The Greatest Saxophonist of All-Time (revised)

[CMelodyMan]

In your opinion, who's the greatest saxophonist of all-time?

[Razzy]

I'd vote for either Vince Trombetta or Joe Viola... these two guys could play pretty much EVERY style you can think of, played all the woodwinds as well as they played saxophone, shared and passed on their gifts to countless others who still pass on their legacy, and essentially founded two staple college music programs which have produced a number of today's and yesterday's fine musicians.

[Hurling Frootmig]

I would think that you would include some of the other greats of the saxophone in your poll.

In classical, Mule and Rascher. In Jazz, Lester Young, Ben Webster, Coleman Hawkins. Sydney Brechet.

Modern jazz players like Ornette Coleman.

What about Brecker? Who may be the most technically proficient tenor player around these days.

I can't vote in a poll that ignores all of these guys.

[rispoli]

I would think that you would include some of the other greats of the saxophone in your poll.

I definitely agree with you.

[BlueNote]

John Coltrane

[Pete]

I merged the three polls together. BATS, please don't post multiple threads about the same thing -- and if you need something deleted, contact your friendly neighborhood Mods/Admins.

=====

I'm also going to make life much, much more difficult for your poll, BATS.

You're essentially trying to poll, say, Rascher vs. Charlie Parker, I think that's inherently flawed: in my example, Parker didn't really do classical and Rascher never really did jazz -- at least they weren't known for those generes.

It's also not to say that Rascher couldn't have been a killer jazz musician. He just didn't focus on that. It's also not to say that, say, Coltrane, couldn't have been a killer classical musician (although he'd have to work on that tone).

So, IMHO, a poll of this type is inherently flawed because you're comparing apples to oranges.

Even if you're just talking about technical ability, one would have to wonder what you'd base that observation on. How high you could play? Multiphonics? Finger speed?

Now, if you're asking, who's a better player in the same genre, like, say, Kenny G vs. David Sanborn, that'd be an argument and a poll on more even footing, but still not exact. Rascher and Rousseau, for instance, really have two seperate (and sometimes contradictory) ideas when it comes to approaching the sax.

Again, just my opinion.

[JL]

I agree with saxpics that this poll is inherently flawed, partly for his reason that you are comparing apples with oranges, but also because I don't think there is any one set of objective criteria to claim ONE sax player is better than ALL the others. There are way too many "flavors" in the music than that, thank goodness. It's like asking which is the greatest beautiful sunset of all time. Impossible to answer, because all beautiful sunsets have certain unique characteristics that stand on their own. Same with beautiful women, and all great works of art.

What constitutes a great musician or a great work of art is a different question and could be more easily dealt with.

The whole competitive quest for which musician is better than all others is completely backwards, IMO. Far better to look for and appreciate each great musician on their own merits, rather than comparing one to another. You miss all the subtleties when you are just trying to say who's the best.

Your question has no answer, but I'll provide a meaningless answer anyway: Charlie Parker.

[Hurling Frootmig]

I went with Lester Young. All of my favorite players were influenced by Lester. Therefore, it is Lester.

[bronzZoot]

Branford Marsalis got my vote off that list... for some reason I enjoy his jazz playing alot...He's got the whole jazz idiom covered to a great extent, although he isn't my favorite classical musician, I still enjoy listening to him. Marsalis is really the only guy who has recorded on both fronts (i believe).What about Rousseau, Tse, or Lenny Pickett?

[Grey]

What about Stan Getz? He'd get my vote...

Best tone, best solos, best to listen to, he's the best sax player in my opinion.

[barksguru]

There are at least two ways to approach this:

1) If you look at it in terms of popularity/record sales, then you have to go with Kenny G. (Ironically, I believe that prior to the release of the smooth jazz artist's smash hit "Silhouette," "A Love Supreme" was the highest selling album by a jazz saxophonist).

2) But if you go by who had the greatest INFLUENCE, then it has to be Bird, hands down. But then you get into the argument of who influenced Bird, and immediately Hawk and Prez come to mind. Are they on your list? If not, they definitely should be. Oh, I see you have Lester but not Hawk--strange since many of the greats from the 50s (Rollins, Coltrane, etc.) cited him as their biggest influence. But then you have Plas Johnson? on your list, whom I've never heard of. Interesting mix, quite honestly.

