The genre of solo saxophone has a rich, but largely unmapped history in contemporary music, particularly jazz. Many, but not all, musicians who play and record solo saxophone use extended techniques, a vocabulary of the saxophone beyond its normal range. Notable musicians in this field include
Kaoru Abe
(May 3, 1949 – September 9, 1978) was a Japanese avant-garde alto saxophonist. Self-taught at a young age, Abe performed with notables such as Motoharu Yoshizawa, Takehisa Kosugi, Yosuke Yamashita, Derek Bailey, and Milford Graves, altho ...
,
Anthony Braxton
Anthony Braxton (born June 4, 1945) is an American experimental composer, educator, music theorist, improviser and multi-instrumentalist who is best known for playing saxophones, particularly the alto. Braxton grew up on the South Side of Chi ...
,
Peter Brötzmann
Peter Brötzmann (6 March 1941 – 22 June 2023) was a German jazz saxophonist and clarinetist regarded as a central and pioneering figure in European free jazz. Throughout his career, he released over fifty albums as a bandleader. Amongst his m ...
,
John Butcher,
Don Dietrich,
Eric Dolphy
Eric Allan Dolphy Jr. (June 20, 1928 – June 29, 1964) was an American jazz multi-instrumentalist, composer, and bandleader. Primarily an alto saxophonist, bass clarinetist, and flautist, Dolphy was one of several multi-instrumentalists to gain ...
, Brandon Evans,
Paul Flaherty Paul Flaherty may refer to:
* Paul Flaherty (computer scientist)
* Paul Flaherty (musician)
* Paul Flaherty (director)
{{hndis, Flaherty, Paul ...
,
Mats Gustafsson
Mats Olof Gustafsson (born 29 October 1964) is a Swedish free jazz saxophone player.
Career
Gustafsson came to the attention of lovers of improvised music as part of a duo with Christian Munthe (started in 1986), as member of Gunter Chris ...
,
Coleman Hawkins
Coleman Randolph Hawkins (November 21, 1904 – May 19, 1969), nicknamed "Hawk" and sometimes "Bean", was an American jazz tenor saxophonist.Yanow, Scot"Coleman Hawkins: Artist Biography" AllMusic. Retrieved December 27, 2013. One of the first ...
,
Lee Konitz
Leon "Lee" Konitz (October 13, 1927 – April 15, 2020) was an American jazz Alto saxophone, alto saxophonist and composer.
He performed successfully in a wide range of jazz styles, including bebop, cool jazz, and avant-garde jazz. Konitz's ass ...
,
Steve Lacy
Steve Thomas Lacy-Moya (born May 23, 1998) is an American singer-songwriter, guitarist and record producer. He gained recognition as the guitarist of the alternative R&B band the Internet, which he joined in 2015. His self-produced debut EP, '' ...
,
Joe Mcphee
Joe McPhee (born November 3, 1939) is an American jazz multi-instrumentalist who plays the tenor, alto, and soprano saxophone, the trumpet, the flugelhorn and the valve trombone. Although born in Miami, Florida, McPhee grew up in Poughkeepsie, ...
,
Roscoe Mitchell
Roscoe Mitchell (born August 3, 1940) is an American composer, jazz instrumentalist, and educator, known for being "a technically superb – if idiosyncratic – saxophonist". ''The Penguin Guide to Jazz'' described him as "one of the key figure ...
,
Evan Parker
Evan Shaw Parker (born 5 April 1944) is a British tenor and soprano saxophone player who plays free improvisation.
Recording and performing prolifically with many collaborators, Parker was a pivotal figure in the development of European free ja ...
,
Sonny Rollins
Walter Theodore "Sonny" Rollins (born September 7, 1930) is an American retired jazz tenor saxophonist who is widely recognized as one of the most important and influential jazz musicians.
In a seven-decade career, Rollins recorded over sixt ...
,
Sam Newsome
Sam Newsome (born April 28, 1965) is an American jazz saxophonist, composer, and educator. His music combines straight-ahead jazz, world music (drawing influences from North Africa and East Asia) and experimental jazz, which uses extended techniqu ...
,
Ned Rothenberg
Ned Rothenberg (born September 15, 1956) is an American multi-instrumentalist and composer. He specializes in woodwind instruments, including the alto saxophone, clarinet, bass clarinet, flute, and shakuhachi (Japanese bamboo flute). He is known ...
