1. Charlie Parker
This Kansas City native began on the baritone horn, but in a move that
changed the entire history of jazz, switched to alto sax. He dropped out of school at 14 to become a
professional musician, but after some initial efforts that didn't go well,
he spent a summer getting a solid grasp of his technique. He learned to
play with equal ease in all possible keys, something that most saxophonists
had thought was too difficult to attempt. His first break was with the Jay
McShann big band. His early recordings with the McShann band showed great
potential on his solos. After he came to New York for the first time in
1939, he worked with big bands led by Earl Hines and Billy
Eckstine, and developed a friendship and partnership with Dizzy Gillespie that helped to
bring on the musical revolution known as bebop. This new music was a
radical departure from the swing that had been the main form of jazz for a
decade, and it has left its stamp on most jazz that has come along since
1945. Sadly, despite his artistic success, he had problems with drugs that
put him into a mental hospital in California for a while, and that would
contribute to his death at only 34. Despite this, he created some of the
most influential music in the history of jazz, leaving behind classic
recordings on several labels. Most saxophonists in jazz who have come along
since his time have learned something from his style. He also recorded a
famous album with strings, something rather unusual for a jazz artist at
that time, that paved the way for string-backed albums by several later
generations of jazz musicians. After his early death, graffiti appeared all
over New York City proclaiming, "Bird Lives," and Charlie Parker's music
will certainly live as long as there are people to listen to jazz.
2. John Coltrane
This North Carolina native learned to play clarinet and saxophone in
community and high school bands. After graduating from high school, he
moved to Philadephia to join his family that was already there, and studied
music and played in local clubs until he went into the U.S. Navy. While
stationed in Hawaii, he kept playing and made his first recording with a
group of other sailors. After his return to Philadelphia, he worked for
several bands, and switched to the tenor sax. He remained with Dizzy
Gillespie from 1949 to 1951, but a drug problem made him hard to deal with,
and he was fired several times by Miles Davis and other leaders before he
finally gave up drugs and became more reliable. He made his first record as
a leader in 1957, and soon rejoined Miles Davis, becoming part of the sextet
that recorded "Milestones" and "Kind of Blue." His own projects became the
subject of controversy for what became known as "sheets of sound". However,
he also enjoyed popular success with such recordings as "My Favorite
Things," "Ballads," and recordings with Duke Ellington and Johnny Hartman.
His later playing included a great deal of free jazz, long solos and
influences from world music from Africa and India. He died of liver cancer
when he was only 40, but his willingness to take musical chances and his
emotionally powerful playing will inspire both musicians and listeners as
long as there is jazz. John Coltrane is one of the masters of the saxophone
we have brought you on WAER over the past 55 years.
3. Lester Young
This saxophonist started his musical career in a family band in
Minneapolis, where he grew up. He studied violin, drums and trumpet before
settling on the saxophone. He quit the family group at 18 because he did
not want to be subjected to discrimination in the South of the 1920s, but
returned to them after touring with another group. He became a freelancer
with such great Kansas City bands as Walter Page's Blue Devils and the
Bennie Moten band. He joined Count Basie's new band in 1934, but left to
replace Coleman Hawkins in the Fletcher Henderson band. His sound, a more
laid-back and delicate one than that of Hawkins and most other sax players
of the time, got him fired from the Henderson band, but also attracted a lot
of attention because it was so revolutionary. He eventually returned to
Count Basie, and also had many wonderful records and a close friendship with Billie
Holiday; he nicknamed her "Lady Day," and she called him
"Prez" because she considered him the musical equivalent of her hero, President Franklin
Roosevelt. He returned to Basie's band in 1943, but was drafted into the
Army, and the horrible racism he experienced during World War II affected
his sensitive mind for the rest of his short life. However, he still
created fine music in live performances with Jazz at the Philharmonic, and
kept working and recording as a single. He was reunited with old friend
Billie Holiday for the 1957 "Sound of Jazz" TV special, but within two years
he was dead at 49 due to complications from alcoholism. However, his style
was a great influence on such later players as Stan Getz, Dexter Gordon and
many others, and he helped pave the way for the "cool" school of jazz.
Lester "Prez" Young is one of the great saxophonists heard on
WAER over
the past 55 years.
