I know it does not seem like it but the saxophone is one of the last instruments an artist can produce a original sound…. People are talking about the downfall of the saxophone in pop music and it is because everyone sounds alike and plays the same licks…. If I hear one more alto player crack a high F-Sharp like that is something special … I will as least turn them off and never want to hear anything they play again…..
As in most of modern art, acting and music there are no real individuals coming up…. Saxophone players are no exception…..
The saxophone has had a great place in the jazz world… the great early saxophone players all had their own sounds and ideas…. A jazz solo is a composition… just because it has a lot of notes does not make it a good composition…. Bird, Miles, Cannonball, Trane and many, many other great players all created solos with great melodies….
I like to call the modern jazz saxophone players the “Look what I can do” players… they play every lick they know .. every second they play…. They have amazing technique, mostly good sounds but just how many scales can the person listening to them really enjoy?
Again, a jazz solo is a composition…