1) Harry Carney. It couldn't be anyone else. He
practically invented the instrument and no one had his sound or his breath
control. He wasn't a bopper and maybe not a great improviser but what he
brought to the Ellington orchestra with the depth he added to the sax section
established his credentials without doubt.
2) Pepper Adams. It was only this year when my eyes/ears were opened to Adams. The recently discovered album with the Tommy Banks Trio made me aware that this was a guy who should have won every poll imaginable - a Grandmaster.
3) Cecil Payne. I'd heard Payne with both Basie and Herman - good, but no cigar. However, when I heard him on a recording of Freddie Redd's The Connection I was completely blown away. At that moment in time ('60s) I'd never heard bari playing like it. I loaned the album to a friend who subsequently died and, presumably, the album went with him.
4) Serge Chaloff. The fifth of Woody's Four Brothers, he anchored that famous sax section but came into his own on Blue Serge. An album that demonstrated that the instrument didn't have to have the bombast and bluster of the other heroes but could also be as subtle and as smooth as Getz's tenor.
5) Gerry Mulligan. After the success of his pianoless quartet with Chet Baker, Mulligan dominated the baritone section of the various polls. His dry sound and laid back solos personified jazz on the west coast.
6) Gary Smulyan. Of course all of the above are gone leaving the door open for the new breed and none more so than Smulyan who incorporates all of the attributes of the above with his own individuality.
Meanwhile, back here in the UK ...
2) Alan Barnes. Baritone may not be his first call instrument but when the call comes he does the business. He plays hot, he plays cool and, on whatever instrument, he plays for keeps!
3) Joe Temperley. Not sure if Joe should be in the US or UK listings as he spent most of his playing career in the States, where he took over Carney's chair in the Ellington band and, latterly in Wynton Marsalis' Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra. However, my most precious memory is of hearing him alongside Tony Coe and Jimmy Skidmore in Humph's first truly mainstream band.
4) Ronnie Ross. For many years the UK's number one. In the frontline of the post-war British modern jazz scene, his smooth delivery kept him up there in the MM polls.
5) Harry Klein. Another fine player operating in the mainstream to modern area. His broadcasts with Kenny Baker's Dozen were always good to hear on those Friday nights long, long ago.
2 comments :
Hi Lance, I’m surprised you omitted UK player John Barnes.
John was many times winner of the Baritone Sax category in the British Jazz Awards, and also appeared in the American Downbeat Poll.
Cheers,
Gordon Solomon.
You're spot on Gordon - how remiss of me! Let's put him at joint second with Alan Barnes and call it a baker's dozen. What I liked about Johnny, apart from his playing, was that, like Roy Williams and Digby Fairweather, you may have only met him/them once and they'd greet you as if they'd known you all your life!
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