4. Coleman Hawkins
This Missouri native started on the saxophone when he was only 9, at a
time when it was still largely considered a novelty instrument. When he was
17, blues singer Mamie Smith hired him for her band. His first big break
in jazz was being hired by Fletcher Henderson in 1924. When Louis Armstrong
joined Henderson's band the same year, the young man known as "Bean" and "Hawk" learned a lot from him, and the
style that resulted helped make the saxophone into one of the major jazz
instruments. He played in Europe for five years in the 1930s, and after he
returned to America in 1939, he made a famous record of "Body and Soul" that
became THE model for later jazz solos on all instruments. When bebop came
in the 1940s, he encouraged and hired such young musicians as Miles Davis
and Thelonious Monk, and led the very first bop recording session. Although
later trends encouraged a cooler sound than his, he kept up with the times
with such projects as a bossa nova album and working with Jazz at the
Philharmonic, and was very influential on the young Sonny Rollins. Sadly,
his last years were marred by alcoholism, but he continued to play until
shortly before his death in 1969. Coleman Hawkins is one of the greats of
the saxophone heard on WAER over the past 55 years.
5. Dexter Gordon
This Los Angeles native was hired by Lionel Hampton when only 17, but got
his first real notice thanks to early recordings with Nat King Cole in 1943
and to a time in Billy Eckstine's historic bebop-oriented big band. He was
in friendly competition with such other young tenors as Wardell Gray and
Teddy Edwards, with whom he recorded "The Chase" and "The Duel." His career
was held back due to drug problems that landed him in jail, but after his
recovery, he made a number of legendary albums for Blue Note. He moved to
Europe from 1962 until 1976, and recorded both there and in the U.S. When
he returned to America, he was greeted like a long-lost hero. His career
got another boost thanks to the film "Round Midnight" in 1986, and he was such a good actor that he was nominated for an Oscar. By the time of his
death in 1990, he was a legend both for his playing and for his incredible
life. Dexter Gordon is one of the great saxophonists heard on
WAER over
the past 55 years.
6. Sonny Rollins
He came from the Sugar Hill section of Harlem that was also the home of
such musicians as Duke Ellington, and started playing alto sax at 11. He
switched to tenor when he was 16. His high school chums included Jackie
McLean, Arthur Taylor, and Kenny Drew, and they formed a band in 1946. He
was soon performing and recording with Thelonious Monk, Babs Gonzales, J.J.
Johnson, and with Bud Powell. He was also a sideman for Dizzy Gillespie,
Miles Davis, Charlie Parker and many other stars of jazz. However, he also
developed a drug problem, which he overcame after moving to Chicago in 1955, where he became
part of a group with Clifford Brown and Max Roach. In 1956, he made his
first recordings as a leader. Before long, he was voted "New Star of the
Tenor Sax" in the Down Beat Magazine Critics' Poll. Surprisingly, Rollins
suddenly stopped performing, and decided to improve his skills, often
spending hours practicing his playing on New York's Williamsburg Bridge.
After two years, Rollins returned to jazz with renewed vigor, and in 1965
attained commercial success with his soundtrack for the popular film
"Alfie." He then took off more time to study Eastern philosophy, and later lived in
India for a while. The times he spent away from music helped refresh his
creativity, and he tried such new things as the soprano saxophone and the
lyricon. In recent years, he has returned to the tenor sax, and his most
recent CD, "This Is What I Do," won him a Grammy Award. The name of one of
his albums, "Saxophone Colossus," certainly fits Sonny Rollins well.
7. Ben
Webster
This Kansas City native had violin and piano lessons as a child, but
after learning to play the sax, he played with the Young Family Band, which
included fellow saxophonist Lester Young and drummer Lee Young. He made his
first recordings with a big band led by Cab Calloway's sister, Blanche, and
then joined the legendary Bennie Moten Orchestra, the great big band Kansas
City big band. After time in several other bands, he became Duke
Ellington's first major tenor star, and was in such great recordings from
the early 40s as "Cotton Tail," for which he arranged the saxophone
ensemble. He worked as both a leader and sideman after leaving Ellington,
and was also one of the stars of the "Jazz at the Philharmonic" tours. He
also made some legendary recordings with strings, and was one of the great
instrumentalists backing Billie Holiday on her 1950s Verve recordings with
small groups. In 1964, he did like some other American jazz musicians and
moved to Europe, where he stayed for the rest of his life. This versatile
player is remembered both for his powerful sound on swinging numbers and for
his incredibly sensitive ballad playing. "The Frog," Ben Webster, is one of the
great saxophonists played on WAER over the past 55 years.
