On Fire tour. His only lull from the band came in 1973, when he out-Jaggered Mick Jagger and missed a show; he was found soaking in a bathtub full of Dom Perignon along with an unidentified French lady!! DAG!

Aside from his tenure with the Stones, as a session man, Keys has an ass-deep catalog. During the '70s, he was part of John Lennon's Lost Weekend, he played with the Plastic Ono Band and on some of Lennon's solo albums as well as on albums by Eric Clapton, Joe Cocker, George Harrison, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Barbra Streisand, Carly Simon, Dr. John, Harry Nilsson, Warren Zevon, Humble Pie, and, like, about one million others. He's also featured in the movie Mad Dogs and Englishmen, where he tells the story of his early life in Dallas. Oh, AND he recorded a couple solo albums in the '70s, Bobby Keys and Gimme the Key; he was still active in recent months, playing locally in Nashville with his band Bobby Keys and the Suffering Bastards.