Alvin Tyler

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Alvin "Red" Tyler (b. New Orleans, 5 December 1925 – d. New Orleans, 4 April 1998) was an American R&B and jazz saxophonist and arranger.

After growing up to the sound of New Orleans’ marching bands, he began playing saxophone when in the navy, and by 1950 had joined Dave Bartholomew’s R&B band. He also played jazz in club jam sessions. He made his recording debut on Fats Domino’s “The Fat Man”, and went on to play on sessions for Little Richard, Lloyd Price, Aaron Neville, Lee Dorsey, Dr. John, and numerous other rhythm and blues artists.

From the mid-1960s, he worked as a liquor salesman, and also began leading his own jazz band in clubs and hotel residencies in New Orleans. While the baritone saxophone had been his primary instrument during his years as a studio musician, his jazz playing gradually came to rely much more on tenor saxophone. In the mid-1980s he recorded two jazz albums, "Graciously" and "Heritage", with vocals by Johnny Adams and Germaine Bazzle, for Rounder Records.