So many great ones...

Jackie McLean would have to be in the first tier for me (alto is OK, yes)?

Albums? Try "4,5,& 6" or "Jackies' Bag" just for starters.

Funny thing - in any "top Five" list of sax players, one would have to make room for 20 or so players..

Ornette Coleman

"the shape of jazz to come"

Dave Koz...

Hands down Sonny Rollins. He is the man. Sorry coltrane- I dig ya- but not always, and sometimes yer just a bit too...not sure. Just too much. Sonny is always doing it just right.

Lots of great choices listed so far.

My choices are:
On tenor -- Rollins
On alto -- Paul Desmond
On soprano -- Coltrane
On bari -- Gerry Mulligan

There are many, many more greats.

Dave

Quote:
Lots of great choices listed so far.

My choices are:
On tenor -- Rollins
On alto -- Paul Desmond
On soprano -- Coltrane
On bari -- Gerry Mulligan

There are many, many more greats.

Dave

And let's not forget Wayne Shorter - as much for his composing as for his gorgeous playing on so many great sessions.

A bit like asking which one is your favourite finger ...

Roughly ordered by eras Lester Young, Charlie Parker, John Coltrane, Jackie McLean, Sonny Rollins, Art Pepper, Ornette Coleman, Mike Brecker, Chris Potter come to mind as eseential. This, by no means diminishes the music of Webster, or Wayne Shorter or Oliver Nelson or Joshua Redman etc ...

Why pick one when you can enjoy the lot!

Quote:
Independent of genre, who is your favorite sax player and, perhaps, your favorite disc by that artist?

Still John Coltrane, but I'd like to offer a Shout-out for British baritone player John Surman, whose work on John McLaughlin's late '60s album "Extrapolation" (with Tony Oxley on drums and Dave Holland on bass) is an overlooked gem.

John recently popped up as a soloist on our August 2008 "Recording of the Month," Romaria, from The Dowland Project.

John Atkinson
Editor, Stereophile

Ernie Watts
Steve Tavaglione
Eric Marienthal

Clarence Clemons; Live at Ashbury Park Vol 1 & 2.

and anyone that played sax for Motown Records, like Junior Walker.

Also, an honorable mention for Michael "Tunes" Antunes.