Jazz musicians with uniquely recognizable sound
They say there's a little Bird in all those Jazz musicians that came after him.
But there definitely existed/exist Jazz musicians that got their own unique sound that can't possibly be mistaken for anyone else's.
For me, there's a tie for the crown: Coltrane & Johnny Hodges. The 2 Johnnies if you will ;p
With Coltrane, despite which kind of sax he used, you'd know it's him. His soprano sax sounds very close to this ancient Iranian reed instrument "suona". Even before I knew him well, I could kinda tell it was him when I heard him play.
Johnny Hodges. I never heard anyone that sounds like him, which is extremely rare. For example, you do hear people intentionally sounding like Coltrane. But with Hodges, those huge leaps, those glides and his close association with Ellington, or whatever it might be, had given him such a distinct miraculous voice.
The 3rd would be Cannonball. While he could pull an occasional Coltrane out of the bag, he got such a rich bluesy sound and intricate phrasing.
All 3 are among my fav Jazz musicians. Sorry I've been listening to sax nonstop thus the list currently consists of only saxophonists. Is there anyone else to add to the list?
n