Boss tenors take charge. I don’t know how else to put it. When a boss tenor plays a ballad, a mid-tempo tune or a barn-burner, the saxophone’s sound is assertive and commanding, with a deep, forceful push in the lower register and a bluesy wail up top.
Let me illustrate with eight clips:
Ben Webster playing That’s All in 1953, with pianist Oscar Peterson, Ray Brown bowing his bass and alto saxophonist Benny Carter chiming in toward the end…
Jimmy Forrest playing By the River Saint Marie with Joe Zawinul (p), Tommy Potter (b) and Clarence Johnston (d) in 1961….
Eddie “Lockjaw” Davis playing There’s a Small Hotel in 1955 with Doc Bagby on organ and Charlie Rice on drums…
Arnett Cobb’s Sizzlin’, in 1960 with Red Garland (p), George Tucker (b) and J.C. Heard (d)…
Gene Ammons playing Canadian Sunset in 1960, with Tommy Flanagan (p) Doug Watkins (b) Art Taylor (d) and Ray Barretto (cga)…
Buddy Tate with Milt Buckner on organ and Wallace Bishop on drums in 1967…
Stanley Turrentine with organist Jimmy Smith and drummer Donald Bailey playing When I Grow Too Old to Dream in 1960…
Gene Ammons with tenor saxophonist Sonny Stitt, organist Don Patterson, guitarist Paul Weeden and drummer Billy James playing Long Ago and Far Away in 1962…
