Rollin' with Leo

Horn players were always the show ponies of bebop.

- ROBERT BAIRD

While drummer Art Blakey, pianist Thelonious Monk, and other instrumentalists were also powerful pioneers, it was the saxophonists, building on the legacy of the great Charlie Parker, who've come to symbolize this once-hated, now-revered form of jazz.

While the tenors and altos got the lion's share of saxophone glory, baritone players also made their mark, on bebop and also swing. Perhaps the most famous is Harry Carney, a mainstay of the Duke Ellington Orchestra. Serge Chaloff, Pepper Adams, Gerry Mulligan, and Cecil Payne are all baritone sax players of note. More recently, Gary Smulyan and Hamiet Bluiett have added their distinctive voices.

Demanding more air and a different, more supportive embouchure, the baritone sax emits an unforgettable tone. Often described as "brawny," that sound is immediately distinct when the hefty instrument is played with verve and gusto.

One of if not the earliest bebop baritone saxophone practitioners was Leo Parker. His last album, Rollin' With Leo, which was recorded in 1961 but not released until 1980, is one of the most recent releases in Blue Note Records' uniformly excellent Tone Poet vinyl-reissue series.