Your Top 5 Sax Players?

All TIME GREAT has to mean those who were most influential, changed the stylistic course of saxophone playing, and were most emulated. Using those criteria the first four on my list are no-brainers, the last will be controversia. In chronological order:

Sidney Bechet (played soprano, but has to be on the list)
Lester Young
Charlie Parker
John Coltrane
Dave Sanborn

Before you jump all over me for my fifth choice, like it or not, Sanborn was almost singlehandedly responsible for the
prevalence of the saxophone in pop music beginning in the early '70's. While clearly not a giant as far as harmonic sophistication in his improvisations, his style, way with a tune, and just plain "feel" in the context of most pop genres are unmatched. He spawned a slew of "Sanborn clones" and probably was responsible, as much as anyone, for the "smooth jazz" movement. Why is that important? Because at a time when jazz was in danger of becoming even more of an obscure art form than it already was, "smooth jazz", as much as we like to put it down, opened the door for many listeners who went on to understand and appreciate real jazz.

Lots of great choices in the previous posts, but most of them have roots that can be directly traced to Bechet, Young, Bird or Coltrane. Other greats, not mentioned, that are personal favorites:

Gene Quill
Charlie Mariano
Bob Mover
Jimmy Heath
Tina Brooks
Ike Quebec
Serge Chaloff
Pete Christlieb
Dave Liebman
Steve Grossman
Bob Berg
Kenny Garrett
Frank Wess
Frank Foster
Zoot Sims
Harold Land
James Moody
Sal Nestico
Benny Golson
Earl Bostic
Sonny Criss
Jackie McClean
Bud Shank
David Newman

While I don't have a problem with smooth jazz or David Sanborn, and using your criteria of most influential and changed the style of saxophone playing how could Stan Getz not be on your list? That is a complete mystery to me.

Woods
Coltrane
Adderly
Young
Joe Henderson

Josh Redman and Chris Potter: way underated who will be greats.

What about "Bleeding Gums Murphy" boy can he play a mean saxamaphone.

Eddinanm3, that's the problem with limiting the list to five choices; although by limiting it, we are forced to narrow things down to the truly innovative. As I said in my post, most of the mentioned players have roots in Bechet, Prez, Bird or Trane. Stan Getz, while unquestionably one of the greatest and certainly one of my favorites had a style, in a not so broad sense, clearly steeped in the Lester Young tradition. A softer edged sound, laid back swing feel, and while far more harmonically adventurous than Prez, not nearly as influential in a strict sense as Prez. Who are some players that you feel were heavily influenced by Getz? And how? Was Getz's presence on the jazz scene a turning point in the stylistic evolution of jazz saxophone playing? I really don't think so. A major contribution, but not a turning point. I can't imagine not including Bechet, Prez, Bird, or Trane in the top five. And if you remove Sanborn, who then, is representative of the style of post-Coltrane jazz/rock/pop saxophone playing prevalent over the last thirty years?