# Any soprano saxophone players who don't... **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 1, 2007, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-soprano-saxophone-players-who-dont/428467 "2007-12-01T17:20:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2007, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-soprano-saxophone-players-who-dont/428467/1 "2007-12-01T17:20:31Z")
… sound like Kenny G? Because I hate him, but I think the instrument itself could be neat if played by someone with a musical aesthetic I don’t despise. ---
**Author:** ![Hey\_It\_s\_That\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Hey\_It\_s\_That\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hey_It_s_That_Guy)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2007, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-soprano-saxophone-players-who-dont/428467/2 "2007-12-01T17:26:52Z")
John Coltrane would be the best. I’m not a big fan of the sound of the soprano sax no matter who plays it, but Coltrane is one of the all-time masters of the tenor saxophone (like me), and he is awe-inspiring on the soprano as well. I do not care for Kenny G either. ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2007, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-soprano-saxophone-players-who-dont/428467/3 "2007-12-01T17:34:58Z")
Shameless plug for [this band](http://www.myspace.com/add9funk), because I know the soprano sax player. Not Kenny G. ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2007, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-soprano-saxophone-players-who-dont/428467/4 "2007-12-01T18:02:33Z")
David Sanborn plays soprano and alto sax. He’s far, far better than Kenny G. ---
**Author:** ![K364](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k364/32/5_2.png) [@K364](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/K364)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2007, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-soprano-saxophone-players-who-dont/428467/5 "2007-12-01T18:41:31Z")
Well, there’s [Jan Garbarek](http://youtube.com/watch?v=6sNDPqPU75k&feature=related) - he certainly has a different musical aesthetic than Kenny G. Kind of Jazz/New Age/Spiritual eclectic. I really think it’s terrific music. Kind of cerebral, but at the same time has a primitive and rooted feel. ---
**Author:** ![E.Thorp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/898d66/32.png) [@E.Thorp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E.Thorp)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2007, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-soprano-saxophone-players-who-dont/428467/6 "2007-12-01T18:56:29Z")
I love the soprano sax (but not when played by Kenny G). Besides Coltrane, my favorite players are: Branford Marsalis Wayne Shorter Dave Liebman Jane Ira Bloom Steve Lacy I don’t quite know how to describe their “musical aesthetic,” but they’d all generally be classified as “jazz,” and maybe you could cross-file some of them with “avant-garde.” Some of Shorter’s work (including his time in Weather Report) could be called “fusion,” I think. ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2007, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-soprano-saxophone-players-who-dont/428467/7 "2007-12-01T19:17:59Z")
Check out\*\* Take 5\*\* by Dave Brubeck, featuring Paul Desmond on soprano sax. It will answer any questions about how it can sound in capable hands… ---
**Author:** ![E.Thorp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/898d66/32.png) [@E.Thorp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E.Thorp)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2007, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-soprano-saxophone-players-who-dont/428467/8 "2007-12-01T19:28:55Z")
Desmond plays alto sax on “Take Five,” not soprano. [youtube cite](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DDOgYw5-pNs) ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2007, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-soprano-saxophone-players-who-dont/428467/9 "2007-12-01T19:34:08Z")
[QUOTE=E. Thorp] Desmond plays alto sax on “Take Five,” not soprano. [youtube cite](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DDOgYw5-pNs) [/QUOTE] Darn it. Thanks. ---
**Author:** ![Argent\_Towers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e8c25b/32.png) [@Argent\_Towers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Argent_Towers)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2007, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-soprano-saxophone-players-who-dont/428467/10 "2007-12-01T20:59:33Z")
LeRoi Moore of the Dave Matthews Band played a lot of soprano and none of it sounds like Kenny G. I don’t really like any of Dave Matthews’ recent music but I do love their earlier catalog. The song “Rapunzel” (track 2) on Before These Crowded Streets features a great deal of soprano sax playing and it’s very good. ---
**Author:** ![Beware\_of\_Doug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2007, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-soprano-saxophone-players-who-dont/428467/11 "2007-12-01T22:37:02Z")
[Lucky Strikes](http://www.amazon.com/Lucky-Strikes-Thompson/dp/B000000YAU/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1196548007&sr=8-1) by Lucky Thompson. This pioneer bop tenor player was one of the first, along with Steve Lacy (before Coltrane!), to rediscover the sop sax in the 1950s. Zoot Sims doubled soprano now and then and has at least one nice CD set out there, [a 1980 set called _Elegiac_](http://www.amazon.com/Elegiac-Zoot-Sims/dp/B0000022IN/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1196548308&sr=1-1). Pre-bop jazz has become somewhat of a non-starter nowadays, but if you enjoy New Orleans-style small group music you _have_ to check out Sidney Bechet, and his ace student, Bob Wilber. Bob and Kenny Davern had a group called Soprano Summit in the 60s-70s, strictly traditional jazz, but with a lot of great interplay between them (they also were great clarinetists and that horn if featured too). There’s even a concerto for soprano sax and orchestra, written for [John Harle](http://www.amazon.com/Saxophone-Concertos-Richard-Rodney-Bennett/dp/B000002RSE/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1196548385&sr=1-3). The reviews on Amazon aren’t that good, but classical saxophone players are known for being catty. ---
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2007, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-soprano-saxophone-players-who-dont/428467/12 "2007-12-02T00:29:31Z")
Listening to those Sidney Bechet samples I’ve been able to find at Amazon, I realize I’ve definitely heard the soprano sax before, I just didn’t recognize it as the same instrument that Kenny G plays! 😃 (Does Kenny G always sound out of tune to anyone else? It drives me nuts.)