Gene Barge obit

Legendary saxophone player Gene 'Daddy G' Barge dies at 98

Mr. Barge, who also acted in bit roles in films such as “The Fugitive” and “Under Siege,” played sax until he was 92, said his daughter.

 

He was not on the list.

Saxophonist Gene “Daddy G” Barge, who toured with The Rolling Stones and Bo Diddley and produced Muddy Waters and Howlin’ Wolf before trying his hand as actor in films like “The Fugitive” alongside Harrison Ford and “Under Siege” with Steven Seagal — died Sunday at his home in Bronzeville. He was 98.

Mr. Barge died in his sleep from natural causes, his daughter, Gina Barge, said.

“He prided himself on his arrangements but he really loved, just loved playing, the saddest part of the last six years of his life was that he wasn’t able to play sax, which was his first love,” she said. Mr. Barnes was the longtime saxophonist and vocalist for the hard-hitting Chicago Rhythm and Blues Kings, who graced the stages of area clubs and the Chicago Blues Festival over the years.

Mr. Barge, who was a longtime resident of Chatham before moving to Bronzeville about 13 years ago to be closer to his daughter, grew up in Norfolk, Virginia.

He moved to Chicago in the 1960s to become a staff musician and producer with Chess Records.

His first big break came when the tune “Quarter to Three” — which Mr. Barge arranged and Gary U.S. Bonds sang — shot up the charts in 1961. He later played on Fontella Bass’ “Rescue Me.”

In addition to touring with the Rolling Stones, Mr. Barge also took to the road with Fats Domino, Bo Diddley and his good friend, Buddy Guy.

Mr. Barge was friends with film director Andrew Davis, a Chicago native who cast him in several of his films, including 1993’s “The Fugitive” in which he played a Chicago cop, and “Under Siege” iin 1992 in which he portrayed a naval officer.

In “The Fugitive,” he played a Chicago cop who, standing behind a two-way mirror as Ford’s character is interrogated in the murder of his wife, proclaims: “His fingerprints are all over the lamp, the gun and the bullets, and the good doctor’s skin is under her fingernails.” The final scenes of the movie were filmed at the Hilton Chicago, down the street from Buddy Guy’s Legends blues bar.

“Buddy was a great friend of Gene and Tommy Lee Jones (who also starred in the movie) ended up spending a lot of time at Legends to the point where he’d be over there having lunch and we’d have to send someone to drag him back to the set,” Davis said, when reached on Tuesday.

The first film they worked on was 1978’s “Stony Island,” a shoestring-budget project in which Mr. Barge played a veteran musician helping a group of young South Siders pull together a band.

Davis, who was connected to Mr. Barge through a mutual acquaintance, enjoyed telling people on set, “Do you realize who this guy is? The music he’s made? Who he’s worked with?”

“He blew his horn very well, but not when it came to talking about himself, so we’d toot it for him,” Davis said.

Though Mr. Barge started on the clarinet as a kid, the saxophone that would become his signature instrument entered his life in a most unique way.

A British ship, torpedoed in the Atlantic toward the end of World War II but not sunk, ended up in the shipyard where Mr. Barge’s father, James Barge Sr., worked as a welder. His father found the water-soaked instrument as he worked on the ship, fixed it up and gave it to his 20-year-old son, who had recently completed his service in the Air Force as a radio operator.

Mr. Barge played the instrument nine hours a day and was largely self-taught.

“He was a very integral part of [Chicago’s] Chess Records, which was a very special place, and Gene was one of the people who made it special,” said record producer Marshall Chess, the son of Leonard Chess, who co-founded the record company.

An entire wall of Mr. Barge’s home was dedicated to the gold records he earned, many through his work as a producer with songstress Natalie Cole.

Barge toured and played with such notables as Fats Domino, Bo Diddley, Big Joe Turner, LaVern Baker, Ray Charles, Chuck Willis, the Rolling Stones, Gary U.S. Bonds, and Natalie Cole; and he had roles in major movies starring Gene Hackman, Chuck Norris, Harrison Ford and Steven Seagal. He has also toured in recent years under the pseudonym 'Daddy G.'

Barge also acted in a handful of films, including Under Siege and The Fugitive.

Mr. Barge’s wife, Sarah Barge, died in 2008. The couple had been married for more than 40 years.

Actor

Kevin Costner and Ashton Kutcher in The Guardian (2006)

The Guardian

6.9

Sax - Chicago Catz

2006

 

Morgan Freeman and Keanu Reeves in Chain Reaction (1996)

Chain Reaction

5.7

James Washington

1996

 

Harrison Ford in The Fugitive (1993)

The Fugitive

7.8

11th District Cop

1993

 

Steven Seagal in Under Siege (1992)

Under Siege

6.5

Bail Jumper

1992

 

The Package (1989)

The Package

6.4

Secret Service Agent

1989

 

Steven Seagal in Above the Law (1988)

Above the Law

6.0

Detective Henderson

1988

 

Chuck Norris in Code of Silence (1985)

Code of Silence

6.0

Music

1985

 

Stony Island (1978)

Stony Island

6.7

Percy Price

1978

 

Music Department

Michael Jackson, Sammy Davis Jr., Isaac Hayes, Jesse Jackson, Tito Jackson, and Jackson 5 in Save the Children (1973)

Save the Children

7.0

musical director

1973

 

Thanks

Legacy: From Horns to House (2020)

Legacy: From Horns to House

additional thanks

2020

In addition to his daughter Gina, Mr. Barge is survived by another daughter, Gail Florence, as well as two grandchildren and several great grandchildren.

Services are pending.