[KSQ]

The whole competitive quest for which musician is better than all others is completely backwards, IMO. Far better to look for and appreciate each great musician on their own merits, rather than comparing one to another. You miss all the subtleties when you are just trying to say who's the best.

Well said.

When I first went to music school, I developed initial impressions of the other players in my studio. I had an opinion as to who was the strongest player, and where I thought I "ranked" in the group. Pretty quickly, though, I started to realize that student A had a tone that I would kill for, but student B had a rock-solid altissimo, while student C conveyed a beautiful sense of line when playing pieces from the romantic era, and student D had a knack for contemporary music, student E was a great ensemble player, etc... It became obvious that calling anyone the "best" -- or even the "strongest" -- made no sense.

[CMelodyMan]

I merged the three polls together. BATS, please don't post multiple threads about the same thing -- and if you need something deleted, contact your friendly neighborhood Mods/Admins.

=====

I'm also going to make life much, much more difficult for your poll, BATS.

You're essentially trying to poll, say, Rascher vs. Charlie Parker, I think that's inherently flawed: in my example, Parker didn't really do classical and Rascher never really did jazz -- at least they weren't known for those generes.

It's also not to say that Rascher couldn't have been a killer jazz musician. He just didn't focus on that. It's also not to say that, say, Coltrane, couldn't have been a killer classical musician (although he'd have to work on that tone).

So, IMHO, a poll of this type is inherently flawed because you're comparing apples to oranges.

Even if you're just talking about technical ability, one would have to wonder what you'd base that observation on. How high you could play? Multiphonics? Finger speed?

Now, if you're asking, who's a better player in the same genre, like, say, Kenny G vs. David Sanborn, that'd be an argument and a poll on more even footing, but still not exact. Rascher and Rousseau, for instance, really have two seperate (and sometimes contradictory) ideas when it comes to approaching the sax.

Again, just my opinion.

So you're going to split it into classical and jazz or something similar?

[barksguru]

IMHO conducting a poll on the greatest sax players of all time and leaving off Coleman Hawkins and Ben Webster is like doing a poll on the greatest baseball players of all time and leaving off Babe Ruth and Joe DiMaggio.

[barksguru]

Or how about Johnny Hodges? Isn't he as deserving of a spot as Plas Johnson? Maybe that's a case for how this poll is too broad. Maybe you could do three different ones: 1) Best living jazz sax players; 2) Best jazz sax players of all time; and 3) Best classical players (but on second thought, how many people on this Forum have heard of any of them, besides Sirgud Rascher?).

[KSQ]

and 3) Best classical players (but on second thought, how many people on this Forum have heard of any of them, besides Sirgud Rascher?).

Make a visit to the Classical Saxophone section of the Forum sometime. You'll find plenty of classical players being discussed by many members of the Forum.

And if there were such a poll -- not that I'm suggesting it! -- and people didn't know who the choices were, they wouldn't have to vote. Besides, it seems to me that, if we have to have a poll like this, it's probably better not to make a pre-selected list of choices, but to let respondents come up with their own...

[Super 20 Player]

Depends on how you define 'greatness'. If it's based strictly on technical facility, then there's no way to say. If it's based on sphere of influence at this point in time, then I'd have to (partially) agree with barksguru, and say it's either Charlie Parker or John Coltrane. Probably Coltrane, because more players point to him than anyone else as an influence. But if you read what Parker and Coltrane had to say, they'd point you to others who influenced them. So where did it start? Who had the greatest influence on those who followed? Some say Lester Young, some say Coleman Hawkins. Some even say Chu Berry.

I say the greatest saxophonist of all time was Adolph Sax, his own self.

[1stchair]

Forgot Lenny Pickett on that list...Thats quite a person to miss..

unless were talkin about dead people...

[newking70]

coleman hawkins, for the simple fact, he alone turned the sax into a serious musical instrument...before he came along the sax was just a circus oddity...he is the ROOT, everybody else is just a branch............

[newking70]

1) If you look at it in terms of popularity/record sales, then you have to go with Kenny G. (Ironically, I believe that prior to the release of the smooth jazz artist's smash hit "Silhouette," "A Love Supreme" was the highest selling album by a jazz saxophonist).

i think that honor belongs to eddie harris' "exodus to jazz"