South Side saxophonist and songwriter Gene Barge inspired the Gary U.S. Bonds hit “Quarter to Three,” released several albums of his own, produced music for Muddy Waters, Buddy Guy and Natalie Cole and later dabbled in acting, with roles in films including “The Fugitive” and “Under Siege.”
“He was very talented, he was funny and he had a great sense of history not just about the music business but he had a worldview of history and would talk on many different levels on things,” said film director and South Side native Andrew Davis, a longtime friend who cast Barge in multiple films.
Known as “Daddy G,” Barge, 98, died of natural causes Feb. 2, said his daughter, Gina. He lived in the South Side Douglas neighborhood, and previously was a longtime resident of the Chatham neighborhood.
Born James Garfield Barge Jr. in Norfolk, Virginia, Barge picked up the name “Gene” at an early age, his daughter said. His father worked in Norfolk’s Navy Yard, and he brought young Gene — up to that point a clarinet player — a tenor saxophone that a sailor had left on a torpedo-damaged ship. The sax quickly became his instrument of choice.
Barge left high school to join the Air Force, his daughter said, and he returned to school after active duty. Initially interested in becoming an architect, Barge attended West Virginia State College, where he received a degree in music in 1950.
Barge taught high school English and history in Norfolk for a time, but felt the pull of music and left teaching to play with area jazz and rhythm and blues bands. He released an instrumental, “Country,” which became a regional hit in 1955, and also put together his own band.
R&B singer Chuck Willis invited Barge to join his touring band and to a recording session. After another saxophonist wasn’t delivering in the studio, Willis asked Barge to step in for a take on the classic blues song “C.C. Rider.” Willis’ song topped the R&B chart and crossed over as well, performing nicely on the pop chart.
Barge eventually returned to Norfolk, where he worked for a record label run by songwriter and producer Frank Guida. Barge formed a band, the Church Street Five, and wrote an instrumental, “A Night with Daddy G,” the title providing the source of his nickname. A fellow Norfolk native, Gary U.S. Bonds, took the song and added lyrics, calling it “Quarter to Three.” It went on to become a hit that was covered by several musicians, including Bruce Springsteen.
Around 1964, Barge moved to Chicago to take a job at Chess Records as a staff musician and producer, overseeing the label’s rhythm section. Barge played on Fontella Bass’ hit “Rescue Me” and produced Buddy Guy’s 1967 album, “Left My Blues in San Francisco.”
Barge later said the label’s owners, the Chess brothers, struggled to adapt to rhythm and blues music..
“They felt the blues, but they really didn’t know a lot about R&B,” Barge told the Tribune in 1997. “They only came up if one of the blues artists came in, like if Muddy was going to do something.”
Barge also released his own album, “Dance with Daddy G,” in 1965. He also assembled a big band for local special occasions, the Gene Barge Orchestra.
After Chess closed in 1975, Barge independently produced two hit albums for Natalie Cole. He also briefly worked as a gospel music producer for Memphis-based Stax Records, though he continued to be based in Chicago.
Through some work with advertising agencies, Barge connected with Davis, who was working on his first film, “Stony Island.” The 1978 movie was about an up-and-coming R&B band and Davis hired Barge to play the role of the band’s mentor. Tribune film critic Gene Siskel, in his review of “Stony Island,” praised Barge for bringing “a quiet dignity to his role” and likening Barge’s portrayal as a hip adult who speaks “young people’s language through music.”
“He was perfect in the role,” Davis said. “I was so grateful to him because he helped me get my career off the ground.”
Roles for Barge followed in action films such as “Above the Law, “Under Siege,” “Chain Reaction,” “The Fugitive,” “The Package” and “The Guardian,” all directed by Davis.
Music remained front and center for Barge, however, and in the early 1980s, the Rolling Stones’ Mick Jagger asked Barge to join the band on its 1982 European tour. He also joined the Chicago-based band formerly known as Big Twist and the Mellow Fellows, which was renamed Chicago Rhythm and Blues Kings. Barge remained a part of that band almost until the COVID-19 pandemic, his daughter said.
Barge also produced a one-off album by an ad hoc group of Chicago pro athletes, including Dan Hampton, Troy Murray and the legendary Walter Payton. Known as the Chicago Six, the group played together during offseasons in the late 1980s.
In the early 2000s, Barge was a consultant for “The Blues,” a seven-part PBS documentary series made by executive producer Martin Scorsese that examined various aspects of blues music. Carlton “Chuck D” Ridenhour of the hip-hop group Public Enemy was featured in one episode, and Barge was asked to play a solo on Public Enemy’s 2005 album, “New Whirl Odor.” The result was a lengthy song co-written by Barge and Ridenhour titled “Superman’s Black in the Building.”
Barge’s self-released 2013 album, “Olio,” boasted guest appearances from Buddy Guy and Otis Clay. By his early ’90s, playing the sax no longer was an option due to battles with sciatica and then with emphysema, his daughter said.
A first marriage ended in divorce. Barge’s second wife, Sarah, died in 2008. Barge also is survived by another daughter, Gail Florence; two sisters, Celestine Bailey and Kim Williamson; a brother, Milton; two grandchildren; and several great-grandchildren.
Services were held.
Goldsborough is a freelance reporter.
