Everything you wanted to know about sax

Maybe they would have mastered the clarinet, trombone or flugelhorn, but we can't imagine anything in their hands other than the instrument for which they became famous.  We're talking about the saxophone and the splendid artists who have played them, and we tip our hats today to birthday boy Adolphe Sax, the inventor who made it all possible.

Here are 10 of our favorite sax players (recognizing there are dozens and dozens of other fabulous players who might make this list on any other day):

1. Ben Webster
2. Paul Desmond
3. Charlie Parker
4. Sonny Rollins
5. John Coltrane
6. Coleman Hawkins
7. King Curtis
8. Big Al Groth
9. Billy Novick
10. Clarence Clemons

Adolphe Sax (1814-1894): Inventor
Saxophone, saxotromba
John Philip Sousa (1854-1932)): Composer, bandleader
Stars and Stripes Forever, Semper Fidelis, El Capitan, King Cotton
Ray Conniff (1916-2002): Orchestra director
Theme From Dr. Zhivago; LP: S’wonderful, Somewhere My Love
Stonewall Jackson (1932): Singer
Waterloo, Me and You and a Dog Named Boo, Help Stamp Out Loneliness, B.J. the D.J.

Doug Sahm (1941-1999): Singer, Sir Douglas Quintet
She’s about a Mover

George Young (1947): Guitar, Easybeats, AC/DC
She’s So Fine, Wedding Ring, Sad and Lonely and Blue
Glenn Frey (1948): Musician/singer, The Eagles
Take It Easy, Lyin’ Eyes, Hotel California, Smuggler’s Blues