Sam "The Man" Taylor. Anything with his name on it. |
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May be not JAZZY enough for most...but I like Houston Person.
Dave |
Here are a few of my favorites, all of which are/were great players that have been overlooked to varying degrees by today's listeners. I have not included some players on the list below -- for example, Ben Webster, Art Pepper, Phil Woods, Dexter Gordon, Gerry Mulligan, Cannonball Adderley, Joe Lovano, Branford Marsalis, etc. -- since I think their names are reasonably well known.
Here's a partial list of lesser known "giants of sax", with names are listed randomly as I think of them:
Sonny Stitt; Wayne Shorter; Don Byas; Don Lanphere; Johnny Hodges; Paul Gonsalves; Zoot Sims; Al Cohn; Warne Marsh; Lee Konitz; David Murray; Frank Morgan; Lucky Thompson; Bud Shank; Chu Berry; Paul Quinichette; Ricky Ford; Paquito D'Rivera; Ike Quebec; Steve Lacy; Jane Ira Bloom; Chico Freeman; Von Freeman (Chico's father); Kenny Garrett; Johnny Griffin; Jackie McLean; Richie Cole; Stanley Turrentine; Gene Quill; Hank Mobley; Jan Garbarek; Oliver Lake; Hamiett Bluiett; Frank Wess; Pharaoh Sanders; Charles Lloyd; Rahsaan Roland Kirk; and probably another 30-40 that I can't think of right now. |
Bob Mintzer of Yellowjackets. Eric Marienthal. |
Nik Turner of Hawkwind (and related projects.) |
Byfo, was that Bob Mintzer playing on the Yellowjackets album Four Corners? Whoever that was, I liked their sax work A LOT.
I liked Paul Carman's work on Sandy Owen's Themes in Search of a Movie.
Although he's well known, I liked Branford Marsalis' work on the soundtrack for the movie The Russia House.
And, Coltrane is one of my all time faves. |
Of the current players, Richard Elliot is pretty good. Some of the harder to find that are excellent are Bobby Militello and Bruce Johnston. And I think that any list should include Grover Washington, Jr. and Kirk Whalum. |
SDcampbell that's a pretty good list. David Liebman is a giant. Benny Carter should be considered a giant. Ernie Watts is the most underrated player on my list. Joshua Redman is a great player but he's already highly rated. Vincent Herring and Antonio Hart sounds like Cannonball but they're great players. Lenny Pickett plays up high better than anyone I've heard. Greg Osby I appreciate for his unique play. There are many players that are enjoyable to listen to. |
How about David "Fathead" Newman? |
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What about Paul Ostermayer on Famous Blue Raincoat. Sounds great to me. Has he done anything else? |
Some of these might be less than lesser known, but they've all done some **&%$##!!!!! great stuff:
Carlo Acto Datis
Ron Aspery, (Back Door)
Tim Berne
Dave Binney
Michael Blake
Arthur Blythe
Anthony Braxton
Patrick Brennan
Peter Brotzmann (sometimes kinda harsh)
George Cartwright, (Curlew)
Thomas Chapin
Klaus Dapper, (Kollektiv)
Elton Dean, (Soft Machine)
Jean Derome
Peter Epstein
Ellery Eskelin
Marty Fogel
John Gilmore (Sun Ra)
Vinnie Golia
Phillip Greenlief
Steve Grossman
Tom Guralnick
Rich Halley
Michael Hornstein
Andy Laster
Dave liebman
Jon Lloyd
Frank Lowe
Tony Malaby
Michael Marcus
Kurt McGettrick (Zappa)
Don Menza
David Murray
Joel Palsson
Bill Plake
Odean Pope
Dewey Redman
Yannik Rieu
Sam Rivers
Scott Rosenberg (Red, Owe cd)
Ned Rothenberg
Yochk'o Seffer
Nicholas Simion
David Slusser
John Surman
Gebhard Ullmann
Ken Vandermark
Bobby Zankel
John Zorn |
David Sills
He's only got a handful of CD's out but I believe we'll be hearing a lot more of him. I picked up a CD of his in a bargain bin, 'Journey Together'. He does a version of "We'll Be Together Again" that absolutely turned me into an instant fan. Extremely lyrical musician. Worth every bit of the $7 I gave for it. |
Duane took most of the good ones, but I thought of another few
Jemeel Moodock
Patrick Cress (bay area local)
Marty Erhlich
Frank Gratkowski
Marco Eneidi
Andrew D'Angelo
Steve Lacy
Evan Parker
Rudresh Mahanthappa (plays with Vijay Iyer)
John Butcher
Mats Gustafsson
Jonas Kullhammar
Joe McPhee
Rob Brown
Joe Maneri
Chris Speed
Julius Hemphill
Henry Threadgill
Jimmy Lyons
David S. Ware
Glen Spearman
Roscoe Mitchell
Lol Coxhill
Ori Kaplan
Ian Ballamy
Michael Moore
Mars Williams
ALBERT AYLER (last but probably most important) |
Great job, guys! Of course, I expected as much from SD, and Duane drove the point home. It's comforting to know that there is a passionate, knowledgeable jazz community on Agon. Who has been overlooked?