8. Gerry Mulligan
This New Yorker started as a pianist, and then learned clarinet and all
of the saxophones before settling on the baritone sax, of which he became
the greatest player of all. He started to gain fame as an arranger for such
bands as Gene Krupa and Claude Thornhill, and both played and arranged for
the legendary Miles Davis album "Birth of the Cool," which caused a
revolution in jazz with its sound that became the basis for the "cool
school" of the 1950s. He also recorded with his own nonet, wrote such jazz
standards as "Walking Shoes" and "Swing House" while working for Stan
Kenton, and formed a groundbreaking pianoless quartet that featured both him
and trumpeter Chet Baker. He was imprisoned after getting involved with
drugs, but gave them up and returned to his music after his release, forming
a new group with valve trombonist and composer Bob Brookmeyer. He was one
of the participants in the famous CBS "Sound of Jazz" TV special, and played
alongside Billie Holiday, Benny Carter and others at the first Monterey Jazz
Festival in 1958. He even appeared in two movies, "I Want to Live" and "The
Subterraneans." He led a concert jazz band for four years, and later toured with Dave
Brubeck, led a big band called "The Age of Steam," and ran various smaller
groups. Still active in the 1990s, he led a "Rebirth of the Cool" band that
recorded the Miles Davis Nonet arrangements from decades before, with Miles'
parts being played after his death by trumpeter Wallace Roney. He stayed
active until shortly before his death from cancer in 1996. Gerry Mulligan
is one of the great saxophonists featured on WAER over the past 55
years.
9. "Cannonball" Adderley
This Tampa native got the nickname "Cannibal" as a kid due to his hearty
appetite, but the name later changed to "Cannonball," and it described his
explosive impact on the jazz world. He started out as a high-school band
director, but when he visited New York in 1955 and sat in with Oscar
Pettiford at the Cafe Bohemia, he caused such a stir that he got a recording
contract and moved to New York to play full-time. He and his cornetist
brother formed their own group, but then he joined Miles Davis' sextet,
where he played on such great albums as "Kind of Blue." Later, he and his
brother had a more successful quartet, and had such hits as "This Here,"
"Mercy, Mercy, Mercy," and "Things Are Getting Better." He also did a lot
for the career of a young singer from Ohio named Nancy Wilson, and their
duet album is one of the classics of vocal jazz. Other musicians who were
closely associated with him were Joe Zawinul, Yusef Lateef, and
Bobby Timmons. He became legendary for his soulful, funky style, which made
him one of the most popular jazz musicians of his time. Sadly, he was cut
down while still in his prime, dying of a stroke when he was only 46.
Julian "Cannonball" Adderley is one of the saxophone legends of jazz heard
on WAER over the past 55 years.
10. Stan Getz
This native of the City of Brotherly Love was one of the most popular
saxophonists in jazz history. He learned much from the lyrical style of
Lester Young, but added much of his own as well. While still in his teens,
he played for the bands of Jack Teagarden, Stan Kenton, Benny Goodman and
Jimmy Dorsey at a time when older players had been drafted to serve in World
War II. He became famous when he was one of the "Four Brothers" in Woody
Herman's Second Herd, with famous solos on the recordings of "Four Brothers"
and "Early Autumn." In the early 1950s, Getz became a leader, and one of
his first discoveries was a young pianist named Horace Silver. He developed
a serious drug problem that would plague him for years, but nonetheless did
a great deal of creative work. In the early 1960s, he was one of several
musicians who helped to start the bossa nova craze; such albums as "Jazz
Samba" with Charlie Byrd and "Getz/ Gilberto" with Joao Gilberto and Antonio Carlos Jobim were huge sellers.
They included such hit singles as "Desafinado" and "The Girl from Ipanema,"
which featured Joao Gilberto's young wife, singer Astrud Gilberto, and made
her a star. Later, Getz tried such things as pianoless quartets, fusion
music with Chick Corea, and a return to a more straightahead style in his
later career. He also discovered another singer who became a star in jazz,
Diane Schuur. The last several years of his life, he kept playing and
recording despite having cancer, and his final European concert recordings
from Germany and Denmark show that he retained his abilities despite his
illness. He died at the age of 64 in 1991, and is still remembered for his
smooth sound. Stan Getz is one of the saxophone greats WAER has played over the past 55
years.
