Best Sax Jazz

I am having a slow afternoon at work, so I thought I'd respond to your post. I started listening to jazz seriously about 40 years ago, and have a number of saxophone favorites that I can suggest. First, however, a few introductory comments.

Prior to the early 1930's, the saxophone was not used as a solo instrument, but rather as an ensemble instrument. The saxophone family ranges from soprano sax (highest pitched), alto, tenor, baritone, and bass (lowest pitched). During the early days of jazz, there was also a C-melody sax that was sometimes played, but it dropped from common usage.

The first truly great saxophonist was either Sidney Bechet or Coleman Hawkins, depending on your point of view and timeframe. Bechet initially played the clarinet, but later adopted the soprano sax and played it almost exclusively. Bechet was an extraordinarily gifted musician, but he did not have a broad American following. It was not until he went to France in the 1930's that he was acknowledged for his genius.

During the 1930's, Coleman Hawkins and Lester Young established the two stylistic schools of playing which still prevail today. Both played tenor, but Hawkins had a rougher, grittier tone that featured a lot of vibrato, whereas Young had a much lighter, airier tone that featured very little vibrato. From these two masters have derived virtually every modern sax player. The following list, broken down by type of sax, should help get your started:

Soprano sax:
1. Sidney Bechet
2. John Coltrane
3. Wayne Shorter
4. Steve Lacy

Alto sax:
1. Lester Young
2. Charlie Parker
3. Johnny Hodges
4. Art Pepper
5. Lee Konitz
6. Warne Marsh
7. Paul Desmond
8. Julian "Cannonball" Adderley
9. Eric Dolphy
10. Phil Woods
11. Bud Shank
12. Frank Morgan
13. Kenny Garrett

Tenor sax:
1. Coleman Hawkins
2. Lester Young
3. Ben Webster
4. Sonny Rollins
5. John Coltrane
6. Johnny Griffin
7. Dexter Gordon
8. Stan Getz
9. Sonny Stitt
10. Zoot Sims
11. Wayne Shorter
12. David Murray
13. Charles Lloyd
14. Rahsaan Roland Kirk

Baritone sax:
1. Harry Carney
2. Gerry Mulligan
3. Pepper Adams
4. Ronnie Cuber

Not all of these artists may play in a style that you initially enjoy -- but they do provide a range of sounds and styles, and over time you will develop a deeper appreciation of their abilities. Good listening to you!

After I got home and read my post, I noted an error: I listed Lester Young under alto sax, and again under tenor. He should have been listed only under tenor.

In response to "Wirehead": I don't know of any recordings that actually feature bass sax, since the instrument has a very large bore and is a bitch to play. Hence, when the bass sax is heard, it's normally in a group and is featured as a supporting instrument.

I was just getting on a roll with my previous post when I got interrupted and hard to actually get some work done. So, let me pick up the thread and make a few additional comments.

During the 1930's and 1940's, when Swing bands were successful, many of the great sax players were members of the groups led by Duke Ellington, Count Basie, Benny Goodman, Tommy & Jimmy Dorsey, Jimmy Lunceford, Fletcher Henderson, etc.

Duke Ellington wrote many of his best pieces specifically for the gifted players in his band, so there are many tunes that are associated with his saxophone players that included Johnny Hodges, Ben Webster, Russell Procope, and Paul Gonsalves.

The 1930's and 1940's produced an unusually large number of superb saxophone players, probably because the big bands were very popular and it was thus possible for large groups to stay together for extended periods. There is always some danger in putting together a list of the "top" players from an era, particularly since so many of them are little known today. A list of the "bests" from this era would have to include Chu Berry, Don Byas, Herschel Evans, Illinois Jacquet, Flip Phillips, Tex Beneke, Earl Bostic, Budd Johnson, Jimmy Dorsey, Buddy Tate, and Benny Carter. Benny Carter was alive and still making records well into the 1990's.

In my first post, I mentioned that the respective styles of Coleman Hawkins and Lester Young gave rise to the two "schools" or styles that still define sax players today.

Coleman Hawkins playing style, which has been described as warm, rather dark, full-bodied, and having a medium to fast vibrato, can be contrasted with Lester Young's style which was cool and light-colored, with a slow vibrato. Hawkins influenced players such as Herschel Evans, Chu Berry, Ben Webster, and Sonny Rollins.

Lester Young's style had somewhat great comparative impact, as can be seen from this list of players who adopted Young's style: Charlie Parker; Brew Moore; Paul Quinichette; Bob Cooper; Wardell Gray; Zoot Sims; Lee Konitz; Warne Marsh; Dexter Gordon; Gene Ammons; Sonny Stitt; Stan Getz; Richie Kamuca; Al Cohn; Don Lanphere; Jimmy Giuffre; John Coltrane; and Hank Mobley.

With the advent of the Bop and Hardbop eras (mid-1940's to early 1960's), the tenor sax clearly eclipsed the alto as the "voice" of the small jazz group. For those who want to really immerse themselves in the great music of this period, here's a short list of the best sax players that have not already been mentioned:

Alto:
Jackie McLean; Lou Donaldson; Gigi Gryce.

