Latest spotlight
Ernie Watts – First Call
Read the full story →: Ernie Watts – First CallHappy birthday to Ernie Watts, 81 today — quite possibly the most-heard saxophonist most listeners have never named. If you have ever watched late-night television, heard a Marvin Gaye record, or caught the Night Court theme, you know his sound. Putting a name to it is long overdue. Watts was born in Norfolk, Virginia, on…
Don Byas – The Tenor Who Chose Europe
Read more →: Don Byas – The Tenor Who Chose EuropeDon Byas was the bridge between two eras of jazz — and after he crossed it, he left America standing on the far side. Born Carlos Wesley Byas in Muskogee, Oklahoma, on October 21, 1912, he was classically trained as a boy — violin, then clarinet, then alto saxophone — and grew up idolizing Benny…
Eddie Harris – The Hit He Refused to Play
Read more →: Eddie Harris – The Hit He Refused to PlayIn 1961, a Chicago tenor saxophonist recorded a two-minute single that became the first jazz record ever certified gold — over two million copies, a pop album sitting at #2 behind only Elvis Presley. Then he refused to play it. Eddie Harris hadn’t even been signed as a saxophonist. Vee-Jay Records brought him in as…
Tim Berne – Avant Garde Alto
Read more →: Tim Berne – Avant Garde AltoOctober 16th marks Tim Berne’s 72nd birthday, and few saxophonists have walked a more fiercely independent path through creative music. Born in Syracuse, New York, in 1954, Berne didn’t come up through the usual jazz channels. He bought his first alto saxophone while attending Lewis and Clark College in Oregon — a young R&B and…
Lenny Hambro – Big Band Alto
Read more →: Lenny Hambro – Big Band AltoOctober 16th would have been Lenny Hambro’s 103rd birthday. Born Leonard William Hambro in the Bronx in 1923, he was the kind of saxophonist the big-band era was built on: a lead alto player with tone, precision, and swing to spare. He broke in with Gene Krupa at eighteen — auditioning in 1942 and taking…
