Sadao Watanabe — 渡辺貞夫 (born Feb. 1, 1933) — is a Japanese saxophonist and flutist who emerged as a bandleader in the early 1960s, releasing his first album in 1961 on King Records. During the 1970s, he released more than 25 albums in solo and collaborative form on CBS, East Wind, and other labels. Background […]
Gato Barbieri (Nov. 28, 1934 — April 2, 2016) was an Argentinian tenor saxophonist with a musical career that spanned more than 60 years. He began as a side-player for Lalo Schifrin during the late 1950s. The following decade, he notched credits alongside Don Cherry, Gary Burton, and Alan Shorter. In 1967, Barbieri released his first […]
Jan Garbarek (March 4, 1947) is a Norwegian saxophonist who emerged in the 1960s through work with Karin Krog, Terje Rypdal, and George Russell. ECM issued Afric Pepperbird in 1970 and followed with Witchi-Tai-To, Dansere, and Dis, a four-album run that fixed Jan Garbarek near the center of the label’s early catalog. His work with […]
Barbara Thompson (July 27, 1944 — July 2, 2022) was an English saxophonist who emerged as a guest musician on 1969/70 albums by the Keef Hartley Band and husband Jon Hiseman’s Colosseum, followed by stints with pianist Neil Ardley, trombonist Michael Gibbs, and singer Inez Foxx. In 1975, Thompson co-founded the multinational ten-piece United Jazz+Rock […]
Joe Farrell — aka Joseph Carl Firrantello (Dec. 16, 1937 — Jan. 10, 1986) — was an American woodwind player from Chicago Heights, Ill., who was a founding member of Return to Forever, playing on the band’s 1972 albums Return to Forever and Light as a Feather and returning for 1977’s Musicmagic. Background Joe Farrell […]
Steve Marcus (September 18, 1939 — September 25, 2005) was an American tenor saxophonist from New York City. He helped pioneer electric jazz with his albums Tomorrow Never Knows (1968), Count’s Rock Band (1968), and The Lord’s Prayer (1969), which recast pop and rock songs with improvisational saxophone over guitar-driven rhythm sections. His electric tone […]
Sam Sanders (Nov. 19, 1937 — Oct. 18, 2000) was an American jazz-funk saxophonist who recorded the 1975 set Mirror, Mirror, followed by the 1983 album The Gift of Love. Background Sam Sanders was born on November 19, 1937, in Birmingham, Alabama. During the fifties, he attended Northeastern High School in Detroit, where his school […]
Charlie Parker (Aug. 29, 1920 — March 12, 1955), also known as Bird, was an American jazz alto saxophonist and composer from Kansas City. He emerged from the Jay McShann Orchestra before working with Dizzy Gillespie and helping establish the small-group language that became known as bebop. Parker recorded extensively for Savoy and Dial, where […]
Robert Watson — aka Robert M. Watson Jr. (born Aug. 23, 1953) — is an American post-bop/jazz-funk alto saxophonist, composer, bandleader, and educator from Kansas City. He rose through Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers in the late 1970s, then led a long solo career that includes Estimated Time of Arrival, Jewel, Appointment in Milano, and the Horizon […]
Nathan Davis (Feb. 15, 1937 — April 8, 2018) was an American tenor and soprano saxophonist from Kansas City, Mo. He established his recording career in Europe through work with Kenny Clarke, Eric Dolphy, Art Blakey, and the Paris Reunion Band, alongside leader albums including The Hip Walk, Happy Girl, Rules of Freedom, and Makatuka. […]
David Newman (Feb. 24, 1933 — Jan. 20, 2009) was an American jazz-funk saxophonist and flutist. He joined the Ray Charles band in 1954 and spent a decade as a featured saxophonist on recordings including “Lonely Avenue,” “The Right Time,” and “Unchain My Heart.” Newman opened a parallel bandleader career on Atlantic with Fathead: Ray […]
Tim Eyermann (July 20, 1946 — May 1, 2007) was an American saxophonist from Pittsburgh who fronted the Maryland jazz-rock band East Coast Offering across the 1977–80 albums Unity, Go-Rilla, and Aloha. Background Albert Timothy Eyermann was born July 20, 1946, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He grew up in Green Tree, where he started piano lessons […]
Maceo Parker (born Feb. 14, 1943) is an American saxophonist and bandleader from Kinston, NC, who emerged in the ’60s-era backing band of James Brown. In 1970, Parker and fellow Brown-alumni formed Maceo and All the King’s Men, which released two albums on Charly R&B and Excello. In 1974, Parker assembled Maceo & the Macks […]
Yochk’o Seffer is a Hungarian-born French saxophonist who played in the 1971 Magma lineup, followed by a stint with Speed Limit and four albums through 1976 in ZAO. During the late 1970s, he released three jazz-rock/Zeuhl albums on EMEN and Garou Garou. Further albums followed on G-C Editions and Moshé-Naïm during the 1980s. Background Yochk’o […]
