In the beginning, there was Coleman Hawkins. Coleman Hawkins begat Ben Webster. And Ben Webster begat Lester Young, and Lester Young begat Charlie Parker. And Charlie Parker begat Dexter Gordon, and ...

Anytime a discussion of jazz saxophone takes place, a handful of names invariably crop up, even from those only vaguely familiar with the form. And there’s a good reason for that: While there have ...

Every once in a while, a single instrument arrives and rewrites the rules. Not just for music, but for culture itself. Think about it. A strip of brass and a few keys gave birth to jazz. A solid block ...

I decided to focus on the alto jazz saxophone and that's why I came to the States." In Boston and at Berklee, Mercier met some of his future artistic collaborators and the sidemen on his album, Flor ...

John Gunther teaches our jazz saxophone majors, including BM, MM and DMA students. At all levels, Gunther works with his students to develop and maintain a solid foundation in the physical aspects of ...

Veteran sax and flute player Lew Tabackin, a product of South Philadelphia, is one of the “Jazz Jews” discussed in Mike Gerber’s new book of that name. Tabackin performs in a quartet with his wife, ...

Almost no other instrument seems so synonymous with jazz as the sax. Listen to some classic alto playing from Charlie Parker, Cannonball Adderley, Sonny Stitt and more greats. Credit...Illustration by ...

When tenor saxophonist John Coltrane recorded his composition "Giant Steps" in 1959, he created something that changed the way musicians thought about improvisation and harmony. Decades earlier, the ...