THE 22 MOST FAMOUS SAXOPHONISTS IN HISTORY - ART - 2025

There are famous saxophonists who have stood out for creating beautiful melodies, for the quality of their sound and for the originality when composing. The saxophone (or sax) was invented in 1840 by Adolphe Sax. Although it is characteristic of jazz, it was originally conceived as a military band and orchestral instrument.

Adolphe Sax was a Belgian instrument maker, flutist, and clarinetist working in Paris. He built saxophones in various sizes in the early 1840s, but did not have a patent for the instrument until June 28, 1846.

With a very distinctive sound, the saxophone was invented to produce a heavy, high-energy sound. Sax thus produced a very powerful wind instrument and gave composers and instrumentalists a new musical apparatus to expand the sonority of popular music.

The instrument was officially revealed to the public in presentation at an exhibition in Brussels in 1841. Sax also gave private performances to Parisian musicians in the early 1840s.

Sax's intention was to invent a completely new instrument to provide bands and orchestras with a bass sound to complement the sections (tubas began to appear around this time with a similar purpose).

In the beginning, most composers stayed away from the saxophone because they did not understand the instrument. After a while, the sax became an important voice in orchestral works.

However, its fame is due more than anything to the popular music of the 20th century, and specifically to jazz. The instrument became an important component of both large bands and small ensembles.

In a way, it was the saxophone section that gave the Big Bands their distinctive sound. Early Big Band saxophonists included Jimmy Dorsey, Charlie Barnet, and Johnny Hodges of the Duke Ellington Orchestra.

But let's take a look at the most famous saxophonists in history one by one and learn more about this fascinating instrument with them.

List of famous saxophonists

1- Pharoah Sanders

The great saxophonist Ornette Coleman (an eminence on this list) once described Sanders as "the best tenor saxophone in the world." It emerged from John Coltrane's groups in the mid-1960s.

This exquisite instrumentalist is known for his harmonic and multiphonic techniques, and for having been instrumental in the development of free jazz.

2- John Zorn

This composer, arranger, producer, saxophonist and multi-instrumentalist dedicated himself to genres as diverse as jazz, rock, hardcore, classic, surf, metal, klezmer, soundtrack, ambient and improvised music.

He also incorporated various styles into his avant-garde compositions. For many, he is one of the most important composers of the 20th century.

Zorn is perhaps best known for his album The Big Gundown, which reworks Ennio Morricone's compositions.

3- Charlie Rouse

Best known for her decade-long association with Thelonious Monk, Rouse also worked with Dizzy Gillespie, Billy Eckstine, and Duke Ellington, and recorded a few solo albums. Its great tone and flowing yet strong lines made its sound instantly recognizable.

4- Eric Dolphy

He was a jazz saxophonist, as well as a flutist and clarinetist. In fact, he was one of the first clarinet soloists in jazz. In addition, he expanded the vocabulary and limits of the alto saxophone and was among the most important jazz flute soloists.

His style of improvisation was characterized by the use of wide intervals, in addition to using a series of techniques to reproduce the human and animal effects that almost literally made his instruments speak.

Although Dolphy's work is sometimes classified as free jazz, his compositions and solos were often rooted in the conventional tonal harmony of bebop and in melodic lines that suggest the influences of modern classical composers Béla Bartók and Igor Stravinsky.

5- Marion Brown

He was a jazz saxophonist known for being an important member of the avant-garde jazz scene of the 1960s. He played alongside musicians such as John Coltrane, Archie Shepp, and John Tchicai.

6- Roscoe Mitchell

Mitchell is a saxophonist known for his impeccable technique. Specialists define him as a key figure in avant-garde jazz.

In addition to his own work as a bandleader, Mitchell is known for co-founding the Chicago Art Ensemble and the Association for the Advancement of Creativity Musicians.

7- Coleman Hawkins

Coleman Hawkins.

Hawkins was a fundamental musician in the development of the saxophone in jazz. In fact, he was one of the first prominent jazz musicians on his instrument.

So before Hawkins we can say that the saxophone did not exist in jazz. And although Hawkins is strongly associated with swing and big bands, he played a pivotal role in the development of bebop in the 1940s.

The huge saxophonist Lester Young (featured on this list later) said of Hawkins, "As far as I'm concerned, I think Coleman Hawkins was the President."

But these were not the last accolades he collected, none other than Miles Davis said, "When I heard Hawk, I learned to play ballads."

8- Fred Anderson

Anderson was a central figure for musicians of the 1960s for his expression and creativity. His music was rooted in swing and hard bop idioms, but it also incorporated innovations from free jazz.

9- Wayne Shorter

Shorter is an American saxophonist whose compositions have become jazz standards, and his production has gained worldwide recognition, including 10 Grammy Awards.

He has also received acclaim for his mastery of the soprano saxophone, beginning a lengthy reign in 1970 as the annual Down Beat poll winner on that instrument, winning top critics honors for 10 consecutive years and readers' honors for 18. A reign difficult to ignore that established Shorter.

The New York Times has described Shorter as "probably the greatest living composer in jazz and a contender for the greatest improviser in history."

