Soprano Saxophone

[teddy]

I have been trying to find soprano saxophonists in the jazz genre, but without much success. Cannonball played occasionally, but did not seem to record much, preferring to play alto. Any suggestions will be gratefully received.

teddy

[Dorsetmike]

Wiki turned up quite a few, I just googled soprano sax and ..........

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soprano_saxophone

about half way down the page, Sydney Bechet probably the best known, ay least on this side of the pond.

[escher]

is "Coltrane" too banal as an answer? Dave Liebman too

[Mat]

Teddy, I have the exact same problem. Of course, many of the greatest played soprano, but it's not like they recorded a whole album. Usually one or two songs, and the rest on tenor or alto.

I know that Steve Lacy and John Surman use soprano a lot, but they tend to play avant-garde and free, which I do not find interesting.

Zoot Sims, Joshua Redman, John Coltrane, Sonny Rollins, etc. - they have all played soprano at some point. But to go after a whole album just to hear two songs on soprano? That's not for me.

You might wanna check out one of older Garbarek's albums. The Officium. It's a very unusal CD. It combines Garbarek's divine jazz improvs with Medieval music performed by The Hilliard Ensemble. What makes it even more interesting is the fact that it was recored in a monastery.

Hope this thread will become a place where we can exchange new names and sources for soprano jazz.

[Dorsetmike]

http://www.youtube.com/results?searc...ey+bechet&aq=0

[teddy]

Thanks everyone. Thats given me something to work on. I will come back with my comments

teddy

[Corno Dolce]

Then there is Kenny G - Mr. Schlockmeister himself...

[teddy]

Thanks CD I quite like Kenny G, but I got the idea he was out of faxour with the purists. Not that that would put me off at all.

teddy

[Mat]

Hey Teddy, have gotten your hands on anything mentioned above yet?

What would you say about this?

[JHC]

To be quite honest I am not at all keen on soprano sax, sounds too thin

[gord]

dont care for the soprano sax too much, sydney bechet is the only one i really like. gord

[JHC]

Yeh, I'm with you there gord, but even he gets a bit tiring for me, I just give the whole scene a miss

[Mat]

http://www.youtube.com/results?searc...ey+bechet&aq=0

Bechet leaves me quite cold, I'm afraid.

Here's the kind of sound I'm looking for:

[teddy]

Thanks Mat. Nice, very nice. It has been ages since I listened to Zoot. I had forgotten how good he was. I have not been foraging as intended with so much going on at home and at the office. New years resolution.....listen to more music.

teddy

[John Watt]

oooh, oooh, it hurts a little, talking about soprano saxes, just like the french horn and trumpet. I tried french horn as a player in an orchestra, but the leader said my lips were too puffy and I'd never develop the needed umberture. So I bought a trumpet and that didn't work out either.

Maybe ten years later, living in the big city, Toronto, playing and singing for a living, I bought a soprano sax, thinking I'd get into that. But no, just the chomping on the reed turned me off, even if getting the sound in my head turned me on to what sax and other reed players experience. It's interesting for me to see Joshua Redman mentioned up there with the all time greats. I know he's good, seeing him as a local a lot, but that's still surprising. And for all the Kenny G. slagging, at least he's got it going and gets it out there, one of the few jazz instrumentalists with pop hits. And he looks good on t.v.

I still like the thought of just blowing, just blowing this sweet air.