Name a White Alto Player

[Cyril]

What about Piet Noordijk?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7GZoqM9f0qc...feature=related

[AllenLowe]

doesn't qualify - too white -

[LarryCurleyMoe]

1) Mark Vinci - Sonny Stitt spoke highly of this mofo!

2) West Coaster/Avant alto - Jim Ryan of Forward energy - quite a creative caucasian!

[clifford_thornton]

Are we referring to white Americans or shall we include white Europeans, South Africans, etc.?

[AllenLowe]

they must be white, Jewish, and be between 5 foot 6 and 5 foot 9

also, they must have middle names ending in "D"

[Hot Ptah]

Has Marty Nau been mentioned?

[BruceH]

Paul Desmond is my favorite white alto player:

I hear ya!

Call me old-fashioned, but I still really dig Desmond.

But then, I also really like Art Pepper, Lee Konitz, and Lennie Niehaus. I even like Jimmy Dorsey a whole lot.

Just to show how irrelevant the race issue can be (or how ill-informed I could be) for several years I thought Jackie McLean was white. The few b&w photos I'd seen of him made him look kind of white. What can I say, this was long before you could look anybody up on Google or Wikipedia. So I guess back in that time he was one of my favorite "white" altoists.

[Tony Miller]

Vincent  Herring and Justin Chart are two of the best Be Bop and Hard Bop modern day players on the scene today.

[Peter Friedman]

After more that a decade, I just read through this entire thread. Was surprised to find quite a few alto players that were not mentioned.

Alan Barnes (British), Arne Domnerus (Swedish), Derek Humble (British), Ferdinand Povel  (Dutch, plays both alto & tenor), Sadeo Watanabe (Japan), Cory Weeds (Canadian, Plays alto & tenor)

[Kevin Bresnahan]

I never commented in this thread because I always felt it was just Allen fucking with us. I see he's managing to do it even though he's no longer posting here.

[clifford_thornton]

I wouldn't consider a Japanese musician "white."

Doubt the original intent of the thread was to fuck with us, given Allen's decades-long exploration of ethnic/cultural identity in his work.

[Rabshakeh]

He's gone quiet over at his new home on substack, recently. 

[Kevin Bresnahan]

2 hours ago, clifford_thornton said:

Doubt the original intent of the thread was to fuck with us, given Allen's decades-long exploration of ethnic/cultural identity in his work.

Did You miss this one? That is not someone exploring ethnic/cultural identity.

On 5/15/2008 at 3:55 PM, AllenLowe said:

they must be white, Jewish, and be between 5 foot 6 and 5 foot 9

also, they must have middle names ending in "D"

 

[clifford_thornton]

okay, that part seems line a joke, but the broader query is more serious.

[T.D.]

Mike Osborne (UK) is a favo(u)rite of mine.

Just discovering this thread...had always assumed Strozier white. 😨

[Rabshakeh]

It is quite a weird topic for a thread. Lots of white alto players out there. Lots of black alto players too. 

[Tom in RI]

A friend of mine recently told me his brother has a trio gig every other week I should go see and he sent me a link to a video:

 

 

I saw “John Purcell” and got all excited.But he’s not “that” John Purcell. But he is a white alto player.

[JSngry]

Here's a white alto player:

[Ken Dryden]

Did I see Jon Gordon mentioned? Phil Woods mentored him.

[JSngry]

One more:

[Peter Friedman]

One more - Joe Romano - he played alto and tenor.

[Milestones]

Steve Slagle...was he mentioned?  I can't say that I read this entire long thread started decades ago.

 

[Rabshakeh]

16 hours ago, Milestones said:

Steve Slagle...was he mentioned?  I can't say that I read this entire long thread started decades ago.

 

Strange career, Slagle. One of those guys I almost never see mentioned, even here. 

I mostly know him as Steve Kuhn's saxophonist, but I know he actually did quite a few leader and co-leader dates.