That’s not a bad list, only a very few names there I don’t recognise. Maybe a bit jazz heavy, somebody like John Helliwell may not be recognised by name by the public but their playing definitely would be.

 

any list without Phil Woods is obviously by someone who doesn't know much about Saxophone greatness.

 

That's interesting but is this actually a ranking in order of "most famous"? If so - I think it has got a lot right but a whole lot wrong too.

Good idea OP - it's intriguing seeing what the algorithm came up with.

 

Yeah, not bad but somewhat biased. Peter Brötzmann is definitely missing, Evan Parker should be in there, too. Also almost no younger players, Walter Smith III, Ben Wendel, and all my students know Bob Reynolds and have probably not heard 98 of the other names. But kudos for Tony Coe!

 

I have seen 44 of the players on that list. I think Al Gallodoro should be on there, probably others.

 

Since this is from ChatGTP, I assume it catalogs occurrences on web pages, and that’s about it. With different criteria, like fame in their time or among certain peer groups, you would get names like Al Galladoro, or Rudy Wiedoeft, or Marcel Mule.

I wonder how it defined “famous.” Perhaps it chose sax players whose names showed up in proximity to the word “famous” - ???

 

At a quick glance, a lot of players that you would expect, a glaring omission is Mark Turner (unless I missed him). And Theo Croker plays trumpet

 

And a few more. There are so many more;
Lee Allen
Herb Hardesty
Clifford Scott
Danny Flores
Jim Horn
Steve Douglas
Big Jay McNeely,
Joe Houston
Red Prysock
Willis "Gator" Jackson
Earl Bostic
Sil Austin
RAPHAEL RAVENSCROFT

 

And a few more. There are so many more;
Lee Allen
Herb Hardesty
Clifford Scott
Danny Flores
Jim Horn
Steve Douglas
Big Jay McNeely,
Joe Houston
Red Prysock
Willis "Gator" Jackson
Earl Bostic
Sil Austin

It seems that many RnB, Rock&Roll, and blues players are left out. No Lee Allen?! No Sam Taylor?!

 

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…

 

How close do these come?
Ronnie Scott
Tubby Hayse
Bobby Wellins
Gato Barbieri
Arnet Cobb

 

Most "famous" list doesn't include Boots or Clarence? They are two of the absolute most recognizable names (and sounds) to have ever wet a reed.

 

Clarence is on the list. Very hard to believe Boots Randolph is not.

 

A few missing imho with two minutes to think about it: Paul Gonsalves, Warne Marsh, Ted Brown, Flip Philips, Willie Smith, Benny Carter, ...
Why, you ask? Why indeed are they missing.

Maybe ask a follow-up question, "What criteria and measure do you apply to determine a saxophone player's fame?"

 

JOE LOVANO !!!
Rich Perry
Dick Oatts
Gary Smulyan

 

Art Pepper, Baptiste Herbin, Bobby Keys,...

 

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).

 

…come to think of it…how could Kenny G not be in one of those 100 slots?!

I wondered about that, but actually Kenny G is in the list, 10 names above the bottom.

 

Did you use any prompts (parameters) outside of famous and saxophone player? How do you think ChatGPT quantified famous? What if you asked a male ChatGPT?

 

Missing, Art Pepper, Charlie Mariano, Benny Carter, to name a few. However, Theo Croker made the list and he's a trumpet player...

 

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.”

 

This AI stuff is just starting to get rolling. It's going to be doing the thinking for all us. Won't take long for the majority to take it as gospel. I'm too old school for that kind of crap. First digital saxophones then this. Our purpose will soon be simply to exist. I can't wait to order my virtual sax!

 

I'm looking forward to the video of me playing with McCoy Tyner, Jimmy Garrison, and Elvin Jones. 😎

 

Zoot Sims, Al Cohn.....

 

Branford Marsalis, Joshua Redman, Jerry Bergonzi, Don Menza, Bill Evans, Sadao Wantanabe. And I want Jr Walker and Edgar Winter on the list, too!

edit- I shouldn't read the list on my iPhone, since Branford and Joshua are on the list and I was all thumbs for Sadao Watanabe.
The list does not contain any classical players, such as Mule, Rascher, Pittel, Hemke, etc.

 

Sadao Wantanabe

It is actually Sadao Watanabe.

 

Was Sonny Stitt listed? Never saw his name. All great players but too many fossils. SOTW has a few that should be on the list. Scott, Jay, Artem, etc. Lots of great players!

 

Ask OpenAI to include (or increase the weight of) SOTW in the next round of ChatGPT training.

 

I’m not seeing Lenny Pickett or Stanley Turrentine.

If you’re a tenor player and have to ask why….

 

Next GenAI prompt: "Make a list of top 100 players that shows everyone in the top 200."

 

My prompt was simple, no specific parameters, ranking orders or different criterias.
I simply asked for a list of the 100 most famous saxophone players in the world and let the AI decide who and why someone should be on that list or not.
Just for fun. Obviously.

 

A lot of big names has been noted missing. One can only ask why. Some rather obvious names.

 

Here's a follow up. I asked to have this list in a ranking order from the most famous to the least famous and to include explainations for why each player deserves a spot on this list.