Best Sax Jazz

Frap: Good choices, all. Here are some recordings that I think deserve to be added to your fine list:

1. Charlie Parker: "The Complete Dial Recordings"; "Charlie Parker With Strings"; and the concert at Massey Hall (with Dizzy Gillespie and Max Roach).
2. John Coltrane: with Miles Davis on: "Kind of Blue"; and "Miles Davis & John Coltrane in Stockholm" (1960, Dragon).
3. Sonny Rollins: "Tenor Madness"; "Sonny Rollins Plus 4"; "Way Out West" (all 3 from the 1950's); "The Bridge" (1962).
4. Stan Getz: "Stan Getz & J.J. Johnson at the Opera House" (1957, Verve); "Jazz Samba" (1963, with Charlie Byrd); "Focus" (Verve); and "People Time" (with Kenny Barron, early 1990's).
5. Dexter Gordon: "Go" and "Our Man In Paris" (early 1960's, Blue Note); some of the recordings he did in in the 1970's for Steeplechase Records (Danish label); and his "comeback" recordings at the Village Vanguard in 1976-77 (Columbia).
6. Johnny Griffin: "The Little Giant" (Riverside).
7. Cannonball Adderley: "Cannonball Adderley Quintet in San Francisco" (1959, Riverside).
8. Clifford Jordan: "Blowin' In" (1957, Blue Note).
9. Art Pepper: "Among Friends" (Discovery); "Straight Life" (Contemporary); and "Art Pepper with the Milcho Leviev Quarter - Live at Ronny Scott's" (Mole Jazz, late 1970's).
10. Ben Webster: "Art Tatum and Ben Webster" (Pablo, about 1956-57).

Last, I'd add several of the fine recordings done by Charles Lloyd in the 1990's (ECM label): "Fish Out of Water"; "Voice In The Night"; and "The Water Is Wide".

Thanks, everybody, for your participation. This has been a good thread, and I've enjoyed sharing some ideas with you.

Good addendum SD, but no fair reversing number 2 (ha ha, just kidding)....Frank

A few more that haven't been listed. My favorite Lester young record (laughin to keep from cryin) has Lester playing the clarinet only.Johnny Hodges (Blues a-Plenty and everybody knows Johnny Hodges) Another great record is Paul Gonsalves (Ellingtonia Moods & Blues) with Hodges joining in. Gerry Mulligan's "Night Lights" is great late night listening.

Mostly bop, but easy to listen to - here are some of my favorites.

Stan Getz
- The Dolphin
- Sweet Rain
- Spring is Here
- Pure Getz

Charlie Rouse
- Takin' Care of Business
- Unsung Hero

Zoot Sims
- Warm Tenor
- Zoot at Ease
- Zoot!
- For Lady Day
- Zoot Sims and the Gershwin Brothers

Art Pepper
- Surf Ride

Stanley Turrentine
- Ballads
- The Best of Stanley Turrentine

Paul Desmond
- Live
- Two of a Mind w/Gerry Mulligan
- Bossa Antigua
- Polka Dots and Moonbeams
- Pure Desmond

Bud Shank
- Brazilliance
- Brazilliance Volume 2

Dexter Gordon
- Ballads

Sdcampbell, I would respectfully like to comment on your fine posts. I would move the time frame during which the saxophone became more of a solo instrument back by a few years, perhaps even a decade. Coleman Hawkins was recording by the mid-twenties; also, Sidney Bechet recorded with Louis Armstrong as early as 1924. During the '20's and '30's there was in this country a veritable "saxophone craze". A wide range of saxophones in different keys and of different ranges was manufactured: sopraninos in Eb and F, sopranos in Bb and C, altos in Eb and F, C melody, straight (as opposed to curved) altos and tenors(!!!!!), baritones in C and Eb, and quite a few others with other new and "innovative" features. The surviving members of the saxophone family are: sopranino in Eb, soprano in Bb, alto in Eb, tenor in Bb, baritone in Eb, and bass in Bb. The sopranino and bass are seldom heard in a solo context but can be heard on recordings by Anthony Braxton and James Carter. As far as recommended players go, I would add Charlie Mariano, Bob Mover (alto); George Coleman, Frank Wess, Joe Lovano (tenor) and question the inclusion of David Murray; personal opinion, but I just don't get what the hoopla is about. Otherwise, a great list. Your comments about the players associated with jazz-rock fusion concern me however. I think I know where you're coming from here, but I find the inclusion of Kenny G in a list that includes Brecker, Shorter, and Liebman troublesome. If ever there was a "superstar" in this genre, I would say Michael Brecker is it. He is, besides being one of the greatest ever virtuosos on the instrument, one of the best examples of "post-Coltrane" tenor playing. For better or for worse he has been the most influential tenor player of the last twenty years or so. I can't think of any modern player that has so influenced the way that young tenor players sound today. A brilliant improviser in "straight ahead" as well as fusion. Wayne Shorter is certainly much more than a fusion player as his work with Miles in the sixties demonstrates. Liebman, brilliant! Oh yeah, Id like to add Jerry Bergonzi to the list of great tenor players. I guess my point about fusion is that there has been and continues to be some really creative and interesting writing and playing in the general genre "fusion" that is, IMO, worthy of consideration as important contributions to jazz; the dreck that Kenny G and even Klemmer put out is in a different category altogether. Anyway, I have as always, enjoyed and appreciated your posts on one of my favorite subjects. My choice for best Jazz sax recording: John Coltrane "Giant Steps". I can't think of any recorded saxophone solo, with the possible exception of Coleman Hawkins' famous "Body and Soul", that has been as studied, scrutinized and analyzed by players as Trane's solo on the title tune. It truly shook up the saxophone world. Best.