Gene Barge, renowned sax man and producer known as ‘Daddy G,’ dies at 98

Gene “Daddy G” Barge, an admired and durable saxophone player, songwriter and producer who worked on hits by Natalie Cole, oversaw recordings by Muddy Waters, performed with the Rolling Stones and helped inspire the dance classic “Quarter to Three,” has died. He was 98.He died in his sleep Sunday at his home in Chicago, according to his daughter Gina Barge.Barge’s career spanned much of the post-World War II era. He was in college jazz combos in the 1940s, backed Little Richard and James Brown when they were starting out, played a long, sweet solo on the ’50s standard “C.C. Rider” and collaborated with Gary “U.S.” Bonds on “Quarter to Three” and other ’60s party favorites. He later recorded with such blues greats as Waters, Buddy Guy and Willie Dixon, co-produced Cole’s Grammy Award-winning single “Sophisticated Lady,” toured with the Stones in the early 1980s and even played on Public Enemy’s “New Whirl Odor” album, for which he was credited as “the legendary Mr. Gene Barge.”Often cited as a precursor to the E Street Band’s Clarence Clemons, he held rare status among saxophonists — so well known for a time that he was called out by name on two hits of the early ’60s — “Quarter to Three” and the uptempo doo-wop number “Bristol Stomp,” in which the Dovells sing: “It started in Bristol at a dee jay hop/They hollered and whistled never wanted to stop/We pony and twisted and we rocked. with Daddy G.”In the 1970s and after, he had success as a character actor in thrillers and crime stories, his films including “Above the Law,” “The Package” and “The Fugitive.” Barge was also a consultant for Martin Scorsese’s documentary “The Blues.”When the musician was in his 80s, Public Enemy’s Chuck D called him “the flyest octogenarian I know.”The eldest of eight children, James Gene Barge was born and raised in Norfolk, Virginia, and dreamed of professional football before playing clarinet with his high school marching band inspired him to try music. He took up the tenor saxophone shortly after ending a two-year stint in the Air Force and right before enrolling in West Virginia State College: His father, a welder in the Norfolk Navy Yard, had been given one by a visiting British World War II soldier.