10- David S. Ware

David S. Ware was arguably the most important tenor saxophonist of the 1990s, based on reviews by specialized critics and the opinions of his colleagues.

Although he started out on the jazz scene in the '70s, he didn't become famous until he formed his own quartet. Its massive sound and a completely disciplined mastery of phrasing and harmonics stand out.

11- Joe Henderson

He was a jazz saxophonist with a career of more than 40 years. He played with several of the best jazz musicians of his day and recorded for leading jazz labels, including Blue Note.

12- Dexter Gordon

Gordon was a brilliant saxophonist and one of the first to adapt the instrument to the musical bebop language of Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie and Bud Powell, three geniuses of the genre.

Gordon's sound is characterized as "big" and spacious, and he had a tendency to play behind the beat.

He was famous for humorously introducing musical quotes into his solos. One of his main influences was Lester Young. Gordon, in turn, was an early influence on John Coltrane and Sonny Rollins.

13- Albert Ayler

After an early experience in R&B and bebop, Ayler began recording his music in the free jazz era of the 1960s. However, critics argue that it does not conform to the generally accepted critical understanding of free jazz.

In fact, Ayler's style is difficult to categorize, and elicited incredibly strong and disparate reactions from critics and fans alike. His innovations have inspired multiple later jazz musicians.

14- Sam Rivers

Rivers was an American jazz musician and composer who played the soprano and tenor sax, as well as the bass clarinet, flute, harmonica, and piano.

He was involved in jazz from the early 1950s, although he gained greater attention in the mid-1960s, with the expansion of free jazz.

With a deep command of music theory, orchestration, and composition, Rivers was an influential and prominent artist in jazz music.

15- Anthony Braxton

Braxton is one of the greatest American musicians today. He recorded more than 100 records and plays the sax in all its versions: soprano, mezzo-soprano, baritone, bass, clarinets, and piano, among others.

However, Braxton's career began far from musical notes. She studied philosophy at Roosevelt University and taught at Mills College in the 1980s.

Then he did approach the staves, he was a music professor at Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut (USA), from the 90s until his retirement at the end of 2013.

He taught musical composition and history of music, with a special emphasis on the avant-garde.

16- Peter Brötzmann

A gigantic figure in European music, this saxophonist is easily recognizable on various recordings for his distinctive timbre. He is one of the most important free jazz musicians in Europe.

17- Ornette Coleman

Coleman was a saxophone monster and one of the leading innovators of the free jazz movement of the 1960s, a term he coined with the name of an album in 1961.

He was awarded a MacArthur Fellowship in 1994. His album Sound Grammar received the 2007 Pulitzer Prize for music. He died in 2015 and his funeral was an event that lasted more than three hours (something exaggerated within a culture, where the ceremonies are brief moments of farewell).

18- Charlie Parker

What to say about this absolute genius? Parker was an enormously influential jazz soloist and a leading figure in the development of bebop, a form of jazz characterized by fast rhythms, virtuous technique, and advanced harmonies.

The great Charlie was a virtuoso who changed the way of playing the sax. Lightning fast, virtuoso and original, it introduced groundbreaking harmonic ideas, including new altered chord variants and chord substitutions.

Its sound was clean and sweet, as well as dark and piercing. In addition, Parker was an icon for the counterculture and later the Beat Generation, personifying the jazz musician as an uncompromising and intellectual artist.

19- John Coltrane

Maestro Coltrane was a jazz saxophonist and composer who worked on bebop and hard bop idioms.

He pioneered the use of modes in jazz and later influenced the forefront of free jazz. He conducted at least fifty recording sessions during his career, and appeared as a contributor on many albums by other musicians, including trumpeter Miles Davis and pianist Thelonious Monk.

As his career progressed, Coltrane and his music took on an increasingly spiritual dimension.

Coltrane influenced countless musicians, and remains one of the most significant saxophonists in the history of music. He received many posthumous awards and accolades, including canonization by the African Orthodox Church as St. John William Coltrane and a special Pulitzer Prize in 2007.

20- Sonny Rollins

In a privileged place we have a saxophonist who, in 2017, is 86 years old, although he has not played live since 2012. He may not enjoy the range of other colleagues, but his influence and legacy is unsurpassed.

Rollins is widely recognized as one of the most important and influential jazz musicians in history, with a career spanning seven decades, during which time he has recorded at least sixty albums as a leader.

Several of his compositions, including "St. Thomas "," Oleo "," Doxy "," Pent-Up House "and" Airegin ", are today jazz standards.

21- Lester Young

Lester Young was an American jazz musician, tenor saxophonist, and clarinetist. Nicknamed Pres or Prez by Billie Holiday, he is one of the most important figures in jazz history.

22-Ben Webster

He was an American jazz musician, tenor saxophonist. He is considered one of the "big three" tenor saxophonists in swing, along with Coleman Hawkins and Lester Young.

23-Grover Washington

Grover Washington Jr. (December 12, 1943 - December 17, 1999) was a jazz funk and soul jazz saxophonist.1 Along with musicians such as George Benson, David Sanborn, Chuck Mangione and Herb Alpert, he is considered one of the founders of smooth jazz.