Music Voices

Charlie Parker was arguably the most influential saxophone player in jazz history. He was born on August 29, 1920 and was fortunate enough to be raised in Kansas City at a time when the music scene was in full stride. He took up alto saxophone at age 11 and was soon sneaking out of his house at night and into the nightclubs and theaters to watch and learn from the jazz greats of the time. Parker claimed to have learn a lot about playing saxophone by watching the fingers of the great Lester Young move up and down on his saxophone keys.
Yardbird
The older jazz musicians would hang out in the alleys during breaks and soon took a liking to this young kid. They helped sneak him into the clubs. Because of his fondness for eating chicken they gave him the nickname Yardbird. This was later shortened to the name he was known the world over for, Bird. As a teenager Parker became a serious musician who practiced 12 to 15 hours per day. He was soon playing in local bands and joined Jay McShann's territory band 1938. This band embodied the Kansas City jump blues style and toured the southwest as well as Chicago and New York.

One of the undisputed giants of the tenor saxophone was John Coltrane. His total dedication to the mastery of his instrument of choice and his immense, innate talent made him a formidable force in the world of jazz during the 50's and 60's. It has been rumored that he would spend 12 hours practicing just one scale until he exhausted all possibilities with it and that 24 hour practice sessions were not uncommon.
Brotherly Love
John Coltrane was born in Hamlet, North Carolina into family life full of music. After graduating from high school in 1943 he moved to Philadelphia where he enrolled in the Ornstein School of Music where he was known for his unrelenting work ethic. In 1945 Coltrane was called to military service by Uncle Sam where he performed with the US Navy Band.
With his military obligations fulfilled Coltrane returned to Philadelphia where he played with jazz greats such as Jimmy Heath, Benny Golson, and Ray Bryant. In 1948 Coltrane played tenor saxophone with Eddie 'Cleanhead" Vinson followed by a stint as alto saxophonist with the Dizzy Gillespie Big Band.

For example, it is possible to finger a low Bb (the lowest note on the instrument) and by changing the embouchure and air stream to blow the full overtone series of the low Bb (middle Bb, middle F, high Bb, high D, high F, and so on.) This technique can be heard clearly in the well known opening theme to Saturday Night Live.
Lenny passes says this about his equipment, in response to numerous inquiries: "I play a Selmer Paris Mark VI tenor (circa 1970) with a Berg Larsen 130 over 0 (SMS) mouthpiece and a number 3 Vandoren (blue box) bass clarinet reed."

Shortly after graduation, he began to work in earnest on his musical career- with his style on saxophone influenced by Sonny Rollins, John Coltrane, Earth Wind and Fire, Led Zeppelin, Dexter Gordon, and more. Perhaps one of the most important influences in his music is his father, Dewey Redman, who worked with jazz Great Ornette Coleman. His father was rarely home during Redman's youth due to a grueling touring schedule. A young Joshua spent hours listening to his father playing on records, in the absence of the man himself.

Gato Barbieri

Argentinian tenor saxophonist, Gato Barbieri, has been entertaining jazz fans for over half a century. Gato Barbieri is Spanish for "Barbieri the cat"; his real name is Leandro Barbieri. Gato's career has spanned from free jazz, to Latin jazz, to jazz pop and in 2002, Gato released his 50th studio album. He first took up music with the clarinet, at age 12, after hearing Charlie Parker's Now's the Time.
Gato Barbieri began his professional music life playing the alto saxophone with pianist Lalo Schifrin in Argentina during the 1950s. While in Lalo's band, Gato would get the chance to play shows with some of jazz's greats, like Coleman Hawkins and Dizzie Gillespie. In 1962, Gato moved to Italy, the homeland of his first wife, and took up the tenor saxophone.
In Italy, drawing influence from John Coltrane, Albert Ayler, and Pharoah Sanders, Barbieri began collaborating with trumpeter Don Cherry. As a sideman for Don Cherry, Gato Barbieri played on two free jazz albums, Complete Communion and Symphony for Improvisors.
In 1969, with the release of The Third World, Barbieri began his career as a band leader. His music began to show a South American influence and garnered him enough recognition that he landed the job of composing the film score to Bernardo Bertolucci's Last Tango in Paris. His success on that film score landed him a Grammy award and a recording contract with Impulse Records. It also launched a profitable side-career for Barbieri; he scored over a dozen films in three different continents.

Joe Henderson has been called a supreme melodist by one music writer, a musical astronaut by another jazz musician, and by a lucky few he has been called teacher. Two of my saxophone teachers took lessons from him in San Francisco and I hear some cool stories about him.
Joe Henderson truly personified musical greatness; he played the saxophone, drums, piano, flute, and bass as well as excelling at composition. It was by listening to jazz sax greats like Lester Young, Flip Phillips, Stan Getz, Lee Konitz, and Charlie Parker on his brothers record player that Henderson found his greatest inspiration.
In the mid-fifties, before he was even old enough to start college, Henderson was active in the Detroit jazz scene and played with many visiting stars from New York. By the time he did get to college, he had transcribed and memorized an impressive number of Lester Young solos. Such an impressive amount, in fact, that his professors believed him to have that elusive skill known as perfect pitch.

Sugar Hill
Without a doubt one of the true giants of jazz tenor saxophone is Sonny Rollins. Born in Harlem, New York in 1930 Sonny began studying piano and alto saxophone at age 11. When Sonny turned 16 he switched to tenor saxophone in order to emulate one of his idols, the great Coleman Hawkins, who lived in his neighborhood. Thus began the development of one of the most unique and influential voices in jazz saxophone history.
Sonny grew up in the Sugar Hill neighborhood of Harlem surrounded by many jazz greats. Thelonius Monk took an interest in this young saxophonist and became his mentor. In 1948 at the age of 18 Sonny made his recording debut with Babs Gonzalez. Because of his immense talent he soon began working with jazz greats such as Charlie Parker, Bud Powell, Max Roach, Art Blakey, Fats Navarro, Miles Davis and the Modern Jazz Quartet.

Although throughout the history of jazz there has been a large number of incredibly talented saxophone players, it is a well accepted fact among jazz scholars that three of the most important to the evolution of jazz saxophone were Coleman Hawkins, Lester Young and Charlie Parker, in that order.
Lester Young bridged the gap between the early jazz improvisations of Coleman Hawkins and Charlie Parker and the bebop revolution. Coleman Hawkins was considered the King of the tenor saxophone players during the early Swing era with his big tone and mastery of chordal improvisation. Lester Young arrived on the jazz scene with a totally new approach.
Mr. Cool
Lester Young rose to prominence out of Kansas City, during its musical boom years, while playing in the Count Basie big band. His tone was very relaxed and soft sounding, and he played in a very lyrical fashion with phrasing that was unorthodox at the time. His approach to improvisation was linear - he would play across the bar lines melodically instead playing up and down the chords like Hawkins tended to do.

A Big Man With a Big Sound
There have been many great tenor saxophone players throughout the history of jazz, but one of my favorites is Dexter Gordon. Perhaps what I like best about Dexter Gordon is his big, beautiful sound. He stood 6' 6'' tall, and he had a saxophone tone to match his stature with a warmth and body to it that was unmistakably his own.
Under A Doctor's Care
Gordon was born in L.A. In 1923. His father's name was Frank Gordon, and he had the distinction of being one of the first African American doctors practicing medicine in Los Angeles. As luck would have it two of his patients were jazz greats Duke Ellington and Lionel Hampton. Dexter began playing clarinet when he turned 13. He soon switched to saxophone, and by his senior year in high school this amazing talent was offered a job in the Lionel Hampton big band. Never hurts to have an in.