alto sax

The playing career of saxophonist Tony Kofi began when he chanced upon a series of jazz workshops, run in Leicester by Nick Hislam. Born in Nottingham to West African parents, Tony was bitten by the jazz bug and made a point of making the journey to go along to each session. This laid the seeds for what was to come, and a stint at the legendary Berklee College of Music in Boston Mass. USA, on a full scholarship. While in the US, Tony studied with such musical luminaries as Andy Magee, Ernie Watts and Billy Pierce, gaining invaluable experience that he then put to best use when back in the UK.

Born in Detroit, Michigan, in 1969, James Carter began playing saxophone at age 11, first recorded with a Detroit student ensemble in 1986 and, by 1991, had recorded with legendary trumpeter Lester Bowie on The Organizer and contributed to the 1991 collection The Tough Young Tenors. Mastering a family of reed instruments, from sopranino to contrabass saxophones to contrabass and bass clarinets, James Carter mesmerized the jazz world after arriving in New York City in 1988 to play under the auspices of Lester Bowie.

Read more about James Carter on Last.fm.

Lou Donaldson (born 1926) is a jazz alto saxophonist, born in Badin, North Carolina. He is best known for his soulful, bluesy approach to the alto saxophone, although in his formative years he was, as many were of the bebop era, heavily influenced by Charlie Parker's improvisational approach. His first recordings were with bop emissaries Milt Jackson and Thelonious Monk in 1952, and lead several small groups with other jazz luminaries such as trumpeter Blue Mitchell, pianist Horace Silver and the indomitable skinsman, Art Blakey.

Kenny Garrett is a jazz saxophonist. He was born in Detroit, Michigan in 1960. His father was a tenor saxophonist. Kenny's career took off when he joined the Duke Ellington Orchestra in 1978, then led by Duke's son, Mercer Ellington. Three years later he played in the Mel Lewis Orchestra (playing the music of Thad Jones) and also the Dannie Richmond Quartet (focusing on Charles Mingus's music). In 1984 he earned a shot at his first album as a band leader, "Introducing Kenny Garrett". From there, his career has exploded into 11 albums (as a leader) and numerous grammy nominations.