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Tenor or Alto players, who play Alto or Tenor


Rooster_Ties

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Over the weekend I was listening to my cousin's CD of Terence Blanchard's Romantic Defiance from 1994, and I kept trying to guess who the tenor player was, only to find that it was of all people --- Kenny Garrett!! --- who I'm not sure I'd ever heard play anything other than alto (or occasionally soprano, if I remember right). Or maybe Garrett played tenor with Miles sometimes??? - I can't remember. In any case...

And that got me thinking about Ornette on Tenor, and (although I can't remember the name of the album), those recordings of Bird with Miles, with Bird on tenor (I just read about them in John Szwed 's new biography of Miles (So What: The Life of Miles Davis), which I found over the weekend too).

So then, here's a thread devoted to suggesting recordings of devoted alto players playing tenor (but only on rare occasion), or devoted tenor players playing alto (but only on rare occasion).

I'm NOT talking about people who switched around a bunch, like Sonny Stitt, but rather guys who played their main axe (alto or tenor) 95% of the time or more.

Did Joe Henderson ever record on alto??? (Or soprano?? - for that matter)

I think Trane recorded on alto a couple times, if I'm not mistaken.

How about Hank Mobley on alto?? (or soprano??)

Wayne Shorter on alto??

Sam Rivers on alto??

Billy Harper on alto??

Gary Thomas on alto??

Jackie McLean on tenor??

Greg Osby on Tenor??

Steve Coleman on tenor??

( And for the sake of argument, let's assume that recording on soprano only counts if a guy only recorded on it a very few times. Like if Joe Henderson recorded on soprano, that would count (since I don't think he ever did). But Osby has recorded on soprano a fair bit, so that doesn't count. )

What other "non-main-axe" sax recordings can you recommend?? Especially those where the guy plays a whole album on his non-mail-axe (like "Ornette on Tenor").

Edited by Rooster_Ties
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Guest Mnytime

You can find the Bird and Miles session in the Dial/Savoy Box.

The first that come to mind:

Evan Parker though it's Soprano and Tenor

Benny Carter went from Trumpet to C-Melody Sax to Alto and on occasion he played Tenor and Clarinet.

Joe McPhee went from Trumpet to Tenor

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Guest Mnytime

Doesn't Jackie McLean play Tenor on a Sonny Rollins recording?

Dexter Gordon plays Soprano on We Three: Tenor Sax Legends on the track "Seven Come Eleven". He plays the Baritone on a Wardell Gray recording and some more Soprano on some Hamp recordings.

Edited by Mnytime
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Dexter Gordon plays Soprano on We Three: Tenor Sax Legends on the track "Seven Come Eleven". He plays the Baritone on a Wardell Gray recording and some more Soprano on some Hamp recordings.

Didn't he also play soprano on maybe one tune in Round Midnight (the movie)?? I seem to have some vague memory of this, but haven't seen the film in years...

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While I'm at it, did Joe Henderson ever record on flute??

I seem to vaguely remember that he did once (or twice at most), but can't remember when --- probably something from his Milestone years, or maybe as a sideman on one of Herbie's things?? around 1969 or 70?? If he did ever play flute (and I want to say it was alto flute, for some reason), I also even more vaguely remember that he didn't solo ever on flute (at least not on record), but only played parts from written-out charts.

Anybody remember Joe on flute ever???

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Joe Henderson plays flute on Alice Coltrane recordings and Herbie Hancock.

Does he take any solos on flute??

I know, nobody will probably remember this off the top of their head. I don't have any of the Alice Coltrane albums with Joe, but I think I have all of the Herbie discs with Joe. I'll try to check myself in the next few days, if I get the chance.

Just checked AMG (on a hunch), and Joe plays Flute and Soprano on his own "Muliple" - but my hunch is that he doesn't solo on flute, though I suspect he does probably solo on soprano. (Another one for me to dig out and check sometime this week.)

Edited by Rooster_Ties
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If i am correct, Stan Getz played soprano on one of his last Concord albums, can't remember which.

He also famously 'swapped' his horn with Gerry Mulligan on 'Getz meets Mulligan in Hi Fi' (Verve). If it weren't for the differnet phrasing of each player, it would be very difficult to tell them apart too!

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If i am correct, Stan Getz played soprano on one of his last Concord albums, can't remember which.

He also famously 'swapped' his horn with Gerry Mulligan on 'Getz meets Mulligan in Hi Fi' (Verve). If it weren't for the differnet phrasing of each player, it would be very difficult to tell them apart too!

Don't recall Stan Getz playing soprano on his Concord albums.

He did play soprano on 'Body and Soul' on his EmArcy release

'Billy Highstreet Samba'.

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Speaking of Kirk on baritone saxophone ... the album to get is Slightly Latin. Whoo. This might be my favorite Kirk album, even though I wouldn't call it necessarily "representative" of his scope as a musician. Kirk also takes a funky solo on kazoo on this one. And, one must question one's soul (e.g. Do I have soul?) if the tunes RAOUF or NOTHING BUT THE TRUTH don't get you up and shaking the seat of your pants (even just a little).

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Speaking of Kirk on baritone saxophone ... the album to get is Slightly Latin. Whoo. This might be my favorite Kirk album, even though I wouldn't call it necessarily "representative" of his scope as a musician. Kirk also takes a funky solo on kazoo on this one. And, one must question one's soul (e.g. Do I have soul?) if the tunes RAOUF or NOTHING BUT THE TRUTH don't get you up and shaking the seat of your pants (even just a little).

I'm generally with you on this one, but have you read Gary Giddens (the Kirk chapter from 'Visions of Jazz' (OUP) on this album?!? Something about 'Slightly Latin' making you want to hurl the CD out of the window, I think...

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Well as the thread has gone beyond Tenors and Alto's

The Mulligan meets Getz album on verve.. the two switch instruments for half the album. So well known, I'm surprised it hasn't been mentioned yet.

Also on the Limelight Mulligan.. Something Borrowed, mulligan plays alto.

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