Pete Christlieb / Bob Cooper

Pete Christlieb is probably one the world's most famous anonymous tenor saxophonists. For years, he played jazz tenor in Doc Severinsen's Tonight Show big band. His big, beefy sound and aggressive solos were heard mostly in brief snippets as the show came out of commercials, unfortunately denying the American public a chance to hear a very fine saxophonist improvise at length. Though he's done good work elsewhere, Christlieb's biggest claim to fame away from Severinsen and Carson is a Warner Brothers album he recorded in 1978 with fellow tenorist Warne Marsh. Apogee is one of the most compelling straight-ahead jazz albums of the '70s. Christlieb's cocky, rhythmically assured style contrasts effectively with Marsh's looser, more querulous manner. The record's overall air of curious abandon foretold (somewhat wrongly, as it turned out) a bright future for mainstream acoustic jazz in the coming decade. Christlieb was born into a musical family. He began playing the violin at seven, and tenor sax at 13. After playing with a variety of L.A.-based bands in the early '60s, including those led by Chet Baker, Woody Herman, and Sy Zentner, Christlieb joined drummer Louis Bellson's band in 1967, with which he would continue to play into the '80s. His first record as leader was the deleted Jazz City, an LP released in 1971. The tenorist started his own label, Bosco Records, in 1981; Bosco would issue small-group albums by Christlieb, as well records by Bellson and Bob Florence. Christlieb has long been in demand as a studio player; he's played innumerable sessions of every type. Other prominent jazz figures with whom he's played include Count Basie, Benny Goodman, Quincy Jones, and Sarah Vaughan.