11. Johnny Hodges
This native of Cambridge, Massachusetts played drums and piano before
taking up the soprano sax at the age of 14, and was taught by one of the
greatest ever to play the soprano, Sidney Bechet. However, his main
instrument was the alto sax. In 1928, he began a 23-year stint with Duke
Ellington, and quickly became one of the stars of the band. Despite a stern
appearance that got him the nickname of "The Great Stone Face," his playing
on ballads was full of feeling, and he was also at home in more swinging
material as well. In 1951, he started his own band, but had to disband it
in 1956 due to financial problems, and returned to the Ellington band for
the rest of his career. Many of the Ellington band's hits were written with
him in mind, and in 1959 he and Duke recorded a duo album called "Side By
Side." Johnny Hodges is one of the great saxophonists featured on
WAER
over the past 55 years.
12. Sonny Stitt
This Bostonian began his career as an alto saxophonist, and played in
the Billy Eckstine big band with other young saxophonists such as Dexter
Gordon and Gene Ammons. He also played in Dizzy Gillespie's band. During
his early career, he absorbed a lot of his style from Charlie Parker, but
branched out more when he took up the tenor and baritone saxes. He was in a two-tenor group for a
while with Gene Ammons, and led a number of his own groups before working
again for Dizzy Gillespie in the late 50s. He and Ammons reunited in 1960,
and he recorded a number of his own projects for several labels. In the
1970s, he was in the "Giants of Jazz" with Gillespie, Art
Blakey, Kai Winding, Thelonious Monk and Al McKibbon. He died of a heart attack when he
was only 54, but he is still remembered thanks to his many recordings, and
influenced such later players as John Coltrane and David "Fathead" Newman.
Sonny Stitt is one of the saxophone stars played here on WAER.
13. Benny Carter
This saxophonist, trumpeter, clarinetist, pianist, composer, arranger,
singer and bandleader has been active in jazz since the late 1920s. He made
his first recording at 20, and had his first big band when he was just 21.
At the same time, he was writing arrangements for Duke Ellington and
Fletcher Henderson. He wrote such jazz standards as "When Lights Are Low,"
"Blues In My Heart," "Key Largo," and "Cow Cow Boogie." In 1935, he moved to Europe
for several years, and was an arranger for the BBC's radio dance orchestra.
He relocated to Los Angeles in 1943 so he could write music for films, but
over the years continued to play, record and lead groups. He is still
active in his 90s, and one of his projects in recent years is two CDs of his
songs, featuring such singers as Dianne Reeves, Jon Hendricks, and Diana
Krall. Benny Carter is one of the many great saxophonists heard on
WAER
over the past 55 years.
14. Paul Desmond
This alto saxophonist was from San Francisco. In the late 1940s, he met
pianist and composer Dave Brubeck, and played in various groups with him for
years before the classic Dave Brubeck Quartet of Brubeck, Desmond, bassist
Eugene Wright and drummer Joe Morello came together and made jazz history in
the late 50s and early 60s. He wrote the group's most popular hit, a song
that he called "Take Five" because it was written in 5/4, an unusual meter
for jazz at that time. He was famous for his cool tone, which he said was
meant to sound like a dry martini. After the Brubeck Quartet disbanded, he
recorded many projects of his own, and also recorded with such artists as
Gerry Mulligan, Chet Baker and Jim Hall, among others. When he was ill with
terminal lung cancer, he continued to play with a reunited Brubeck Quartet,
and died at only 52. He is still legendary for his smooth, cool sound.
Paul Desmond is one of the many fine saxophonists heard on
WAER over the
past 55 years.
15. Gene Ammons
This Chicagoan was the son of a great boogie-woogie pianist, and left
home at 18 to play with the King Kolax band. His first big break was with
the Billy Eckstine band, when he and Dexter Gordon backed Eckstine on his
hit record of "Blowing the Blues Away." He was a member of Woody Herman's
Third Herd, and co-led a group with Sonny Stitt for a time, but preferred to
work as a single. He became one of the leaders in R & B and soul-jazz, but
could also play straightahead bebop very well, and was famous for his huge,
powerful tone. His career was hampered by a drug problem that landed him in
prison several times. When he got out for the last time in 1969, he resumed
his career for a few years until his death from cancer in 1974. Tenor
saxophonist Gene Ammons is one of many sax greats WAER has played over
the past 55 years.
