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The Four Jazz Tenor Saxes

The four jazz tenor saxophone players, Ben Webster, Chu Berry, Coleman Hawkins and Lester

Young, were born a few years apart from each other, during the first decade of the twentieth century. They

were all important pillars of the swing style and, also, influenced or contributed in some ways to the later

style of bebop to flourish.

Ben Webster’s sax heroes and sources of his influence were Carter, Hawkins, Hodges and Jefferson.

Specifically, Webster’s style was considered to be similar to Hawkins. In fact he held some common

elements in his playing to Hawkins: they both enjoyed the low register of the instrument creating a breathy,

sensational and gentle sound. However, Webster liked producing so low dynamics that they were at the edge

of air without sound producing. He, like Hawkins, on the other hand, was very effective and possibly they

both preferred the ballad tunes. Particularly, Webster did not seem to be a friend of the speed. Nonetheless,

Webster’s solos, in contrast to those by Hawkins, tended to include short phrases which would be developed

around a dominating note and, therefore, within a short range. Additionally, Webster used to emphasized

dynamically the first note of the phrase and ended with a note with low dynamic.

Chu Berry was unfortunate to short – live due to a car accident that took his life at the age of thirty

– three. Therefore, it could be proven to be unfair to judge his style and skills that had less than a decade to

be flourished and strongly evaluated. Nevertheless, he received enough appreciation and respect for his level

of musicality by his colleagues. Berry’s sound was lyrical. His vibrato was steady from the beginning to the

end of a sustained note and his sound timbre was close to the one of the clarinet. Moreover, his style, and

specifically his way of ending his phrases, were a reminder of the older New Orleans idiom. He preferred the

legato playing with long phrases and less tonguing and separation of the notes he produced. Lastly, although
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he lived shortly, he contributed to the uprising of bebop style by being one of the first jazz musicians

participating to the famous jam sessions at Minton’s Playhouse.

Coleman Hawkins was close to Ben Webster as far as musical style is concerned. He held a gentle

sound, with a rich vibrato on the long notes, and, like Webster, even when he would reach a climax in his

solo he would keep his tone gentle without a notice of aggressiveness, although, Webster used to produce the

“jazzy” way of blowing through the instrument in such cases. He liked the low register of the instrument -

the breathy sound - but he did not use to reach the low end of the dynamics as Webster did. His

improvisation was vertical, his phrases would spread over a considerable range of the instrument, in contrast

to Webster and Lester Young who both preferred to have their phrase wandering around within a small range.

When Louis Armstrong joined the Fletcher Henderson’s band, he transformed the whole band and

particularly Coleman’s ability to swing. Coleman Hawkins’ solo on a blues jam session with a lot of

musicians, including Lester Young, held a considerable variety and a very interesting chromaticism in his

phrases that seemed to be superior to the one by Young. This comparison, however, could be unfair and

misleading because, Young’s performance had declined during his last years due to his addiction to alcohol.

Lester Young’s sound was almost free of vibrato which was hardly audible. He enjoyed the high

register of the instrument, and avoided to explore the low register extensively. He also liked producing a

particular choky, bassoon – like sound with middle frequencies in it. His dynamics through solo did not have

a large variety; he usually kept the same dynamic or, at least, he did not alternate between extreme ones.

Young would keep his phrases within a small range, like Webster used to do, enjoying exploring that

specifying range enough before proceed to the next phrase in another register.

In conclusion, Webster was mostly specialized to ballad style. Berry passed away too young to

complete his own musical journey. Lester Young, although was considered to be more influential to younger

bebop players than Hawkins, he spend his last years with a declined level of playing clichés because of his
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drinking problem. Additionally, he lacked the low register quality of Coleman Hawkins which is the trade

mark if the tenor saxophone. Therefore, in my opinion, Hawkins was the ideal tenor saxophone player

among the four players. He was more balanced player, in a sense that he did not exaggerate in low dynamics

and breathy sound in ballads but he also he held enough carrying power on swing style. Finally, although, he

was not influential to the younger bebop musicians, he appreciated and supported the newer style in several

ways in contrast to other colleagues of his generation such as Louis Armstrong and others.

Ioannis Papaspyrou,

March 6, 2012