Jazz saxophonists are musicians who play various types of saxophones (alto saxophone, tenor saxophone, baritone saxophone etc.) in jazz and its associated subgenres. The techniques and instrumentation of this type of performance have evolved over the 20th century, influenced by both movements of musicians that became the subgenres and by particularly influential sax players who helped reshape the music.
In the 1930s, during the swing and big band era, saxophonists like altoist Johnny Hodges, who led the saxophone section in the Duke Ellington Big Band, were featured soloists in a highly structured system of playing where such solos were limited moments of musical freedom.
In the early 1940s, jazz saxophonists such as Charlie Parker (alto, tenor) and Sonny Stitt (alto, tenor) led a rebellion against the strictures of big band jazz, shifting away from danceable popular music towards a more challenging "musician's music" that would come to be called bebop, with solos that included more chromaticism and dissonance. Charlie Parker is particularly noted for his groundbreaking solo techniques that are still widely admired today. He was credited to be one of the major influences of the bebop movement.
In the 1950s, sax players like tenor saxophonist John Coltrane and Sonny Rollins broke new ground in jazz, infusing their music with rhythm and blues, modal, Latin and gospel influences as part of the hard bop subgenre.
In the 1950s and 1960s, free jazz pioneers such as Ornette Coleman and Albert Ayler developed unusual new sounds and playing styles.
In the early 1960s, Woody Herman's lead "(Four) Brother", Stan Getz, played cool jazz with Brazilian musicians in the emerging bossa nova style. Getz was known for his rich tone, ability to swing and impeccable technique.
In the 1970s, fusion jazz blended rock and jazz, with saxophonists like Wayne Shorter and Michael Brecker at the front of that movement.
In the 1980s, smooth jazz saxophonists such as Kenny G (Kenny Gorelick, soprano, alto, tenor), Bob Mintzer (tenor) and David Sanborn (alto, soprano) played a radio-friendly style of fusion called smooth jazz. Other notable smooth jazz saxophonists include Dave Koz, Jeff Kashiwa, and Brandon Fields.
In the 1990s and 2000s, Joshua Redman (born 1969, tenor, soprano, alto) and Chris Potter (tenor, soprano) returned to a more traditional approach which harked back to the saxophone greats of the 1950s and 1960s. Jazz saxophonist Greg Abate continues to keep bebop alive on the alto, soprano, tenor, baritone as well as the flute.
Notable jazz saxophonists include:
The saxophone is a type of single-reed woodwind instrument with a conical body, usually made of brass. As with all single-reed instruments, sound is produced when a reed on a mouthpiece vibrates to produce a sound wave inside the instrument's body. The pitch is controlled by opening and closing holes in the body to change the effective length of the tube. The holes are closed by leather pads attached to keys operated by the player. Saxophones are made in various sizes and are almost always treated as transposing instruments. A person who plays the saxophone is called a saxophonist or saxist.
Frank Martin was a Swiss composer, who spent much of his life in the Netherlands.
Ernst Toch was an Austrian composer of European classical music and film scores, who from 1933 worked as an émigré in Paris, London and New York. He sought throughout his life to introduce new approaches to music.
The soprano saxophone is a small, high-pitched member of the saxophone family of woodwind instruments invented in the 1840s by Belgian instrument maker Adolphe Sax. Built in B♭ an octave above the tenor saxophone, the soprano is the third-smallest member of the saxophone family, which consists of the soprillo, sopranino, soprano, alto, tenor, baritone, bass, contrabass, and subcontrabass. The soprillo and sopranino are rare instruments, making the soprano the smallest saxophone in common use.
Jean Absil was a Belgian composer, organist, and professor at the Brussels Conservatoire.
Iša František Krejčí was a Czech neoclassicist composer, conductor and dramaturge.
Herschel "Tex" Evans was an American tenor saxophonist who was a member of the Count Basie Orchestra. He also worked with Lionel Hampton and Buck Clayton. He is also known for starting his cousin Joe McQueen's interest in the saxophone. Joe McQueen, living until 2019 at age 100, may well have been the last surviving person to have known Herschel during his lifetime.
The Selmer Mark VI is a saxophone produced from 1954 to 1981. Production shifted to the Mark VII for the tenor and alto in the mid-1970s, and to the Super Action 80 for the soprano and baritone saxophones in 1981. The sopranino saw limited production until about 1985.
People's Artist of the RSFSR was an honorary title granted to Soviet Union artists, including theatre and film directors, actors, choreographers, music performers, and orchestra conductors, who had outstanding achievements in the arts, and who lived in the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (RSFSR). This title was one rank below Honored Artist of the RSFSR and one above People's Artist of the USSR.
This is a timeline documenting events of Jazz in the year 2009.
Fidelio Friedrich "Fritz" Finke was a Bohemian-German composer.
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