,
Masayoshi Urabe
is a Japanese musician, best known for his intensely physical style of free improvisation on the alto saxophone and his deployment of long, laden silences. He has sometimes been compared to the late Japanese free jazz altoist Kaoru Abe. He has pl ...
,
Ken Vandermark
Ken Vandermark (born September 22, 1964) is an American composer, saxophonist, and clarinetist.
A fixture on the Chicago-area music scene since the 1990s, Vandermark has earned wide critical praise for his playing and his multilayered composit ...
,
Colin Stetson
Colin Stetson (born March 3, 1975) is an American saxophonist, multireedist, and composer based in Montreal. He is best known as a regular collaborator of the indie rock acts Arcade Fire, Bon Iver, Bell Orchestre, and Ex Eye. In addition to sa ...
,
Jonah Parzen-Johnson and
Andre Vida,
Gianni Gebbia.
Selected discography
*
Anthony Braxton
Anthony Braxton (born June 4, 1945) is an American experimental composer, educator, music theorist, improviser and multi-instrumentalist who is best known for playing saxophones, particularly the alto. Braxton grew up on the South Side of Chi ...
, ''For Alto'', 1969 (Delmark)
*
Roscoe Mitchell
Roscoe Mitchell (born August 3, 1940) is an American composer, jazz instrumentalist, and educator, known for being "a technically superb – if idiosyncratic – saxophonist". ''The Penguin Guide to Jazz'' described him as "one of the key figure ...
, ''Solo Saxophone Concerts'', 1973 (Sackville)
*
Lee Konitz
Leon "Lee" Konitz (October 13, 1927 – April 15, 2020) was an American jazz Alto saxophone, alto saxophonist and composer.
He performed successfully in a wide range of jazz styles, including bebop, cool jazz, and avant-garde jazz. Konitz's ass ...
, ''Lone-Lee'', 1974 (SteepleChase)
*
Evan Parker
Evan Shaw Parker (born 5 April 1944) is a British tenor and soprano saxophone player who plays free improvisation.
Recording and performing prolifically with many collaborators, Parker was a pivotal figure in the development of European free ja ...
, ''
Saxophone Solos'', 1975 (Incus 19. Re-released on Chronoscope CPE2002-2 and o
psi 09.01
*
John Butcher, ''13 Friendly Numbers'', 1991 (Originally released on ACTA. 2004 reissue on Unsounds)
*
Mats Gustafsson
Mats Olof Gustafsson (born 29 October 1964) is a Swedish free jazz saxophone player.
Career
Gustafsson came to the attention of lovers of improvised music as part of a duo with Christian Munthe (started in 1986), as member of Gunter Chris ...
, ''The Education Of Lars Jerry'', 1999 (Xeric)
*
Gianni Gebbia, ''H-Portraits'', 1999 (Rastascan) " Body Limits " 1995 Splasch records, " Arcana Maior "2000 ( Rastascan records)
*
Andre Vida, ''I don't know whats wrong with me, my computer eyes or my internet knees'', 2007 (Insubordinations)
*
Sam Newsome
Sam Newsome (born April 28, 1965) is an American jazz saxophonist, composer, and educator. His music combines straight-ahead jazz, world music (drawing influences from North Africa and East Asia) and experimental jazz, which uses extended techniqu ...
, ''Blue Soliloquy: Solo Works for Soprano Saxophone'', 2009 (CD Baby)
*
Colin Stetson
Colin Stetson (born March 3, 1975) is an American saxophonist, multireedist, and composer based in Montreal. He is best known as a regular collaborator of the indie rock acts Arcade Fire, Bon Iver, Bell Orchestre, and Ex Eye. In addition to sa ...
, ''New History Warfare Volume II: Judges'', 2011 (Constellation)
*
Jonah Parzen-Johnson, ''Michiana'', 2012 (Primary Records)
* Brandon Evans, Solo Saxophone X901, 2018 (Human Plastic)
* Maury Coles, Solo saxophone record, 1977 (Onari).
References
External links
John Butcher- official website
Solo Saxophones: Roscoe Mitchell, Paul Flaherty & John Butcher- article by Kurt Gottschalk, All About Jazz, November 2009.
Saxophones
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