Tenor:
Jimmy Heath; Frank Foster; Clifford Jordan; Teddy Edwards; Benny Golson; John Gilmore; Oliver Nelson; Junior Cook; Stanley Turrentine; Booker Ervin; Joe Henderson; Harold Land; and Tina Brooks.

Baritone:
Cecil Payne; and Nick Brignola

In the post-bop era, "free" jazz era, the most influential alto sax player of the 1960's was probably Ornette Coleman. Coleman is one of the most prolific post-bop composers, and his works and playing style reflect a fresh, adventurous melodic concept. Some of the sax players that were influenced by Coleman include: Dewey Redman; Henry Threadgill; Carlos Ward; Archie Shepp; Oliver Lake; Jan Garbarek; and Albert Ayler.

The last group of sax players that should be mentioned are those that are associated with jazz-rock fusion. While there is no "superstar" of the sax associated with this period of the 1970's and 1980's, many of the players have become well known: Michael Brecker; Wayne Shorter; David Liebman; Grover Washington; Eddie Harris; David Sanborn; John Klemmer; and Kenny G. (Honesty compels me to say that I do not consider many of these musicians to be "jazz artists" in the strict sense. I do not mean for this to sound intellectually snobby, but much of the music in this style lacks many of the key elements of jazz in the classical sense.)

Well, Sailor630, I hope my two posts get you started (infact, it may cause collective overload). Best wishes -- it's always nice to welcome someone to the beauty of good jazz.

Frap: Good choices, all. Here are some recordings that I think deserve to be added to your fine list:

1. Charlie Parker: "The Complete Dial Recordings"; "Charlie Parker With Strings"; and the concert at Massey Hall (with Dizzy Gillespie and Max Roach).
2. John Coltrane: with Miles Davis on: "Kind of Blue"; and "Miles Davis & John Coltrane in Stockholm" (1960, Dragon).
3. Sonny Rollins: "Tenor Madness"; "Sonny Rollins Plus 4"; "Way Out West" (all 3 from the 1950's); "The Bridge" (1962).
4. Stan Getz: "Stan Getz & J.J. Johnson at the Opera House" (1957, Verve); "Jazz Samba" (1963, with Charlie Byrd); "Focus" (Verve); and "People Time" (with Kenny Barron, early 1990's).
5. Dexter Gordon: "Go" and "Our Man In Paris" (early 1960's, Blue Note); some of the recordings he did in in the 1970's for Steeplechase Records (Danish label); and his "comeback" recordings at the Village Vanguard in 1976-77 (Columbia).
6. Johnny Griffin: "The Little Giant" (Riverside).
7. Cannonball Adderley: "Cannonball Adderley Quintet in San Francisco" (1959, Riverside).
8. Clifford Jordan: "Blowin' In" (1957, Blue Note).
9. Art Pepper: "Among Friends" (Discovery); "Straight Life" (Contemporary); and "Art Pepper with the Milcho Leviev Quarter - Live at Ronny Scott's" (Mole Jazz, late 1970's).
10. Ben Webster: "Art Tatum and Ben Webster" (Pablo, about 1956-57).

Last, I'd add several of the fine recordings done by Charles Lloyd in the 1990's (ECM label): "Fish Out of Water"; "Voice In The Night"; and "The Water Is Wide".

Thanks, everybody, for your participation. This has been a good thread, and I've enjoyed sharing some ideas with you.

I note that there have been some very recent posts to this old thread, so I guess people are still looking through the archives. In response to Phasecorrect: no, I'm not a music scholar, just someone who has loved jazz for more than 40 years. Many years ago, while in high school in Washington, DC, I did get to know the great jazz and classical guitarist, Charlie Byrd, and jazz has been a part of my life since then. During the mid-1980's, I developed a college course in jazz appreciation as part of a continuing credits program for high school teachers in the Seattle, WA, area, and during that time I really got serious about studying jazz as an art form. Some jazz critics refer to jazz as America's classical music, and that's probably a fair statement.

My real concern is that jazz is becoming a "museum" music. During the early decades of jazz, almost all musicians learned their craft by playing (clubs, orchestras, dances, etc.), whereas today most of the young jazz musicians develop their playing skills in classes (high school, college, music academies). For jazz to flourish again, it needs lots of new blood, more listeners (particularly in the African-American community), and wider air play by radio stations. Unfortunately, I think the reverse pattern is true.

One way to spread the jazz "message" is for people who love the music to share their knowledge with younger listeners, and I've tried to do that here on Audiogon. I appreciate the positive feedback I've gotten from other A-gon members.

Pbb:

Your mention of "The Sound of Jazz" is very interesting -- you are one of the very few people I have encountered that knows of this recording done by Leonard Bernstein, done as part of the "Omnibus" TV series in the mid-1950's. I have used this recording in a jazz appreciation class that I used to teach, and it provided a great "bridge" for classical music fans to understand some of the compositional and performance elements of jazz. About two years ago, I talked about "The Sound of Jazz" in this forum, and several people asked me to make CD copies from the LP for them. One of those people was a man from Texas, whose son was about to leave for college where he would have a classical music scholarship. He wrote me several months later to say that his son had learned a lot about jazz from the recording, and planned to take some jazz classes while in college. So, Lennie still continues to influence people years after his passing...