Greg Osby (born in St. Louis, Missouri on 3 August 1960) is a jazz saxophonist who plays mainly in the Free jazz, Free funk and M-Base medium. He studied at the Berklee College of Music. He played on Jack DeJohnette's "Special Edition", and has recorded with Steve Coleman, Jim Hall and Andrew Hill (setting the stage for Hill and Hall's later appearance on Osby's "The Invisible Hand"). He began recording albums under his own name for JMT Records in the 1980s, …

John William Coltrane, nicknamed Trane, was an American jazz saxophonist and composer. Although recordings of his work from as early as 1946 exist, Coltrane's recording career did not begin in earnest until 1955. From 1957 onward he recorded and produced dozens of albums, many of them not released until years after his death.

Gary Thomas (born June 6, 1961) is an American jazz saxophonist from Baltimore, Maryland. He is a member of Special Edition and has worked with Cassandra Wilson, Wallace Roney, Miles Davis and Steve Coleman. He currently is the leader of "Peabody Music Institute"`s jazz studies.

Wayne Shorter (born August 25 1933) is an American jazz composer and saxophonist. Commonly regarded as one of the more important American jazz sax players and composers since the 1960s, Shorter has recorded dozens of albums as a leader, and appeared on dozens more with others. Many of his compositions have become standards.

John Lenwood (Jackie) McLean (May 17 1931 - March 31 2006; some sources give 1932 as his year of birth) was an American jazz alto saxophonist, composer, bandleader and educator, born in New York City.

Steve Williamson (born June 28 1964 in London) is a British jazz musician (tenor saxophone, soprano saxophone, alto saxophone, keyboard sowie composition). Williamson began playing saxophone at the age of 16 and played in Reggae bands. In 1984 and 1985 he studied at London's Guildhall School of Music. At the Nelson Mandela' birth day open air festival 1988 he played with Courtney Pine in the Wembley Stadium and afterwards with Art Blakey at Ronnie Scott's.

Michael Brecker (March 29, 1949 - January 13th, 2007) was a popular US jazz saxophonist and composer. Acknowledged as "a quiet, gentle musician widely regarded as the most influential tenor saxophonist since John Coltrane," he won 13 Grammys as both performer and composer.

Eddie Daniels (born 19 October 1941) is a prolific American musician. Though he is most well-known as a jazz clarinet player, he has also played alto and tenor saxophones, as well as classical music on the clarinet. Daniels was born in New York City to a Jewish family. He was raised in the Brighton Beach neighborhood of Brooklyn in New York City. He became interested in jazz as a teenager when he was impressed by the musicians accompanying singers, such as Frank Sinatra, …

David Murray (born February 19, 1955 in Oakland, California, United States) is a notable jazz musician. Murray plays mainly tenor saxophone and sometimes bass clarinet. He has recorded prolifically on a variety of labels since the mid-1970s. One critic dubbed Murray the Joyce Carol Oates of jazz, comparing Murray's prolific and consistently highly-regarded work to the noted novelist's.

Philip Wells Woods (born November 2 1931) is an American jazz bebop alto saxophonist, clarinetist, bandleader and composer. He also performed in other jazz mediums, such a Progressive jazz, post bop and hard bop. Woods was born in Springfield, Massachusetts, and studied music with Lennie Tristano, who influenced him greatly, at the Manhattan School of Music and at The Juilliard School.

Booker Telleferro Ervin II (1930 - 1970) was an American hard bop tenor saxophone player perhaps best known for his association with Charles Mingus, with whom he played and recorded from 1956 to 1962. During the 1960s he also led his own quartet and played with Randy Weston. His most highly regarded records are the nine he made for Prestige Records between 1963 and 1966: "Exultation", "The Freedom Book", "The Song Book", "The Blues Book", …

Pharoah Sanders (born October 13, 1940) is an American jazz saxophonist. Ornette Coleman once described him as "probably the best tenor player in the world." Sanders was born in Little Rock, Arkansas, under the name Farrell Sanders. He began his professional career playing tenor saxophone in Oakland, California. Sanders moved to New York City in 1961 after playing with rhythm and blues bands. He received his nickname "Pharoah" from Sun Ra, …

Arthur Edward Pepper, Jr. (September 1 1925-June 15, 1982) was an American cool jazz alto saxophonist. He began his musical career in the 1940s playing with Benny Carter and Stan Kenton. In the 1950s Pepper became one of the leading lights of West coast jazz, along with Chet Baker, Gerry Mulligan, Shelly Manne, and others. Pepper was born in Gardena, California, but lived for many years in the hills of Echo Park, in Los Angeles. He became a heroin addict in the 1940s, …

James Carter (b. January 3 1969) is an American jazz musician. Carter was born in Detroit, Michigan and learned to play there before moving to New York City. He has been prominent as a performer and recording artist on the jazz scene since the mid-1990s, playing saxophones, flute, and bass clarinet. As a young man, he attended Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp and was a member of the group, Bird-Trane-Sco-Now.

George Rufus Adams (29 April, 1940 Covington, Georgia - 14 November, 1992 New York City, New York) was an American jazz musician who played tenor saxophone, flute and bass clarinet. He was also known for his idiosyncratic singing. He is best known for his work with Charles Mingus, Gil Evans, Roy Haynes and in the quartet he co-led with pianist Don Pullen, featuring bassist Cameron Brown and drummer Dannie Richmond.

