alto

Mr. Threadgill, who plays alto saxophone and flute and is a Pulitzer Prize-winning composer, first assembled this band 25 years ago to further a compositional strategy that is singular and yet invites improvised collaboration.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 2, 2026

On that last track, recorded a dozen years ago, Mr. Lloyd, playing alto sax, seems like a fountain, distilling fragments of songs and scales into a narrative that spills forth in graceful gushes.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 5, 2026

They’ve championed the resurgence of norteño-sax, a subgenre that fuses the accordion sounds of norteño music with an invigorating alto saxophone, made popular by legendary groups like Conjunto Primavera.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 17, 2026

He also admired alto saxophonist and R&B pioneer Louis Jordan.

From The Wall Street Journal ● May 26, 2026

He had his alto sax idol, Johnny Hodges, with Duke Ellington’s band, but he said he thought too many young musicians were only carbon-copying the big-band names on the same instrument.

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

"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

Like other community choirs, we have way more sopranos and altos than tenors and basses.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 25, 2021

“Pattern-mixing is a chorus, and you need altos, sopranos, tenors and a bass line,” Luckett says.

From Washington Post ● Jan. 11, 2021

“And she was like, ‘Yeah, you’ve got to represent for all the altos and all the low female singers.’

From Seattle Times ● Nov. 6, 2020

I forfeit the solo to Anna Muller—whom Carissimi could never love—and am moved into the altos.

From "What the Night Sings" by Vesper Stamper