Favorite ALTO player on the scene today

[Trumpet Guy]

I have to say my fave currently is Myron Walden. Talk about feeling!

Also props to John O'Gallagher who's 2 cds are often in my CD player these days.

"Abacus" on Arabesque & "Rules Of Invisabilty-Vol 1" on CIMP.

Still love Coleman,Osby, Garrett but have been listening to them for 20 years now!

Lots of great Alto's on the scene...Keep an eye on Jaleel Shaw & Jeremy Udden.

Edited October 17, 2004 by Trumpet Guy

[king ubu]

Lots of great Alto's on the scene...Keep an eye on Jaleel Shaw & Jeremy Udden.

I heard Shaw live with the Mingus BB last year, he was very good indeed!

[Trumpet Guy]

I forgot Miguel Zenon! That cat is another to watch!

[cannonball-addict]

David Binney. His recent recordings have featured Chris Potter and Adam Rogers. South is my personal favorite.

South is really an awesome album. It's got so many other top NY cats too. Along those lines - Dave Binney was a founding member in an electrified group called Lost Tribe (in the early 90s they put out two CDs) with Rogers and his fellow guitarist David Gilmore, Fima Ephron on bass and Ben Perowsky on drums - all guys who were and sort of still are in the downtown scene (although as we all know, things have changed quite a bit since then).

c-b-a

[cannonball-addict]

Lots of great Alto's on the scene...Keep an eye on Jaleel Shaw & Jeremy Udden.

I heard Shaw live with the Mingus BB last year, he was very good indeed!

I don't really care for Udden. He's good but he's too Paul Desmond-ish sometimes for my taste. Plus - he uses (or was using) a metal piece on alto - and that doesn't float my boat.

Shaw on the other hand is a monster in his early stages of development.

[cannonball-addict]

But my favourite for sure is Kenny Garrett, I like his sound, the simplicity of his ideas and their development. I also think he has a very unique way of playing "out" a bit.

Simplicity of ideas? His harmonic ideas are quite complex my friend. The fact that he often uses the same ones (which give him a signature sound that guys like Steve Wilson and Myron Walden have picked up on), is not really the same as simple ideas.

No alto players out there - IMO - have his originality. He has the ability of a "technician" on his horns but he plays so raw and uncensored emotionally (who cares if Happy People and Simply Said sound a little smooth). A lot of musicians will feel that at one point and exploit/utilize it even if they're truly straight-ahead guys.

It's like, KG says to himself, "Hey chords, watch me do this....oh &$#%, yeah you like that didn't you."

No saxophone player will badmouth KG's abilities. His relative reclusiveness and frequent invisibility in the press are a problem that today keeps him in the background while people get obsessed with new guys like Zenon and today's twentysomethings who haven't really paid their dues.

[Rooster_Ties]

The "favorite tenor-player under 50" thread's been gettin' a lot of action lately, so I thought I'd pop this one up for more discussion.

[Larry Kart]

He may be a bit over the age line, but I like Billy Drewes.

[Larry Kart]

Andy Fusco, likewise. It tickles me to hear how much he resembles the late Gene Quill at times -- in part because I don't knew if Fusco ever paid any attention to him or even herad him at all. Jackie McLean is Fusco's more obvious inspiration, but, from a rhythmic point of view, the way Fusco can sound like he's tapdancing on top of a skateboard is very Quill-like.

[Chuck Nessa]

I've been getting dizzy from Rooster bumping up all his old threads and find myself wanting to respond but feeling the need to read the threads from the beginning "again".

I discovered GOM mentioned Steve Coleman and Dave Rempis - the first 2 to jump to mind.

[paul secor]

This thread brings up a story that a friend told me recently. He went to a jazz festival a few years ago and they had a stage for mainstream (hard bop based) jazz and a stage for "avant garde" jazz. The musicians on the mainstream stage were for the most part under 50, while the "avant garde" musicians were for the most part over 50.

[47 West 63rd N.Y.C.]

Jim Snidero, Greg Osby, Bobby Watson, Kenny Garrett

[Chuck Nessa]

Jim Snidero, Greg Osby, Bobby Watson, Kenny Garrett

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Sorry, I just go "the shivers".

[Larry Kart]

Aram Shelton, age 29 -- a native of Jacksonville, Fla., who this fall left Chicago, where he's been living since 1999, to study at Mills College in the San Francisco area. He's got several albums out -- with the groups Dragons 1976 (with bassist Jason Ajemian and drummer Tim Daisy), Arrive (with vibraphonist Jason Adasiewicz, bassist Jason Roebke, and Daisy), and Grey Ghost (with drummer Johnathan Crawford; here both Shelton and Crawford modify with electronics what they play in real time). No "mainstreamer," Shelton has impressed me a lot. He began with Ornette but is his own man, has a personal flexible-expressive sound and control of timbres within it, a mature sense of pace and is a storyteller. I just hope that SF and what he's doing there (he's on a scholarship to do stuff with electronics) doesn't mess him up.

