Your Top 5 Sax Players?

While I don't have a problem with smooth jazz or David Sanborn, and using your criteria of most influential and changed the style of saxophone playing how could Stan Getz not be on your list? That is a complete mystery to me.

Woods
Coltrane
Adderly
Young
Joe Henderson

Josh Redman and Chris Potter: way underated who will be greats.

What about "Bleeding Gums Murphy" boy can he play a mean saxamaphone.

Eddinanm3, that's the problem with limiting the list to five choices; although by limiting it, we are forced to narrow things down to the truly innovative. As I said in my post, most of the mentioned players have roots in Bechet, Prez, Bird or Trane. Stan Getz, while unquestionably one of the greatest and certainly one of my favorites had a style, in a not so broad sense, clearly steeped in the Lester Young tradition. A softer edged sound, laid back swing feel, and while far more harmonically adventurous than Prez, not nearly as influential in a strict sense as Prez. Who are some players that you feel were heavily influenced by Getz? And how? Was Getz's presence on the jazz scene a turning point in the stylistic evolution of jazz saxophone playing? I really don't think so. A major contribution, but not a turning point. I can't imagine not including Bechet, Prez, Bird, or Trane in the top five. And if you remove Sanborn, who then, is representative of the style of post-Coltrane jazz/rock/pop saxophone playing prevalent over the last thirty years?

Here's 5 who are perhaps underappreciated, compared with the justly celebrated likes of Coltrane and Rollins:

Coleman Hawkins
Hank Mobley
Art Pepper
Stanley Turrentine
Hamiet Bluiett

Pleased to see all mentioned above, save Bluiett. For a sense of him, try the excellent Bluiett, Jackson, and El'Zabar, "The Calling."

jmd