16. Jackie McLean
This New Yorker is the son of a jazz guitarist, and as a teenage alto
saxophonist, he had such neighbors as Thelonious Monk, Bud Powell and Sonny
Rollins. He made his debut recording with Miles Davis at only 19.
During the 1950s, he polished his skills working with Charles Mingus and Art
Blakey. From 1959 to 1967, he recorded some 21 albums for Blue Note.
During the 1970s, he concentrated on work in jazz education, but returned as
a performer in the 1980s, and continues to perform and record as he
approaches his 70th birthday. Jackie McLean is just one of the great saxophonists you can hear on
WAER.
17. Grover Washington, Jr.
This saxophonist was from Buffalo, and began his career when he was only
10. While still in his teens, he performed with the Four Clefs. He moved
to Philadelphia in 1967, where he became part of the musical scene and
worked with such soul-jazz figures as Charles Earland and Johnny Hammond
Smith. He recorded as a sideman on the Prestige label, and got his first
big break in 1971 when he took Hank Crawford's place at a recording session.
The resulting album, "Inner City Blues," was the first of many big sellers
for him. He became a big popular favorite with such albums as "Mister
Magic" and "Winelight," plus such singles as "Just The Two Of Us."
However, he was also capable of playing straightahead jazz, and could play
soprano, alto, tenor and baritone saxes. He suffered an unexpected fatal
heart attack at the age of 56 in 1999 while taping a TV show. Grover
Washington, Jr. is one of the many fine saxophonists heard in the 55-year
history of WAER.
18. Stanley Turrentine
This saxophonist was known as "Mr. T" long before the TV star of that
name became famous. This native of Pittsburgh got his start with blues and
R & B groups, and started out with a strong Illinois Jacquet influence. He
played for Ray Charles in the early 1950s, and replaced John Coltrane in the
Earl Bostic band in 1953. After a time in the Army, he played in Max
Roach's band, and married organist Shirley Scott in 1960, recording with her
often and remaining friends with her even after their divorce some years
later. Also in 1960, he made the first of several recordings with organist
Jimmy Smith, and began recording for Blue Note as a solo act and as a member
of The Three Sounds. In the 1970s, he was a mainstay of the CTI record
label, recording such famous albums as "Sugar" and "Don't Mess With Mister
T." He attained a lot of popular success with his soul-jazz style
despite some critical disapproval. He remained active in performing and
recording in his later life, and was a big influence on the young artists of
the acid-jazz movement before his death in 2000 of a stroke. Stanley Turrentine
is one of the many great saxophonists heard on WAER over the past 55
years.
19. Phil Woods
This alto saxophonist is from Massachusetts, and his first sax was left
to him by an uncle. He went to New York to study at Juilliard and the
Manhattan School of Music. He worked with many great bands: Charlie Barnet,
Dizzy Gillespie, Buddy Rich, and with Benny Goodman on his band's 1962 tour
of the U.S.S.R. He has also led many smaller groups. He moved to France for a time, and had
an avant-garde jazz group called the European Rhythm Machine. He formed his
first quintet in 1973, a group that continues to this day with some
personnel changes over the years. Among his great colleagues in the quintet
have been Tom Harrell, Steve Gilmore, Bill Charlap and Brian Lynch. He has
also been heard in pop music, including the famous alto sax solo in Billy
Joel's hit "Just The Way You Are." He continues to play well in his 70s,
and has also been active in jazz education. Phil Woods is one of the many
saxophone legends heard on WAER over the past 55 years.
20. Wayne Shorter
This native of New Jersey started as a clarinetist, but took up the
saxophone before entering New York University. After graduation, he played
for Horace Silver, and then served in the U.S. Army. He then played in
Maynard Ferguson's band, and in 1959 he joined Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers
and also recorded his first solo album. In 1964, he joined Miles Davis'
quintet, and composed such tunes for the group as "Nefertiti," "ESP,"
"Footprints," and "Prince of Darkness," which became a nickname for Miles
himself. In 1970, he joined up with former Ferguson band colleague Joe
Zawinul and Miroslav Vitous to form the legendary fusion jazz group Weather
Report. He continues to be active in jazz, and many of his compositions
have become jazz standards. Wayne Shorter is one of the many great saxophonists played on
WAER over
the past 50 years.
