Hey! I play Alto Saxophone and I am in a Jazz/Swing band and I want to know some Jazz musicians and their songs that I can listen to and so I can get an influence so then I can start to make up my own songs and help me with solo parts in other songs.

There are so many that it's almost impossible to answer that question. You need to find a "way in" to the music to discover what you like and then start exploring from there.

How about picking a tune you like - a jazz standard, then try finding several recordings of that tune featuring different alto players.

Work out what you like and what you don't. Maybe you'll want to listen to more stuff by one of the alto players. Maybe the pianist in the band will really stand out to you and you can do that track, or you'll love another tune....

Alto players you might want to listen to are

Charlie Parker, Cannonball Adderley, Paul Desmond, David Sanborn, Maceo Parker, Kenny Garrett, Soweto Kinch, Johnny Hodges, Lee Konitz....

How about going to your local library and borrowing some CDs. They usually only charge about 60p per CD per week. Start borrowing the popular artists such as Charlie Parker, Sonny Rollins, Cannonball Adderley etc. and once you've done those, pick the ones you've never heard of. I find this a great way of listening to artists I've never heard of without commiting £10 of my hard-earned cash on their CD. If you like it buy it, if you don't it only cost you 60p!!