Instead, Randolph, with 32 albums behind him, is completing his third decade as one of the premiere tenor saxophonists in Nashville and is opening this weekend for country crooner Eddy Arnold at Harrah's Casino, Atlantic City.

When [Boots Randolph] was a youth in Evansville, Ind., a man came by one day with a trombone - not your run of the mill instrument for the time and the place - and Randolph's father immediately saw how taken young Boots was with the instrument.

Randolph said some of his favorite saxophonists today are Richie Cole, a Trenton, N.J., native who worked oo "Dedication," David Sanborn, and Tom Scott, whose "Rock Island Rocket," is performed by Randolph.