Al Michalek is a Canadian saxophonist who led a namesake modal-jazz quartet for the 1975 album Voices on Radio Canada International. He later produced the album Fusion 1 by The Humber Jazz Ensemble on World Records. Members: Don Vickery (Drums, Percussion), Lenny Boyd (Bass), Tim Tickner (Percussion, Vibraphone), Al Michalek (Flute, Leader, Tenor Saxophone) Background […]
Eero Koivistoinen (Jan. 13, 1946) is a Finnish jazz-rock saxophonist, composer, and bandleader who first emerged in 1967 as part of the Helsinki blues-rock/psych combo Blues Section. Since 1968, he has released more than 20 albums as a jazz-band leader. His most popular works include the 1973 RCA releases 3rd Version and Wahoo!, as well […]
Zbigniew Namysłowski (born Sept. 9 1939) is a Polish saxophonist and composer who first recorded with The Jazz Rockers during the early 1960s. Numerous solo and collaborative recordings appeared over the next half-century, most notably a run of jazz-rock albums on Polskie Nagrania Muza between 1973 and 1977. Background Zbigniew Namysłowski was born Sept. 9, 1939, […]
Jan “Ptaszyn” Wróblewski (born March 27, 1936) is a Polish saxophonist, composer, arranger, and bandleader from Kalisz, active since the late 1950s. Between 1972 and 1984, he headlined eight albums in solo and combo configurations, peaking in popularity with the 1976 Anex release Skleroptak. Background Jan “Ptaszyn” Wróblewski was born March 27, 1936, in Kalisz, […]
Ray Warleigh (Sept. 28, 1938 — Sept. 21, 2015) was an Australian-born alto saxophonist and flutist from Sydney who proliferated on the U.K. blues-rock/jazz-rock circuit across four decades, starting in the mid-Sixties. As a post-bop bandleader, he cut a 1969 self-titled album on Philips, followed by the 1978 Vinyl Records release Reverie. Warleigh worked with […]
Arthur Blythe (May 7, 1940 — March 27, 2017) was an American jazz saxophonist and composer from Los Angeles who released a string of albums on India Navigation and Columbia/CBS between 1977 and 1988, followed by titles on Enja, Red Baron, Jazz House, and other labels during the subsequent two decades. Background Arthur Murray Blythe […]
John Surman (born Aug. 30, 1944) is an English saxophonist, clarinetist, and keyboardist from Tavistock, Devon, who apprenticed with bandleaders Mike Westbrook, Peter Lemer, and Ronnie Scot during the late 1960s. In 1969, Surman released an eponymous post-bop album on Deram. During the ensuing two-year period, he played on albums by John McLaughlin, Rolf Kühn, […]
Harold Vick (April 3, 1936 — Nov. 13, 1987) was an American post-bop/jazz-funk saxophonist and flautist from Rocky Mount, NC. Vick emerged through early-1960s organ-jazz work with Jack McDuff and made his 1963 Blue Note bandleader debut with Steppin’ Out!, followed by The Caribbean Suite, Watch What Happens, The Power of Feeling, and Don’t Look […]
Hugh Abdullah Rashid Brodie (Feb. 7, 1933 — April 5, 2017) was an American jazz-funk tenor and soprano saxophonist from Warrenton, N.C. He recorded with Cal Massey, Pharoah Sanders, and Vera Auer in the Sixties, then launched his leader catalog with Hugh Brodie & The Real Thing in 1975. Brodie later co-led Bebop Loose & Live […]
Harold Alexander is an American jazz-funk saxophonist and flutist who emerged from the New York soul-jazz circuit of the late Sixties. He played with Pucho & His Latin Soul Brothers and organist Big John Patton, then cut the 1971 Flying Dutchman solo album Sunshine Man and the Montreux concert disc Are You Ready?, followed by […]
Hank Crawford (Dec. 12, 1934 — Jan. 29, 2009) was an American post-bop/jazz-funk alto saxophonist, arranger, and composer from Memphis. From 1958 to 1963, he served as musical director for Ray Charles. Crawford commenced his bandleader catalogue with the 1961 Atlantic release More Soul, then recorded for Kudu/CTI and Milestone with collaborators including Grant Green, […]
Mark Colby (born 1949) is an American jazz-funk tenor and soprano saxophonist from Brooklyn. He spent 1975–78 with Maynard Ferguson, then joined Bob James, who signed him to Columbia for the albums Serpentine Fire and One Good Turn. Colby later worked with Jaco Pastorius, Frank Sinatra, Sarah Vaughan, and Charlie Haden while maintaining a Chicago-based […]
Oliver Nelson (June 4, 1932 — Oct. 28, 1975) was an American post-bop/jazz-funk saxophonist, clarinetist, arranger, composer, and bandleader from St. Louis. He began recording as a leader on Prestige in 1959 and established his best-known composition, “Stolen Moments,” on the 1961 Impulse! album The Blues and the Abstract Truth. Nelson arranged Sixties sessions for Jimmy […]
