Invented in the early 1840s, the saxophone was a relative latecomer to music—and to jazz. But starting in the mid-1920s, with the rise of the big bands, the instrument slowly but steadily evolved from ...

The tenor sax is a jazz instrument. The paradigmatic jazz instrument, if I may thrown in a $50 word. How many tenor sax sonatas or concertos can you think of that feature the tenor as a solo, or even ...

Gene "Jug" Ammons was one of the tenor giants of his era. He had a big, deep tone that was perfect for everything from warm ballads to groove-intensive blues or sweet swing. He could blow with the ...

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 ...

Teddy Edwards, the bebop-era tenor saxophonist considered one of the crown jewels of Los Angeles’ Central Avenue jazz scene of the 1940s, died Sunday in Los Angeles after a long bout with prostate ...

Jerome Sabbagh plays airy tenor saxophone, and you hear every gradation in the grain of his sound. Joe Martin’s bass is warm ...

Coleman Hawkins, known as "The Hawk" or "Bean," basically invented tenor sax as we know it, all the way down to Bill Clinton playing his way to office. After making many recordings with various groups ...

Tenor saxophone great Lester Young, who shared star billing with Billie Holiday in the Count Basie band of the 1930s, was among the most elusive figures in a culture of nomads. By nature a loner, ...

The tall, debonair saxophonist known as the “Sophisticated Giant” had a seemingly effortless power in his playing. Hear 10 examples chosen by our experts.

1846: Emerging from his Paris workshop, musician-inventor Adolphe Sax files 14 patents for an instrument destined to revolutionize American music nearly a century later. His new invention: the ...