alto

Rollins’ first instrument, at age 13, was the alto saxophone, followed by the tenor when he was in his mid-teens.

From Los Angeles Times ● May 26, 2026

Hearing Hawkins’s recording of “Body and Soul” as a fourth-grader had been a turning point for Rollins musically and eventually lead him to switch from alto to tenor saxophone.

From The Wall Street Journal ● May 26, 2026

“Chulahoma” is riveting for Mr. Sewell’s lines, which are alternately gritty and soaring, and for Mr. Lloyd’s playing, which hints at the blues-based melodicism of yet another dear, departed friend, the alto saxophonist Ornette Coleman.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 11, 2025

I was in marching band when I was in high school, I played the alto saxophone.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 21, 2025

Duke’s great alto saxman, Johnny Hodges—he was Shorty’s idol—still owes me for a shoe- shine I gave him.

From "The Autobiography of Malcolm X" by Alex Malcolm X;Hailey

She remembers opening the windows when the weather got warm, letting the sounds of altos and sopranos and tenors travel down the street.

From Washington Post ● Apr. 4, 2023

But for my fellow altos, the melodic range of female alto songs and male tenor songs very closely overlaps; for example, Rihanna and Queen.

From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 11, 2022

"But if you notice, they are all from melodic lines and they move in intervals that can be taken by sopranos, altos, tenors and basses, and this is not possible to do like that."

From BBC ● Nov. 16, 2021

For this year’s service, he rewrote bass and tenor parts for altos and sopranos so it would work with the choristers who agreed to sing.

From New York Times ● Dec. 20, 2020

Suesetta stops in the middle of the choir stand—where the altos usually are—holding a hymnal in her arms.

From "Betty Before X" by Ilyasah Shabazz and Renée Watson