CARLOS WESLEY "DON" BYAS, tenor saxophonist, was born in Muskogee, Oklahoma on October 21, 1912. His mother played the piano, his father, the clarinet. He had his own group at college in 1930 and was with Eddie Barefield in Los Angeles in 1935. He worked with Don Redman, Lucky Millinder, Eddie Mallory and Andy Kirk. He was with Count Basie in 1941 and at the Yacht Club with Coleman Hawkins. In 1944 he was with Dizzy Gillespie´s quintet and in 1946 worked with Don Redman in Europe. Byas remained and toured the continent and made a European tour with Duke Ellington in 1950. He finally settled in France. He is known for the big tenor sound in the Hawkins school but with his own modern characteristics added, rhythmically and melodically.BENJAMIN FRANCIS WEBSTER, tenor sax, was born in Kansas City, Missouri on February 27, 1909. He studied violin and piano but mainly taught himself on saxophone. He made his professional debut as a pianist in a band in Enid, Oklahoma; played piano with Dutch Campbell, alto and tenor sax with Gene Coy, then worked with Jap Alien, Blanche Calloway and Andy Kirk. He came to New York City in 1932 with Bennie Moten. In 1933-34, he played with Benny Carter and Fletcher Henderson, and later with Willie Bryant, Cab Calloway, Stuff Smith. He became best known through a long intermittent association with Duke Ellington which began in 1935 and he was with the Duke continuously from late 1939 until 1943 and again for a few months in 1948. In the mid-´40s he worked mainly with local bands in Kansas City. After his last departure from Ellington he toured with his own combo.
Webster belongs with Coleman Hawkins and Chu Berry among the titans of the tenor saxophone. He is of the "old school" in the sense that his tone is big and warm, his style vivid and forceful. He is of a timeless school, inasmuch as his work has been respected and eulogized by adherents of every jazz faction.COLEMAN HAWKINS, tenor saxophonist, was born in St. Joseph, Missouri, on November 21, 1904. He started on piano, later cello and then the tenor sax. He attended Washburn College in Topeka. He worked with Mamie Smith´s Jazz Hounds on tour in 1922-1923, coming to New York with her. He made his first records with Fletcher Henderson in June, 1923, and during his decade with this band became the first (and for a while the only) jazzman to attain fame as a tenor saxophonist, his monopoly on the instrument later being challenged by Bud Freeman, Chu Berry, et al. Having earned a world-wide reputation, he left Henderson in 1934, worked in England with the bands of Jack Hylton and Mrs. Jack Hylton, then toured the continent on his own, making many records, "with Benny Carter, Django Reinhardt and others. He returned to the United States in 1939 and formed a nine-piece band which, on October llth, recorded ´Body and Soul" for Bluebird. This became his biggest hit and established him as a national jazz name. Hawkins´ role as a pioneer in his field was one of incomparable importance. He brought to this hitherto-ignored instrument a full-blooded warmth of tone, a buoyancy of rhythmic feeling that put him head and shoulders above the handful of tenor artists who attempted to challenge his dominance in the 1930s. By the early ´40s there were innumerable great tenor sax soloists on the jazz scene; by the late ´40s it had become the most-used, most abused instrument in jazz, with the advent of the "honking" and other freak styles appealing to race and blues audiences, but Hawkins, whose big tone was no longer fashionable after the advent of the Stan Getz "cool school," remained a superb musician whose performances on slow tempi were still vital and compelling.STANLEY GETZ, tenor sax, was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on February 2, 1927. He started on bass in New York City, then bassoon. He attended James Monroe High School in the Bronx and played in the All City Orchestra, When he was 15, he played with Dick "Stinky" Rogers, went back to school, and then into bands again at 16 with Jack Teagarden, Dale Jones, Bob Chester. He played with Kenton from 1944 to 1945, then briefly with Jimmy Dorsey, Benny Goodman. He worked with Randy Brooks, Buddy Morrow and Herbie Fields and then moved to California in 1947 where he worked with Butch Stone and also had his own trio at the Swing Club in Hollywood. In September, 1947, he joined the new Woody Herman band in rehearsal and remained until 1949. Getz, Zoot Sims, Serge Chaloff, Herbie Steward (later Al Cohn) comprised the celebrated "Four Brothers" in the tune of that name which was recorded by Woody Herman and that gave the band its identifying sound. Getz rose to prominence with Woody Herman´s record of "Early Autumn". He led a quartet with Al Haig on piano. In 1951 he toured Scandinavia and in 1952 he did NBC studio work in New York City but soon returned to leading his group, usually a quintet. One of the great interpreters of ballad material, a sound style-setter in the post-bop "cool" era and a fine technician, Getz was internationally recognized as the top tenor sax man of the 1950s.CHARLIE VENTURA (Charles Venture), saxophonist and band leader, was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on December 2, 1916. He was the fourth of 13 children. He started playing the C melody sax in 1931 and was greatly influenced by Chuck Berry. He worked in his father´s hat factory, and from 1940 to 1942 at the Navy Yard, jamming frequently with Bill Harris, Dizzy Gillespie, "Little Jazz" Eldridge, "Buddy" De Franco. He played tenor with Gene Krupa in 1942 to 1943 and again from 1944 to 1946 and also with Teddy Powell from 1943 to 1944. He had his own band from 1946 to 1947 and from 1947 to 1949 he led a series of small bop combos that earned him great popularity as a leader. He made frequent use of bop singing, often in unison with his own horn. He had his own big band again for a year, but gave it up in February, 1951. He ran his own night club, the Open House, outside of Philadelphia, from December, 1950 until the summer of 1954. He was featured in the "Big Four" with Buddy Rich, Chubby Jackson, Many Napoleon from August, 1951, was then with Gene Krupa trio from January to June, 1952, during which time he visited Japan with Krupa. Since that time he has his own combos. Though Ventura is mainly known as a tenor saxophonist, he has often been heard on soprano, alto, baritone and bass sax.THEODORE MALCOLM "TED" NASH, tenor saxophonist, flutist, piccolo player, etc. was born in Somerville, Massachusetts on October 31, 1922. His mother was a concert singer. Nash, who had no formal training other than school, went on the road at the age of 17. He is best known as the featured soloist with Les Brown in 1944 to 1946 and Jerry Gray, 1947 to 1952. However, he has been heard (mostly on records) with dozens of name bands while living in Los Angeles, among them Bob Crosby, Dave Barbour, Pete Rugolo and Ray Anthony. He has also worked frequently in movie studios.