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Pick your 3 favourite sax players

129K views 361 replies 290 participants last post by  SMOOTHJAZZ 
#1 ·
Ok so I'm trying to get a feel for which players people like and if there is a specific time period or style of music people prefer in this community. So I have devised perhaps a foolproof way of doing so: Pick your 3 favourite sax players of all time, IN ORDER, no ties (eg Frank Foster and Joe Lovano tied for 1st) and the players do not have to necessarily be jazz musicians. Please limit yourself to only 3 and if you feel like it explain why. I will start:

1) Charlie Parker
2) John Coltrane
3) Pharoah Sanders


I picked Bird first because in my opinion he is the only true genius to emerge from jazz, he made jazz modern and just about everyone playing now is a grandchild of Bird whether they realize it or not. And on a personal note, he was the first hero in my life. I never had any heroes growing up (of course I had role models) and convinced me I would be a sax player for life.

Coltrane came second because he could not usurp Charlie from the top spot (this is what I mean by no ties). He was an intense brilliant innovator who made me switch to tenor for awhile. I could go on about Trane (and Bird) but now I must come to my third choice.

Pharoah Sanders is third mainly because I consider his sound beautiful and the logical conclusion of the Coltrane sound. I saw a concert of his in 1994 at the Jazz fest here in Toronto and he had everyone in a trance. It was the greatest concert I have ever attended (even beating out the Michael Jackson victory tour back when I was a kid).
 
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#146 ·
Too many for just three choices, so I guess I'll take up some page space with a list:

Soprano:
Branford Marsalis

Alto:
Bird
Kenny Garrett
Cannonball

Tenor:
Michael Brecker
Clarence Clemons
Sonny Rollins/Pharoah Sanders

Bari:
Ronnie Cuber
Jason Marshall
James Carter
 
#158 ·
Tomorrow is The President's birthday, try and turn over a new leaf. :bluewink:

Disclaimer: the above in intended in good natured jest, as i believe was the quoted post, please do not crucify me. And oh, if you have to ask who The President is, i don't want to talk to you..............ever!
 
#148 ·
Hmmm, difficult to choose only 3...

Tenor:
- Arnett Cobb
- Illinois Jacquet
- Johnny Griffin
(difficult to not mention: early Hawk, early Lester, Ben Webster, Herschel Evans, Joe Thomas, Paul Gonsalvez, Jimmy Forrest, Ike Quebec, Dexter, Lockjaw, Gene Ammons, Sonny Stitt, Coltrane, Mobley, Rollins, Red Holloway, Tubby Hayes, Joshua Redman, James Carter, Steve Grossman, Rinus Groeneveld, Willis Jackson, Sam Butera, Sil Austin, Red Prysock, Lee Allen, ...)

Alto:
- Charlie Parker
- Sonny Stitt
- Leo Wright
(difficult to not mention: Earl Warren, Johnny Hodges, Willie Smith, Earl Bostic, Cannonball, Ray Charles (!), Hank Crawford, Vincent Herring, David Sanborn, Benjamin Herman, Candy Dulfer, ...)

Bari:
- Ronnie Cuber
- Pepper Adams
- Nick Brignola
(difficult to not mention: Harry Garney, Serge Chaloff, Cecil Payne, Rick van den Berg, ...)
 
#150 ·
For sheer technical fluency playing everything from blues to bop: Cannonball
Obviously Bird. I mean, arguably, all of modern jazz is EVERYONE trying to sound like Bird. Right?
... and, my favorite, Dolphy, just for sheer exuberance and making you want to love music in music over and over and over again. and who didn't sound TOTALLY like Bird. He was onto a new language ...
 
#152 ·
1. Cannonball Adderley. Sound, feel, phrasing, inventiveness, energy, deep blues, keeping up with Coltrane. When I listen to him, time flies. The only other alto player with that presence, that command (maybe even more) was a close second... Earl Bostic.

2. Sonny Rollins. In the 50's and early 60's, he showed what inventive lines and a complete and total command of chord changes was all about. NO ONE sat in on tenor with Sonny. Never cared much for his tone, but his trio dates (bootleg) in '59 and Live At The Lighthouse on Blue Note is the bedrock of "no BS, play your horn" tenor playing. A close 2nd as far as command of changes is... Don Byas. Check out his live duo w/ Slam Stewart 1945, Town Hall "I Got Rhythm"... stunning.

3. Joe Henderson. Completely redefined the saxophone approach. Yes, Coltrane did, as well. I put Miles and Coltrane in a "jazz institution" category. There were trumpet players. And there was Miles. Henderson swing like crazy, came from a deep blues thing and a Bird thing. And took it way out, total re-harmonization mind-game genius. Down and dirty blues gut--bucket real deal soul. Actually would lay back at 320 on the metronome with perfect time, feel and execution. He was so heavy, he couldn't let it all out. He truly should have written large ensemble works, as Wayne Shorter should have.

Honorable mentions... Liebman (no one can really get through all his layers), Warne Marsh (connecting the dots brilliantly), Art Pepper (one of the very few alto players NOT to come out of the bird thing... completely original and one of the few white players that the brothers really dug, Michael Brecker ... wizardry of the horn and BLEW the horn right, Jerry Bergonzi, elegance and perfection... and the one and only (live and on a good night) Eddie Harris, who had so much together and let out just a bit, now and then, just enough to smoke your mind... they play his soul hits for the crowd... LOL Possibly, the heaviest of all-time... we'll never know...
 
#157 ·
Only three?...

Difficult...
OK then:

1. Michael Brecker - Incredible player, made me switch to tenor
2. Charlie Parker - Awesome player, he was my biggest influence when I started playing (alto)
3. Wayne Shorter - His soprano-playing is out of this world

Honorable mentions (in no particular order): Lester Young, John Coltrane, Bob Berg, Bob Mintzer, David sanborn, Tom Scott, Phil Woods, Branford Marsalis, Pete Christlieb, Chris Potter, Jan Garbarek... etc, etc.
 
#163 ·
Jan Garbarek
Branford Marsalis
Paul McCandless
(Eric Dolphy, Cannonball Adderley, Coltrane, Joe Farell)
 
#164 ·
I had trouble coming up with 3. The first two are obvious
Zoot Sims: The swingin'est tenor ever
Stan Getz: The sound
Lucky Thompson: Through my current teacher I've come to appreciate players like this and Junior Cook more. Understated and soulful.
 
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