[felser]

Jim Snidero, Greg Osby, Bobby Watson, Kenny Garrett

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Watson is 52 years old, ineligible, would be my pick otherwise. He would have been my choice. I like Vincent Herring, Kenny Garrett, and Abraham Burton a lot, and (bracing for criticism from the crowd here), quite enjoyed Christopher Hollyday's J-Macism's 15 years ago. Saw him play a nice set at Penn's landing in that era (Brad Mehldau making the best of a severely out of tune piano, shades of Mal Waldron at the Five Spot), and would be curious to know whatever came of Hollyday. Osby is totally lost on me (and I've tried a half dozen CD's, in and out the door), as is Coleman in his M-base guise.

Edited November 12, 2005 by felser

[Gary]

I've only heard him on a couple of recordings but I really like what I've heard of

Rudresh Mahanthappa

[Larry Kart]

P.S. Andy Fusco also was an offensive lineman at Syracuse U. and went on to play, for a few seasons, for the New York Jets. As someone once said to him, "You're probably the only guy ever to line up against Penn State who also knows the changes to 'Stablemates.'"

[Cali]

Detroit, Chicago Alert! Zane Musa, a twenty-something alto saxophonist from Los Angeles will be there next weekend. Zane is my VERY favorite current alto player. He will be appearing as part of Phil Ranelin's Tribe Renaissance.

Caught this band last night at 5th Street Dicks. Wow! What a beautiful, intense set. Members of the band are Phil - trombone, Zane - alto, Ryan Cross - bass, Lorca Hart (Billy Hart's son) - drums, Don Littleton - congas & percussion, and Tigran Hamasyan, an eighteen year old pianist!

Schedule is:

Detroit, Saturday, Nov. 19th at the Institute of Contemporary Art.

Chicago, Sunday, Nov. 20th at The Empty Bottle, 1035 N. Western Ave.

If you're in the Chicago or Detroit area, do yourself a favor. You'll be glad you did.

Zane is a young saxophonist of Middle Eastern descent who plays like he was a contemporary of Bird, Dolphy, Jackie Mac, Cannonball, etc. I know this is lofty company for someone so young and at this place in time, but I kid you not, this is the real deal. The guy takes your breath away. As Miles Davis once said in describing Monk, "Sanctified!".

Anyone who catches this group, please post your experience.

[mrjazzman]

I am in total shock that after reading this entire thread Vincent Herring is mentioned only 3 times (unless I missed something). Although I could hardly describe the comment as effusive, kudos to catesta. the other 2 endorsements were made in passing. Cannonball Addict, how could you have that handle and also be an alto sax player and not mention Vincent Herring. For my money he is the best of the young alto players on the scene today. Natrually, in the begining (because he idolized cannonball) he was a cannonball clone but now has his own voice still heavily under cannonball's influence. recently he was at Yoshi's in Oakland with cedar walton and i missed it dammit. he was born a few miles south of san francisco in vallejo, ca but of course relocated to new york some time ago.....

Edited November 15, 2005 by mrjazzman

[robviti]

another for jim snidero and andy fusco. i also like mike dirubbo, who studied under jackie mclean at hartt.

[John Tapscott]

I like Fusco, too, but he's defintely 50+ having playing with the Jets more than 30 years ago.

I also like Julius Tolentino, who has a new CD out on Sharp Nine.

You know, I liked Christopher Hollyday a lot, too. As for what happened to him it seems he now lives in San Diego where he's a jazz educator. He's also on a new CD by trombonist Scott Kyle, which I have just ordered from Cdbaby.com. (The Hollyday info. is contained in the blurb for this CD on the site).

[Tom in RI]

A guy I haven't seen mentioned who I like alot is Jesse Davis. Maybe too derivative for some but I've enjoyed his work.

[mrjazzman]

A guy I haven't seen mentioned who I like alot is Jesse Davis. Maybe too derivative for some but I've enjoyed his work.

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I should have mention Jesse Davis along with Vincent Herring, I own all but one of his cd's, seems to record a lot in europe, doesn't seem to get a lot of exposure.......

[mrjazzman]

Aram Shelton, age 29 -- a native of Jacksonville, Fla., who this fall left Chicago, where he's been living since 1999, to study at Mills College in the San Francisco area. He's got several albums out --  with the groups Dragons 1976 (with bassist Jason Ajemian and drummer Tim Daisy), Arrive (with vibraphonist Jason Adasiewicz, bassist Jason Roebke, and Daisy), and  Grey Ghost (with drummer Johnathan Crawford; here both Shelton and Crawford modify with electronics what they play in real time). No "mainstreamer," Shelton has impressed me a lot. He began with Ornette but is his own man, has a personal flexible-expressive sound and control of timbres within it, a mature sense of pace and is a storyteller. I just hope that SF and what he's doing there (he's on a scholarship to do stuff with electronics) doesn't mess him up.

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just listened to sound samples from "Arriv", im afraid i'll have to take a pass on that one.........

[mrjazzman]

Andy Fusco, likewise. It tickles me to  hear how much he resembles the late Gene Quill at times -- in part because I don't knew if Fusco ever paid any attention to him or even herad him at all. Jackie McLean is Fusco's more obvious inspiration, but, from a rhythmic point of view, the way Fusco can  sound like he's tapdancing on top of a skateboard is very Quill-like.

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Never heard of Fusco, just listened to sound samples of Big Man Blues, am going to purchase that as soon as i finish writing this, he definitly puts a fresh spin on the ship that I LOVE, as i said before, i will pass on aram shelton, can't hear that stuff...........