Classical Tenor Sax Musicians?

[Chunsoo]

hey im trying to find how a real classical tenor sax should sound like, i only know how the alto sounds like but there are hardly any classical tenors, so do you guys know any classical tenor sax people i should listen to?

[Merlin]

James Houlik is considered by most to be the pre-eminent classical tenor player, so you should try and find some of his recordings.

FWIW, there are one or two classical tenor clips on my own site that may be useful for you.

[Angel]

Yes, James Houlik is the concert tenor saxo pioneer and is still the man.
CDs:
- Tenor Tapestry
- Eric Ewazen "Orchestral Music and Concertos"
- Music of Russell Peck
http://www.jameshoulik.com

Also, check out the recordings of these outstanding concert tenor saxos:

Stephen Pollock CDs:
"So Near So Far"
"Songs from the Heart"
http://www.stephen-pollock.com

Niels Bijl CD:
"Chant du Saxophone Tenor"
http://www.nielsbijl.nl

Yasushi Arai CD:
"Fantasia"

[NissanVintageSax]

Much like the Soprano can sound oboe-ish, the Alto English Horn-ish, and the Bari Contra-Bassoon-ish, the Tenor sounds very much Bassoon-ish .

[DiscipleoftheRefs]

James Houlik. there is some recordings of Claude Delangle on Tenor floating around. Andy Scott. and John Harle also come to mind.

[Sean P]

Tenor saxophone is quickly becoming a very popular choice for contemporary music perhaps due to its ability to play the most extreme of any of the saxophones.

Marcus Weiss, Laurent Estoppey, Lars Mlekusch, Vincent Daoud (the last three being in a group called 4tenors) and Jean-Michel Goury all have sick abilities on tenor. Those are just the first to come to mind. Google any of their names and there should be sound clips on their website, especially Estoppey.

[Angel]

Yes, I was forgetting avant-garde concert tenor saxo. Jean-Michel Goury is the man. My favorite CD of his is "Lifting", but he has quite a number of quality releases. http://www.goury-josset.net

[Jordan Smith]

Tenor saxophone is quickly becoming a very popular choice for contemporary music perhaps due to its ability to play the most extreme of any of the saxophones.

I couldn't agree with you more. It's really exciting that composers are finally catching on!

[Chunsoo]

but i doubt that i'll be playing those music :P i always have the worst part of the band which you can never hear the tenor sax since we're usually having a mixture of the alto sax, baritone, trombone, and french horn part mixed up together
unless a band director that i will have will play modern music like of right now

[Chris Mickel]

John Moore is also one of the great Classical Tenor Saxophonists. Though I don't know that he has recorded much. But, I am sure he has some recordings floating around out there.

[DWoz5000]

John Moore's my favorite, but it will be hard for you to find a recording of him. Your best bet is to find some good saxophone quartet recordings and carefully listen for the tenor player. Fabrizio Mancuso (Habanera Quartet), Bruce Weinberger (Rascher Quartet), and the previously-mentioned Stephen Pollack (New Century Quartet) are all good players to listen to. Be aware that all three sound very different, though.

[SaxPlayer1004]

Lynn Klock doesn't play tenor much, but he's really good as well. another +1 for Jim Houlik.

[Angel]

The only way you'll hear John Moore (aside from the Aeolian Saxophone Quartet audio cassette) is if you show up at the Cardinal Saxophone Workshop.

It's a travesty that he has not recorded. He's amazing.

Angel

[Chris Mickel]

John Moore performs frequently and I know that many of his performances are recorded. If you are able to hear his live performances by all means go hear them. Honestly, I love his playing. He's one of my favorite musicians and one of my teachers (no bias there). But, I have often wondered why he does not record much. I've never asked him. Though, I believe there are some old recordings of him playing in a saxophone trio with, if I'm not mistaken, Pat Meighan and Lee Patrick. I'll try to remember to ask him about recordings the next time I talk with him. However, I remember a former teacher of mine having some recordings of John Moore. But, I don't know where he got them and I don't know if John knows that they are out there.

[Henshaw]

+ 1 for Niels. Here's a few other suggetions:

Arno Bornkamp: Metropolis, Heartbreakers (Grab It!), Reed My Mind

Claude Delangle: The Tango CD (forget the name), Sax for a Lady, Solitary Sax, Historic Sax

Koryun Asatryan (tenor player from Alliage quartet)

Fabrizio Mancuso - Tenor player with Habanera Quartet

[BPSAX]

Another recommendation for Arno Bornkamp. And he is also the Tenor player with the Aurelia Quartet!

[Ian Stewart]

Kyle Horch is a wonderful tenor player, I think this CD has him playing tenor in two works :

http://clarinetclassics.com/home/ind...how&ref=CC0029

Although I have no association with this CD in anyway whatsoever he is a friend of mine.

[Merlin]

John Moore performs frequently and I know that many of his performances are recorded. If you are able to hear his live performances by all means go hear them. Honestly, I love his playing. He's one of my favorite musicians and one of my teachers (no bias there). But, I have often wondered why he does not record much. I've never asked him. Though, I believe there are some old recordings of him playing in a saxophone trio with, if I'm not mistaken, Pat Meighan and Lee Patrick. I'll try to remember to ask him about recordings the next time I talk with him. However, I remember a former teacher of mine having some recordings of John Moore. But, I don't know where he got them and I don't know if John knows that they are out there.

There are certainly recordings of John's recitals at the Cardinal Workshops in 2002, 2003 and 2005. They were only available to the workshop participants.

[Chris Mickel]

John Moore performs frequently and I know that many of his performances are recorded. If you are able to hear his live performances by all means go hear them. Honestly, I love his playing. He's one of my favorite musicians and one of my teachers (no bias there). But, I have often wondered why he does not record much. I've never asked him. Though, I believe there are some old recordings of him playing in a saxophone trio with, if I'm not mistaken, Pat Meighan and Lee Patrick. I'll try to remember to ask him about recordings the next time I talk with him. However, I remember a former teacher of mine having some recordings of John Moore. But, I don't know where he got them and I don't know if John knows that they are out there.

There are certainly recordings of John's recitals at the Cardinal Workshops in 2002, 2003 and 2005. They were only available to the workshop participants.

Yea that is true. All of the performances from the Cardinal Workshops are recorded. They were recorded in 2006, 2007, and 2008 as well.

[awholley]

There are a couple of clips on Houlik's web site. mentioned in Angel's post below.

Alan

Yes, James Houlik is the concert tenor saxo pioneer and is still the man.
CDs:
- Tenor Tapestry
- Eric Ewazen "Orchestral Music and Concertos"
- Music of Russell Peck
http://www.jameshoulik.com

Also, check out the recordings of these outstanding concert tenor saxos:

Stephen Pollock CDs:
"So Near So Far"
"Songs from the Heart"
http://www.stephen-pollock.com

Niels Bijl CD:
"Chant du Saxophone Tenor"
http://www.nielsbijl.nl

Yasushi Arai CD:
"Fantasia"