('Passionate'?) |
David Sills, Journey Together is excellent, (i think the Naxos list price is $6.98). His Bigs disc is great too, maybe even recorded a little better. The Acoustic Jazz Quartet discs he's on are also really good, but i like the above titles more. |
Wow! I've got a lot of exploring to do. The only others I might see missing that I know of are Scott Hamilton and Gene Ammons. Great list folks! |
Dana Colley of the late great band Morphine. |
Ejlif.. whoa that's some great stuff!!
Here's some more to throw on the fire:
Aaron Bennett, (Go Go Fightmaster)
Edgar Hoffmann, (Embryo)
Kalaparush Maurice McIntyre
Fred Hess
Tobias Delius (The Heron, w/Han Bennink !!!)
David Jackson, (Van der Graaf Generator)
Charles Papasoff
Co Streiff, (Qattara is a good start)
Claudio Fasoli, (Perigeo)
Klaus Doldinger, (early Passport)
Charlie Kohlhase
Johannes Pappert, (Kraan)
Jerry Bergonzi
George Khan (Mirage, Solid Gold Cadillac)
Dave Rempis
Mark Harris, (Thinking Plague)
Steve Coleman
Gary Thomas
Kazutoki Umezu
Gilbert Artman, (Urban Sax)
Jindra Dolansky, (Uz Jsme Doma)
Diego Marion, (Trio Poursuite)
Phil Bancroft, (Trio AAB)
Gianluigi Trovesi
Mark Gilbert, (Chainsaw Jazz, Vector)
Donny McCaslin
Skerik, (Critters Buggin') |
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C'mon Duane, I know there's a couple more in there... |
Gary Falk Louisville,KY.A Legend in The area.. |
Here's some more...
Benny Golson
Norris Turney
Plas Johnson
Ornette Coleman
Curtis Amy
Harry Allen |
This could cause a vessel to bust. It's already chewed up some listening time, but really shouldn't leave out:
Dick Heckstall Smith, (Colosseum)
Pablo Garcia, (Kre')
Yves Duboin, (Dr. Nerve)
Edward Capel, (Blast)
Naruyoshi Kikuchi, (Tipographica)
Dave Newhouse, (Muffins)
Gary Windo
Mike Osborne
Alan Skidmore
Ted Nash
Hakon Kornstad
Tore Brunborg, (Jon Balke, Masquelero)
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One of my favorites over the last 50 years is Lennie Niehaus. Made some excellent recordings for Contemporary Records in the 50s which have been released on CDs. Lennie lead small groups and spent some time as the Alto Saxophone lead with Stan Kenton. Lately, he composed the sound track for "Bird" and other films. |
Has anyone said Budd Johnson, Booker Ervin or Charlie Rouse? |
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Here are some from Africa:
Bheki Mseleku--South Africa
Kippie Moeketsi--South Africa
Basil `Mannenberg` Coetzee--South Africa
West Nkosi--South Africa
Dudu Pukwana --South Arica
Manu Dibango--Cameroon
Fela Kuti--Nigeria
Some others overlooked:
Steve Williamson--USA
David Sanborn--USA
Joe Henderson--USA
Pee Wee Ellis--UK
Tommy Smith--UK
Courtney Pine--UK
Many more,but these are the ones that come to mind. |
George Adams
John Handy
Joe Henderson
Sonny Criss
Eric Dolphy
Byard Lancaster
George Coleman
Junior Cook
James Spaulding
Earl Bostic
Pepper Adams
Michael Brecker
Lou Donaldson
Eddie Harris
Bobby Jones
Harold Land
Illinois Jacquet |
Bob Kindred - Try his "Gentle Giant of the Tenor Sax" on Mapleshade.
