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Greatest ever saxophone player

Who's THE greatest saxophone player ever?

  • Charlie Parker

    Votes: 4 7.3%
  • John Coltrane

    Votes: 10 18.2%
  • Sonny Rollins

    Votes: 5 9.1%
  • Cannonball Adderley

    Votes: 3 5.5%
  • Dexter Gordon

    Votes: 2 3.6%
  • Lester Young

    Votes: 3 5.5%
  • Ben Webster

    Votes: 3 5.5%
  • Paul Desmond

    Votes: 2 3.6%
  • Michael Brecker

    Votes: 7 12.7%
  • None of the above

    Votes: 16 29.1%

  • Total voters
    55
(BTW- for folks that don't like Coltrane- try listening to 'After the Rain', it's incredibly beautiful by any standards)

I love the early, softer side of Coltrane (Ballads and the Johhny Hartman Stuff) still struggling with the Sheets of sounds etc, will look into "After the Rain"

My Train Fav's are "Kind of Blue" and "My One and only Love"

Merry Ciao's
Jimu
 
Coltrane... listen to Locomotion on Blue Train, the guy never lets go! He played with the best musicians at the height of their musical career and yet, he stood out each time. You can hear he's still playing in his head between each phrase and as much as he puts in his solos no two phrases are alike. Astonishing!

At the moment I'm playing along with Stanley Turrentine on Sugar. Much more accessible and what a sound!
 
Coltrane... listen to Locomotion on Blue Train, the guy never lets go! He played with the best musicians at the height of their musical career and yet, he stood out each time. You can hear he's still playing in his head between each phrase and as much as he puts in his solos no two phrases are alike. Astonishing!

At the moment I'm playing along with Stanley Turrentine on Sugar. Much more accessible and what a sound!

Hmmmm.
I prefer to listen to peoples emotional playing, not the head stuff, I know Coltrane had both in spades,.....it's just the head stuff, doesn't do it (sound/emotion wise) for me.

Yup Stanley Turrentine, now your talking, Sandbourn also does a great version of Sugar, that I've also played along to.

Still got you Rome Tenor?

Raining in NZ at the Moment, although hope to go to our local Jazz Fest today.

cheers & ciao
Jimu:mrcool
 
Hmmmm.
I prefer to listen to peoples emotional playing, not the head stuff, I know Coltrane had both in spades,.....it's just the head stuff, doesn't do it (sound/emotion wise) for me.

Yup Stanley Turrentine, now your talking, Sandbourn also does a great version of Sugar, that I've also played along to.

Still got you Rome Tenor?

Raining in NZ at the Moment, although hope to go to our local Jazz Fest today.

cheers & ciao
Jimu:mrcool

Hey Jimu,
Sadly the Grassi was part exchanged for a brand new Selmer Super Action Series II just over 20 years ago! I wished I had kept it and I also wished I had kept the Series II tenor I bought a few years later but....
If Locomotion doesn't do it for you just skip it and go to 'I'm old fashioned', you really can't go wrong with Blue Train!!!!
Not raining here at the mo but it's bloody freezing so I'm staying in listening to some fab music and admiring my new toy!
Andrea
 
Me toooooo

Zoot Sims. He never needed a rhythm section as he swung like crazy when I saw him on a JATP tour.

I've been getting into Zoot Sims recently. He plays the sax as I would love to. Hard swinging and So.Damn. Funky. I had gone through a phase recently where I think I'd overdone it on the sax music and was feeling a little tired of it all, then along came Zoot and I'm sitting at work whistling and bopping my head all over the place.

Zoot Sims recorded live at E.J.'s - Lester Leaps In!!!

I also think Coleman Hawkins was left out of the list of influential/inspiring saxophone players out there. I just love his tone. That isn't to detract from the other incredible players listed, it's just that Zoot and Coleman's playing just lights me up at the moment
 
Don't know about best but my personal favourites are Johnny Hodges and Earl Bostik. But then on another day Ben Webster ..... Other favs include James Carter, Clarence Clemons Jim Tomlinson. I suppose it depends on my mood at the time of listening too :)
 
Wow, such a list of great sax players.
Well, Charlie Parker changed the face of jazz forever. That makes him a genius. John Coltrane took it even further which makes him profoundly innovative. Some say Coltrane was a genius as well.
Ornette Coleman did his part in helping to evolve jazz.

I could never answer a question like the one asked by the OP.
They all gave me something to love.....
 
Have re read this thread since my last post and have found the comments about Coltrane very interesting.

I have listened to a lot of 'Trane' for two weeks and would like to recommend others to have a go.

But try to do it with the chord chart of the song in ront of you. First, think how would I attempt to imrov this tune. What notes would i pick. Then listen to Coltrane. He finds notes you never thought of. He uses phrases that are alien to us. But to me he still injects interest and passion in a tune.

He does push the envelope a long way with the use of over blowing and ear piecing sounds but he leads us up to those. He is creating tension and release in a very emotional way. He is taking us on a journey. Discovering new ways of making music. If you have read about dissonance in your theory book, read it again and then listen to Coltrane.

The beboppers did not want to sound too melodic. They did not like the way band leaders were stealing their songs. So they played like they did so that it was difficult to copy. They wanted it to be interlectual not commercial.

With this in mind it puts the music in a diffeent context. Similar to Hendricks playing the Star Spangled Banner. They are making a statment, sometimes political and always different.

I am sorry i have rabbited on but, this music is so exciting to me. I needed to shout a bit.

Thanks for listening.
 
It seems that Archie Shepp is missing from a lot of people's favorites or not even mentioned on other sax forums. What do you guys think of his style of playing?
 
It seems that Archie Shepp is missing from a lot of people's favorites or not even mentioned on other sax forums. What do you guys think of his style of playing?

Gday Freddie,

He's not off my list... I love his earlier work, (Going Home, with Horace Parlane a wonderfull blend of edge, smoothness and sophistication, he's also a pretty amazing guy, very arty, political & poetical.
I met him and Roswell Rudd in NYC at Iridium in 2004, he gave me his phone number, saying...if your passing..... I never did, as I'm not that great a player, wished I had now!

Chase down "Song for Mozambique" if you can, he's on Soprano, it sends me into orbit!

Cheers & Ciao
Jimu:mrcool
 
O boy, There are so many greatest and I am missing a shipload
of names here...

I am a fan of Lester Young, Ben Webster, Coleman Hawkins, Red Prysock, Gene Ammons, Sonny Stitt, Wardell Gray, etc, etc, etc...
Coltrane however never hit me.

But if you are talking sax playing technique no one, not even Charlie Parker,
equaled Earl Bostic. And no one ever will.
 
I'd have to name two!

1. Jan Garbarek - beautiful original sound, wonderful on soprano especially, and worked with so many fellow musicians - self taught too!:w00t:

2. Wayne Shorter - in a more traditional vein he is just awesome as a Tenor and Soprano player, composer - with Miles Davis, Weather report and his own bands. Really excellent soloist, too, and doesn't disappear into excessive introspection when he does.;}

Happy with those, but would need an alto....

Kind regards
Tom:cool:
 
Cannonball Adderley - whether you personally like his music or not, if more players remembered that as well as being artists they were there to entertain then jazz might have bigger audiences.
 

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