For more than five decades, Mel Collins has been the musician rock stars call when a song needs the unmistakable punch of a saxophone.
The veteran British musician turned 79 on Sept. 5, marking another milestone in a remarkable career that has included King Crimson, Camel, Eric Clapton, Dire Straits, The Rolling Stones and countless others. Among those credits is Bob Dylan, whose sprawling 1975 sessions for Desire brought Collins into the studio for the cinematic “Romance in Durango.”
Born Melvyn Desmond Collins on Sept. 5, 1947, Collins emerged during the late ’60s before joining King Crimson in 1970.
He made his first appearance with the progressive rock pioneers on In the Wake of Poseidon and became an important part of the band’s early-’70s sound. His saxophone and flute could be heard across albums including Lizard and Islands, giving Collins a prominent place in one of progressive rock’s most adventurous groups.
His versatility soon made him a sought-after session musician.
That reputation brought Collins to New York City in 1975 during the famously crowded early sessions for Dylan’s Desire. Collins was then associated with the British group Kokomo, several of whose musicians participated as Dylan experimented with different combinations of players.
“We got asked to go in one by one,” Collins told Rolling Stone. “He wanted some singers, so the Kokomo singers went in. He wanted a keyboard player, so the keyboardist went in. I was the last one. I was thinking, ‘He won’t want a saxophone.’ As it happened, there was a trumpet player [Michael Lawrence]. And I got called in at the last minute after drinking a glass of brandy and thinking, ‘I’m going to be going home soon.’ And bang! I’m in the studio with this very nice guy, the trumpet player. Bob Dylan just sort of walked around the studio playing the song and we had to get a rough idea of it. Then we had to go for a take.”
Collins played tenor saxophone on “Romance in Durango,” Dylan and Jacques Levy’s tale of an outlaw fleeing across Mexico with his lover. The recording assembled an unusually large cast that also included Eric Clapton, Emmylou Harris and violinist Scarlet Rivera.
His involvement with the Desire sessions extended further. Session records also place Collins on takes of songs including “Isis” and “Mozambique” as Dylan worked through the material that would ultimately form the 1976 album. “Romance in Durango,” however, is where his tenor saxophone can be heard on the finished record.
Collins’ résumé only grew from there. He contributed to albums by Bryan Ferry, Bad Company, Tears for Fears, Dire Straits, and The Rolling Stones.
“The Stones wanted a sax player, and at that time, Bobby Keys was banned,” Collins revealed years later. “The whole story is in Keith Richards’ book. He was their usual guy. He did ‘Brown Sugar’ and all those old songs. And Mick booked me to do this session. I had been in the South of France, and they were doing it in Paris. It was a bit uncomfortable since Keith obviously wanted Bobby Keys, and Mick wouldn’t have it. So I’m there in the studio. I knew Ronnie quite well. He came in and went, ‘Hey man, how are you doing?’ And he walked to the other side of the studio. It’s a very big studio, EMI. Then Keith came in. I was there with Mick and trying to play the solo of my life.”
He also eventually returned to King Crimson, joining the band’s later incarnation and performing with the group through its final years of touring.
“Robert [Fripp] called me asking if I wanted to go on this new spree with the new version of King Crimson, and I said ‘of course, yes please,'” Collins said in a 2023 interview. “And that just followed on, very fortunately at that time. I was back with Robert, and it was great. I suppose we were on the road for about seven years since 2014, until a couple of years ago. It was a great band.
At 79, Collins’ career offers an extraordinary tour through decades of rock history. He rarely needed to be the name on the album cover; one blast of that saxophone was often enough to make his presence known.
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