Anthony George Coe (born November 29, 1934 in Canterbury, England) is a jazz musician who is trained on clarinet, bass clarinet, and tenor saxophone. He cites Paul Gonsalves as an influence. Coe is noted for his versatility. His early experience in jazz was with Humphrey Lyttelton's band from 1957-1962. Later, he worked in the John Dankworth orchestra and the Kenny Clarke-Francy Boland big band. In the 1980s and 1990s, he began branching out beyond jazz, …

Oliver Nelson (June 4, 1932 -- October 28, 1975) was an American jazz saxophonist, clarinettist, and composer.

John Arnold Griffin III (April 24, 1928) is an American bop and hard bop tenor saxophonist. Like many other successful musicians from Chicago, he studied music at DuSable High School under Walter Dyett, starting out on clarinet before moving on to oboe, alto sax and finally, shortly after joining Lionel Hampton's Orchestra, tenor sax. While still at high school, at 15 Griffin was playing alongside T-Bone Walker in a band led by Walker's brother.

Louis Sclavis (b. Lyon, France, February 2, 1953) is a French jazz musician. He performs on clarinet, bass clarinet, and soprano saxophone in a variety of contexts, including jazz and free jazz. His music shows great creativity and a lively sense of humor. Sclavis began his musical education at the "conservatoire de Lyon" at age 9, where he studied clarinet. He began performing with the Lyon Workshop, where he met Michel Portal and Bernard Lubat.

Ronnie Scott (January 28 1927 - December 23 1996) was a British jazz tenor saxophonist and jazz-club owner.

Earl Lavon Freeman Sr.(born October 3, 1922 in Chicago, Illinois) is a hard bop tenor saxophonist. He is also the father of Chico Freeman. He learned saxophone as a child and at DuSable High School his band director was Walter Dyett. He began his professional career at age 16 in Horace Henderson's Orchestra. He was drafted into the Navy during World War II and played for a Navy band while in the service.

Eli (Lucky) Thompson (June 16, 1924, Columbia, South Carolina - July 30, 2005, Seattle, Washington) was an African American jazz tenor and soprano saxophonist. He is considered, alongside Steve Lacy, to have brought the soprano saxophone out of obsolescence, playing it in a more advanced boppish format, which inspired John Coltrane to take it up in the early 1960s. After playing with the swing orchestras of Lionel Hampton, Don Redman, Billy Eckstine, Lucky Millinder, …

Peter King (b. 11 August 1940 is an English jazz saxophonist, composer, and clarinettist. King was born in Kingston upon Thames, Surrey, and taught himself to play the clarinet at the age of fifteen, quickly switching to alto saxophone. In 1959, at the age of nineteen, he was booked by Ronnie Scott to perform at the opening of Scott's club in Gerrard Street, London. In the same year he received the "Melody Maker" New Star" award.

Bennie Wallace (born November 18, 1946) is an American post bop, swing music and avant-garde jazz tenor saxophonist born in Chattanooga, Tennessee, probably better known for his work with Monty Alexander and Sheila Jordan during the 1970s. His debut recording was done with Flip Phillips and Scott Hamilton in 1977.

Scott Hamilton (born in Providence, Rhode Island) is a jazz tenor saxophonist associated with swing (music) and mainstream jazz. He emerged in the 1970s and at the time he was considered to be one of the few musicians of real talent who carried the tradition of the classic jazz tenor saxophone in the style of Ben Webster, Coleman Hawkins as well as Zoot Sims and Don Byas forward. He began playing in various rhythm & blues outfits in Providence (Rhode Island), …

Houston Person (born November 10th, 1934) is an American jazz tenor saxophonist and record producer. Although he has performed in the hard bop and swing genres, he is most experienced in and best known for his work in soul jazz. Person is also known for his distinctive sassy sound and his expressive style of playing. He received the Eubie Blake Jazz Award in 1982. Contrary to popular belief, he was never married to the late singer Etta Jones, …

George Braith (born George Braithwaite on June 27 1939) is a soul-jazz saxophonist from New York. Braith is known for playing multiple horns at once, a technique pioneered by Roland Kirk. Braith is credited with the invention of the Braithophone, two different horns (straight alto and soprano) mended together by extensions, valves and connections.

Ilhan Erşahin is a saxophonist, record producer and composer. He is an adventurous creative project leader and an important new voice for turn-of-the century jazz. His "Wonderland", recorded in İstanbul and New York comes forward as the vigilant reflection and expression of ties with Istanbul and his interest in Turkish music. A magical togetherness is evoked through the collaboration of musicians from Turkey and from New York.

Bill Perkins (22 July, 1924-9 August, 2003) was a cool jazz saxophonist and flautist popular on the West Coast jazz scene, known primarily as a tenor saxophonist. Born in San Francisco, California, Perkins started out performing in the big bands of Woody Herman and Jerry Wald. He also worked for the Stan Kenton orchestra, which subsequently led to his entry into the cool jazz idiom. He began performing with musicians like Art Pepper and Bud Shank, to name just a few.