21. Roland Kirk
This Columbus, Ohio native lost his eyesight as a small child, but that
did not stop him from becoming one of the most inventive saxophonists in
jazz history. After learning to play the bugle and trumpet, he learned
clarinet and saxophone. He became a professional musician when he was just
15, playing tenor sax in R & B groups. He also learned how to play such unusual instruments as the manzello and the
stritch, and learned how to make his own instruments that would do what he
wanted. He was able to play three modified saxophones at the same time,
and could also use circular breathing so that he could play without
stopping. However, this wasn't just to show off, but served his musical
purposes, since he was a very inventive improviser with a command of many
styles of jazz. He invented the term "black classical music" that has since
been used many times to describe jazz. He also led the Jazz And People's
Movement, which tried to get more opportunities for jazz musicians, and
sometimes interrupted radio and TV broadcasts to protest when qualified
African-American musicians were shut out of jobs on the networks and in the
recording industry. He was even the last performer ever to appear on the Ed
Sullivan variety show on CBS. Late in his life, he suffered a stroke that
paralyzed one side of his body, but thanks to his special saxophones and
unusual technique, he was able to play sax with just one hand. He was only
41 when he died in 1977. Rahsaan Roland Kirk is one of the great
saxophonists heard on WAER over the past 55 years.
22. Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis
This New York City native got his early experience in the 1940s with
Cootie Williams, Lucky Millinder, Andy Kirk and Louis Armstrong. He started
his first group in 1946, and also was with the Count Basie Orchestra and the
Shirley Scott Trio. His strong tone and R & B-flavored playing became
well-known, and in the early 1960s he was one of the "Tough Tenors" along
with Johnny Griffin. He quit playing for a while to become a booking agent,
but later came back to music when he rejoined the Basie band and also
returned as a soloist. He died when he was only 64 in 1986, but is fondly remembered by jazz fans
thanks to his many recordings. Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis is one of the many saxophonists heard on
WAER over
the past 55 years.
23. Ornette Coleman
This native of Fort Worth, Texas was inspired as a teenager by Charlie
Parker, and got his start in R & B bands. His first experiments with his
own style did not meet with much approval in Texas, so he moved to Los
Angeles and supported himself as an elevator operator while trying to get a
start in the jazz scene. He got together with musicians such as Don Cherry
and Charlie Haden who understood what he was trying to do. After he and Cherry attended
the Lenox School of Jazz with the help of pianist John Lewis, this
saxophonist and innovative composer attracted attention during a gig at the
Five Spot in New York. People came to hear his controversial new music for
themselves, and few were neutral once they heard him. He recorded some
quartet albums that got people talking, and that also influenced such
musicians as John Coltrane and Eric Dolphy in their later work in free jazz. He came up
with the name "harmolodics" for his new type of music, to show that harmony,
melody and rhythm were of equal importance. In addition to his famed double
quartet, Prime Time, he has worked with musicians ranging from Pat Metheny
to Jerry Garcia, and has had reunions with some of his original musicians.
Such younger musicians as Greg Osby and Steve Coleman acknowledge his
influence on their work. He is Ornette Coleman, one of the many great
saxophonists WAER has brought you over the past 55 years.
24. Johnny Griffin
This Chicago native played in the big bands of Lionel Hampton and Joe
Morris while still in his teens, and also played in jam sessions with Bud
Powell and Thelonious Monk. After Army service during the Korean War, he
recorded his first album, and moved to New York in 1956. He became known as
"the world's fastest saxophonist" thanks to his ability to play quickly
through even the toughest changes. He performed and recorded with John
Coltrane, Thelonious Monk, Hank Mobley and Art Blakey and the Jazz
Messengers. In the early 60s, he co-led the famous "Tough Tenors" with
Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis. He lived in Paris for ten years, and attained quite a
reputation among European jazz fans. He has lived in the Netherlands for
many years, but often visits the U.S. to perform and to record. Johnny
Griffin is one of the many great saxophonists WAER has played for 55
years.
