[Quackhack]

Nothing against him, but Klaus Doldinger? Seems obvious it’s just a “most-frequently searched” algorithm…marginally useful, maybe borderline useless really 😴🥱
Surprised Boots isn’t on there…dozens of “famous sax players” missing (but of course only room for 100 if that’s the limit!):

Ike Quebec
George Garzone
Steve Grossman
John Handy
Arnett Cobb
Doc Kupka…& on & on…

 

[Quackhack]

Yeah, hard to believe Bobby Keys didn’t make that “100 most famous sax players” list, by any measure or algorithm…come to think of it…how could Kenny G not be in one of those 100 slots?!

Edit: missed that Kenny G came in around the 90th slot…in haste I assumed he would’ve easily made the top 10 but perhaps it’s not ranked in order (although that seems odd).

 

[Quackhack]

Sidney Bechet made it to the list twice.

Exemplifies either:
The flaws in nascent AI (not equipped to proofread its own work)…or more insidiously…

AI’s active probing of our capacity to review its output, &/or our willingness to implicitly trust it…& adjusting that threshold as it goes, ie, determining “what % of us will catch that duplicate entry” had the list been 200? 500? 1,000? “Skynet” has arrived 😧

More critically however:

It reveals a dangerous implication that we’re far too easily distracted by sheer nonsense…& it will learn to take advantage of our gullible nature, how we’re easily manipulated to be moved off targets of what’s really important, to the irrelevant “shiny objects.”

 

[Quackhack]

Was Sonny Stitt listed?

Stitt is on the list

 

[Quackhack]

Jimmy Dorsey
Earl Bostic
Louis Jordan
Dave Liebman

But again…this is an AI-based algorithm compiling a ranking of “most famous” based on some unknown criterion. Truly borders on useless.

 

[Quackhack]

When Mike Brecker was asked:
“What’s it like being the greatest sax player ever?”

He famously answered (one of two ways, depending on who tells the story):

“I don’t know…ask George Garzone!”
“I don’t know…ask Jerry Bergonzi!”

 

[Quackhack]

King Curtis hasn't yet been mentioned in this thread. He sure deserves to be part of the blues/R&B sax players.

King Curtis is on the top 100 list in OP, for the record 😉

But altos Jimmy Dorsey…Louis Jordan…Maceo Parker…Phil Woods…you could argue that in their times (for Maceo, that covers from the 60s until present day!)…they were as famous as any sax players.

Jimmy Dorsey

Louis Jordan

Maceo Parker

Phil Woods

 

[Quackhack]

Don't forget the 50's R&R and R&B

Lots of tenor on the radio in 50s R&B, etc. But most folks listening had no clue what their names were. However Louis Jordan was on tv in the early days (even my grandparents knew Caldonia & Ain’t Nobody but Us Chickens!)…Jimmy Dorsey’s Orchestra backed perhaps the most famous entertainer of the times in Bing Crosby, for dozens of radio broadcasts in the 30s…James Brown screamed “Play your horn Maceo!” all over AM R&B radio…Phil Woods was “that guy” on Billy Joel’s “Just the Way You Are” & Dan’s “Dr Wu”…& even that’s a stretch re: popular “fame.”

As sax players we have a much deeper connection but for someone to be truly “famous” they need to reach the masses & be a recognized name (Boots Randolph was one of the very few who has some name recognition for example…but lay folk had no idea the name of the Pink Panther sax player even though that’s a famous tune for sax). No one knows who Stanley Turrentine was among the masses…

Point is as I mentioned before…this AI-based 100 most famous is nonsensical. There is no defined criterion, nor does it seem to even know what the term “famous” means. Charlie Parker was a great sax player but among the masses he was not nearly as “famous” as many others.

Sure it’s “fun” as a debate platform…but it’s nonsense.

 

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Right you are! I scanned through the list a bit too fast.

I can relate…I missed Kenny G the first time through 😂. In our defense, the AI entity didn’t even realize it listed Sidney Bechet twice…

 

[Quackhack]

And I have my doubts about Lester Bowie playing saxophone.

He probably meant his brother, David Bowie 🤣

 

[Quackhack]

And to think whole organizations (private/corporate, public/govt) are shifting to AI…just frightening & alarming given the inaccuracies we see here among these simple queries. Our tendency toward laziness will be our undoing, if it hasn’t already.