And did anyone mention Clifford Jordan? |
How about:
Paquito D'Rivera
James Carter
Andrew Rathbun
Chris Potter (Dave Holland Quintet)
Mike Murley (Metalwood) |
Gary Bartz
John Handy
Lee Konitz
Frank Morgan
John Stubblefield |
John Gilmore (Sun Ra's sax player), Roscoe Mitchell & Joseph Jarman (Art Ensemble of Chicago) are all top notch. For more traditional sax, check out Sonny Criss |
Great stuff! Of these lesser knowns, which are seminal recordings? Don't relist more than a half dozen with titles for the rest of us to check out... Here are a few more sax fiends with a recommended title:
Jimmy Giuffre - Fusion
Buddy Tate - Texas Twister
Pony Poindexter - Gumbo!
Bill Perkins - Journey to the East
Arnett Cobb - Jumpin' at the Woodside
Eddie 'Lockjaw' Davis - Trane Whistle
Anymore and I'm entering into the arcane... |
Seems like a good idea Islandear, recommendations/ descriptions of recordings probably are a little more useful than a simple listing of sax players names.
Kollektiv- Kollektiv: Mostly floating hallucinatory jazzrock, some of my favorite electric sax is on track 2, there's a fair amount of flute here too. All the tracks have very memorable riffs and melodies.
John Coltrane/Archie Shepp- New Thing At Newport: For me the Shepp on this one is a real landmark. The way the Sax, Bass, Vibes and Drums fit together is very satisfying. Alot of excellent jazz records just aren't as good as this one, (at least 4 bobbing heads).
Evidence-Musique de Thelonious Monk: Sax, Electric Bass, Drums may not be the most conventional line up to take on Monk, but the players are all very well informed and sensitive to what the compositions offer. This disc makes it obvious that Monk was a giant.
Ken Vandermark-Design In Time: One reed player/two drummers,(Roberet Barry from Sun Ra is one of them) cover tunes by Don Cherry, Ornette Coleman, Albert Ayler, Monk and Vandermark. Amazingly some of the writing that will stick with you the most is by Vandermark.
Back Door-Back Door: A Sax, Bass and Drums trio from the early 70's. Beautifully put together compositions w/ lots of interlocking parts. Some tunes have a cool military cartoon vibe that won't let go of yer' head.
Charles Papasoff-Papasoff w/Carroll/DeBriano/AkLaff: A fantastic (baritone, soprano sax and flute) test disc, but more importantly the playing is really inspired. If you see that Debriano (Bass) and AkLaff (drums) are on the disc it's gonna be good. |
Wardell Gray
Hank Crawford
Ronnie Laws
Gato Barbieri
Harold Land
Teddy Edwards
Red Holloway
Vi Redd
Oliver Nelson
Jesse Davis
King Curtis
Eddie "Clean Head" Vinson
Tom Scott |
Outstanding, Duane. For one, I'll check out Vandermark's Design in Time, and I'm not at all familiar with Papasoff. Thanks for the recommendations. |
I've known Ron for over 25 years and he is great. He has played with many greats as well as leeser knowns like Root Boy Slim. His website is: www.ronholloway.com
I also like Elton Dean, Didier Mahlerbe, Jan Garbarek, Henry Threadgill and Azar Lawrence. Enjoy the music.
ET |
Not sure he qualifies as "lesser known," but I really enjoy Charles McPherson. Try "Manhattan Nocturne." I think you'll enjoy it. |
Rahsaan Roland Kirk
Dick Heckstall-Smith of COLOSSEUM 1968 -2004 RIP
Barbara Thompson of COLOSSEUM
David Jackson of Van der Graaf Generator + Osanna
Mel Collins of King Crimson, Camel & Arti + Mestieri |