25. Jimmy Hamilton
This South Carolina native served his apprenticeship in the groups of
Teddy Wilson, Lucky Millinder, Jimmy Mundy and others, and also recorded
with Billie Holiday. In 1943, he joined Duke Ellington's band, where he played both tenor sax and
clarinet for 25 years. Some Ellington fans were not pleased at first that
he had been picked to replace Barney Bigard, but he soon showed that his
style had its own merits and won audiences over. He was featured on many
Ellington recordings, and had some pieces written with his talents in mind.
In 1968, he decided to leave the road after a quarter-century with
Ellington, and moved to the Virgin Islands to teach music, giving only
occasional performances before his death in 1994. Jimmy Hamilton is one of
the many great saxophonists heard on WAER over the past 55 years.
26. Joshua Redman
This saxophonist from Berkeley, California is the son of another famous
tenor player. However, after graduating from Harvard, he seemed ready to
pursue a law degree. His career plans changed after he won the
1991 Thelonious Monk competition, which got him a major label recording contract
and a lot of media attention. The attention was deserved, since he soon
proved that his success was due to solid ability and was no mere flash in
the pan. While still in his 20s, he was playing and recording alongside
such big names as Pat Metheny, Chick Corea, and his own father, Dewey
Redman. Joshua Redman is one of the many great saxophonists
WAER has
brought you over the past 55 years.
27. Hank Mobley
This native of Georgia
first attracted attention while working with Max Roach and
Dizzy Gillespie in his 20s, and was one of Art Blakey's
original jazz Messengers. When Horace Silver left the Jazz
Messengers to form his own group, this tenor saxophonist went
with him. After another stint with Blakey and a short time
with Miles Davis, he became a leader of his own groups. He
spent some time in Europe in the late 60s and early 70s, but
his later career was hampered by poor health, and he died in
Philadelphia when he was only 55. However, the great
recordings he left behind for Blue Note, in which he played
with many of the jazz greats of the
1950s and 1960s, remind us that he was one of the giants of
the hard-bop school. He is Hank Mobley, one of the great
saxophonists WAER has brought you over the past 55 years.
28. Gary
Bartz
This Baltimore native,
born in 1940, went to the Juilliard School of Music, but also
got a great musical education in the Charles Mingus Jazz
Workshop. While there, he met Eric Dolphy and McCoy Tyner, who
later hired him for the Expansions band. In his 20s, he also
spent some time as one of Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers, and
was also a sideman for Abbey Lincoln and Max Roach. In 1970,
Miles Davis hired him and put him on the famous
"Live-Evil" album. He also formed a group called the
NTU Troop, which was very influential in the soul-jazz
movement and combined influences of jazz, funk and African
music. In recent years, he has returned to a more
straightahead style in much of his work, and is one of the
finest alto sax players working today. He is Gary Bartz, one
of the great saxophonists WAER has brought you over the
past 55 years.
29. Zoot
Sims
Saxophonist number 29
on the WAER list was born into a vaudeville family in 1925,
and learned to play drums and clarinet before he switched to
the tenor sax at age 13, inspired by Lester Young's playing.
He went pro at 15, and was still in his teens when Benny
Goodman hired him in 1943. In 1947, he joined Woody
Herman's Second Herd, where he was one of the celebrated
"Four Brothers" in the saxophone section. He
also played with the bands of Buddy Rich, Stan Kenton, Artie
Shaw, Chubby Jackson, Elliot Lawrence and Gerry Mulligan. He
had a number of his own small groups, often working with
fellow tenor saxophonist Al Cohn, and sometimes used the
soprano sax. He recorded until a year before his death in
1985, and is still fondly remembered for his cool sound and
good-humored nature. He is Zoot Sims, one of many saxophone
greats WAER has brought you over the past 55 years.
30. Illinois Jacquet
This saxophonist was
born on Halloween of 1922, and grew up in Houston. His sound
largely defined what is known as the "Texas tenor"
school, and he was also very influential in R & B music.
He became famous when, at the age of 20, he joined Lionel
Hampton's big band and had a famous solo on "Flying
Home." He was also one of the musicians in the first
"Jazz At The Philharmonic" concert in 1944, appeared
a number of times with JATP, and has kept performing and
recording steadily into the new millennium. He has had a
number of his own groups over the years, and was with both the
Cab Calloway and Count Basie orchestras after his time with
Hampton. In 1988, he also recorded a big-band album that got
rave notices. He is Illinois Jacquet, one of the great
saxophonists WAER has brought you over the past 55 years.
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