Great Players Who sparked your love of Sax music

[Riversax]

Good call

mamos

Plus one for that - actually like that more than other Brecker stuff I've heard - also Phil Woods on Just the way you are by Billy Joel - before he went all "rock and roll".

 

[aldevis]

Zoot from the Muppets, followed by Gerry Mulligan few years later. I wanted to play baritone, but they said it was too big for me.
my first baritone came after about 14 years.

 

[Kingsleyhk]

Tony Coe stopped me becoming a pro. I was about 16 (so around 1962), playing in local bands, thought I could conquer the world, and then I saw him on TV - can't remember who with, but not Humph - and realised that I was pretty bloody useless!

Still had - and still having - a lot of fun along the way playing with all sorts of bands. Currently playing with four fantastically versatile Filipino musos here in Hong Kong.

 

[Jules]

Looking back, probably tracks like Solid Air by John Martyn, with Tony Coe on Tenor; Poor Boy by Nick Drake with Ray Warleigh on Alto (I still really like these two players) and the brass sections on Van Morrison albums; That lead to discovering jazz - Coleman Hawkins "There's a small hotel", Charlie Parker "I Remember You", Coltrane - "After the Rain" - ones with tunes I could hang onto to start with 🙂.
It was a lot to take in for a then finger picking guitar player!

Solid Air and After the Rain- Sir, I admire our tastes! 🙂

 

[aardvark]

Jan Garbarek especially his work with the Hilliard Ensemble. I remember first hearing part of 'Officium' on my car radio during a long drive down to Dover, years ago now, and being totally enchanted by the unique (then) pairing of saxophone and small choral ensemble - especially how sometimes the sax soars above the brilliant singing of the small choir but other times acts as a kind of ground bass while the choral line does the soaring. Totally innovative then. Still incredibly good to listen to now despite my familiarity with it.
Similar but not quite the same: John Surman's amazing playing with tenor singer John Potter on the Dowland Project albums. Wonderful....

 

[TomMapfumo]

I've been into Jan Garbarek since 1990 and have seen him live on 3 occasions - last in May 2011 at the St. David's Cathedral festival in Pembrokeshire. Reason I started on Soprano. John Surma and the Dowland project is another in my CD collection. Excellent taste!

 

[Koen88]

It started most with cannonball and sydney bechet, later on David Sanborn, Sonny Rollins, and I'm really liking Dutch alto saxophone player Benjamin Herman, also due to the variation in his repertoire (available on spotify) from classical to Jazz standards, his own music and some collaberations with modern bands.

 

[TheCureFan]

For me it was Wesley McGoogan after hearing Will You whilst watching breaking glass (also a big Hazel O'conner fan) back in the 80's. Also growing up, musically, in the 80s there were lots of bands using sax. Cant really describe what it is but the sax just has the ability to sent a chill (in a nice way) up my spine, except when I play 🙂

 

[BigMartin]

Cant really describe what it is but the sax just has the ability to sent a chill (in a nice way) up my spine, except when I play 🙂

Playing baritone can send an ache down your spine if you're not careful .

 

[daveysaxboy]

Check out the stellar new cd by Andy Sheppard.What a trio setting that is.He never fails.Talk about a sound,tone.Sheppard and Garbarek rule for me.Then Joshua Redman with his electric band.

 

[dexdex]

It started with a clarinet, as a friend of my dad played clarinet in a trad jazz band. Later on, Plas Johnson's Pink Panther, and Lockjaw Davis' 12 bars on After Supper. Starts at 1:02 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GRvUbrq1Ag8&. That sound .....

 

[XasGotan]

My parents had a record by Earl Bostic (alto) that is perhaps my earliest memory of saxophone music. I particularly liked Harlem Nocturne (there is a reference to it somewhere else in this forum). Then it was the playing of Sydney Bechet (soprano), Johnny Hodges (alto and soprano) and Harry Carney (baritone) that further influenced my saxophone taste. As an adult, my listening was heavily dominated by Charly Parker and John Coltrane, and I came very late to Sonny Rollins, who is now my absolute favorite. I am currently also having very pleasant experiences doing some educational listening to Gerry Mulligan, Coleman Hawkins and Ben Webster. I have not yet discovered Lester Young for myself and I cannot warm up to Stan Getz.

 

[miss-saxophone]

Baker Street - G. Rafferty...

My mum had a CD called Midnight Sax and I grew up to that ^_^.

 

[Filton]

Streetlife -Wilton Felder I still could listen to that Solo time and time and time again.

 

[JTHANK]

For me, it was the theme song of the movie Taxi Driver. That tune just kept repeating in my head after I watched that movie on VHS, which I think is as powerful as the "are you talking to me" scene. I do not know who played that though. Would be nice if someone can let me know.

p.s. but it was about 10 years after the above incident I made up my mind to learn playing saxophone... ;}

 

[altissimo]

It was Ronny Lang who played the sax on Taxi Driver - http://www.morningsonmaplestreet.com/petergunn2.html

 

[compound]

Apart from players like Gene Barge, Jr Walker, King Curtis, the biggest influence on me is Gary Herbig. Remember the growling sax from the start of the Roseanne TV series, and the great sax solo from "Time of my Life" from " Dirty Dancing". He's on so many recordings you've probably heard him loads of times and not known who it was. Jim Horn's another super player who doesn't get the recognition he deserves.

 

[Sabytet99]

Songbird by Kenny G

 

[jbtsax]

When I started playing the saxophone at age 10 in 1957 I loved everything about the sax and I was captivated by every player I heard through high school---Plas Johnson, Stan Getz, Paul Desmond, Boots Randolph, Cannonball Adderly---even the raunchy alto player, Ace Cannon. The first classical player I heard was Fred Hemke and then in college I was introduced to Marcel Mule. Many of my younger years were spent trying to play along with recordings and sound like the saxophone player on the record. This essentially was my teacher until I got to the university. I have tried to encourage all of my students to do the same. I even learned to play with vibrato playing along with the Billy Vaughn orchestra playing "Sail Along Silvery Moon". If you have heard of his group, you are old as dirt like I am. 🙂

 

[jeremyjuicewah]

No one for me. I was talking to a bloke who said he had bought a sax and had got along well with it, no lessons. It took about six months but I was thinking well, I could do that. So I did, and I cant. Yet. What he said was sort of, er, liberating. I had a mental block that this type of instrument was for other people.