[FawltyTenor]

Was inventorying some of my collection, and thinking how I got started acquiring jazz recordings. First things I remember having were things like Charlie Parker Savoy Master Takes, Three Quartets, Wynton Marsalis (debut), MF Horn 4+5, Winelight, Count Basie On the Road. Some terrific stuff, I still enjoy all of those quite a bit.

But, the one guy that I wish I'd been hip to a lot earlier was Stanley Turrentine. I love his sound, articulation, time/feel, use of space...he just swings his butt off with that commanding gritty sound, always about the groove. What more can you ask for?

 

[Martinman]

Probably someone I've never heard of yet.

 

[Isle of Jazz]

These guys would probably top my list. Great idea for a thread!

 

[dexdex]

Funny you mention Mr. T, he is in my shortlist too. I did discover him quite early, mainly his work with Jimmy Smith. But it took me long time until I had a clue how to sound at least a bit like him. For long years I had a love/hate relation with several tenor saxes and mouthpieces, because they never sounded like him or Lockjaw ....
To answer the main topic, I'll mention Dexter Gordon. For some reason, I was much more aware of the old school tenors (all the Basieites) and the modern NY school (Brecker, Berg, Mintzer), before I really started to listen to those central Blue Note albums of Dexter. They very much helped me to forge my own playing, and to finally establish a more friendly relation with the tenor sax.
To come back to Turrentine, what I do regret is that I never heard him live. Fortunately there are some great videos on the tube.

 

[HonkDown]

For me its Eddie Harris. Somehow when I was younger he just never came to my attention. I've often wondered if he ever played or recorded with Maceo...quite a pair the two of them would've made.

 

[Turnaround]

Cannonball

 

[mrpeebee]

I started listening to jazz by coincidence at the age of 12/13. I always listenend to a comic radio broadcast in The Netherlands ('Andre van Duin show') and just before that show an old style Jazz radio program was in the air ('Jazz uit het Historisch Archief', which means 'Jazz from the Historical Archives'). I really enjoyed this music and started listening to lots of other Jazz radio programs (we had a lot of great historical and live jazz shows on Dutch radio in that time). I loved people like Ben Webster, Coleman Hawkins (30's), Lester Young (30's) and Ike Quebec, tenor palyers with a big sound. But I also loved trumpet players like Louis Armstrong (Hot Fives and Sevens from the 20's) and Roy Eldridge. When I like something I always want to know 'everything' about it, so I started buying records and books and later started visiting concerts and Festivals (like North Sea Jazz Festival, one of the biggest in the world). My interest started at old style jazz and went quite fast from swing into bebop. My main hero's where (and still are!) people with a big tenor sound and I quickly came accross Texas Tenor players like Arnett Cobb and Illiniois Jacquet. Still loved the old guys like Webster and Hawkins, but also started to like Dexter Gordon and Johnny Griffin at young age (before I was 20). Due to the big Jazz Festivals in Holland I also had the change to see a lot of those guys life. At that time I hated guys like John Coltrane because I found their sound 'thin' compared to guys like Ben Webster. But that changed in time, I now can also enjoy players with a lighter sound. Still have not much with Fushion players like Brecker, but know now enough about music to recognize that some of them are great players (even if I don't like their sound concepts most of the time).

So to conclude: I was happy enough to discover my "hero's" at a very young age .

 

[DrWill]

Frank Morgen - I read about him being a CP sound-alike which didn't appeal to me much, and there is hardly an alto player that I've really liked at the A-list level (exceptions Antonio Hart and one Cleanhead Vinson solo) so I didn't listen .... but then I was working on this Monk tune a year or so ago and heard Morgen's version ..... that did it - it seemed perfect, inside the tune more than any of the others including Trane's, as opposed to doing his thing over the tune. Now he's my favorite alto player .... and a contender even among the tenors.

 

[jlima]

Hank Mobley. I wonder why nobody ever mentioned him to me. He's had such a big influence on some of the modern players that I admire and listen to, like for example Jerry Bergonzi.

 

[bjornblomberg]

Hank Mobley. I wonder why nobody ever mentioned him to me. He's had such a big influence on some of the modern players that I admire and listen to, like for example Jerry Bergonzi.

+1 for Mobley. Started out listening to more modern players, such as Brecker, Marsalis, Sanborn, all of whom are great. But I think Mobley has so much pure musicality in his playing. Never noisy, but a fat sound, great time and a non-stop stream of catchy ideas in his solos. The other ones I wished I had heard of earlier are Stanley T, Eddie Harris and Fathead Newman.
Bjorn

 

[hgiles]

I have to admit there arent any saxophonists i could listen to all day. No one where I could just buy a CD and feel confident that i would like even half of whats on it. Seriously.

I do like most Oscar Peterson that I find. All the post 50s sax stuff tends to get too modern and abstract for me to enjoy for any length of time (when picking from the 'greats').

I like a lot of modern ideas, but the core has to be swinging, bluesy, funky ****! I am going to look more into Eddie Harris and Stanley Turrentine though...

 

[dshook]

James Moody, Rich Perry, Steve Marcus

 

[Frank D]

Charles Lloyd. Went to see him a few years ago and was blown away. A very free style but still melodic, and breathtaking. Several times during the show a tune would end and there would be a moment of stunned silence before the audience burst into applause, needing a moment to digest what they had just heard.

Wish I had been listening to him between Forest Flower in the '60s and what he's playing today.

 

[jlima]

I have to admit there arent any saxophonists i could listen to all day. No one where I could just buy a CD and feel confident that i would like even half of whats on it. Seriously.

I do like most Oscar Peterson that I find.

Yeah, he was a great saxophonist...

 

[bjornblomberg]

...I do like most Oscar Peterson that I find...

Yeah, he was a great saxophonist...

I'm not sure how good a saxophone player Oscar Peterson was, but another piano-player, Ray Charles, did know how to handle the saxophone...

That being said, I think saxophone players may have a lot of inspiration and things to be learned from listening to Oscar Peterson

 

[Saxman96]

Grover Washington Jr, I got into listening to him when I was halfway through 9th grade.

I wish his music got me started on the sax.

 

[GHawk]

Jan Garbarek

 

[Turnaround]

Lenny Pickett