Favourite solos, guitar excluded

Manning

Manning

Experienced
So we've had plenty of "fave guitar solo" threads. So it's time to look beyond that to a solo on a different instrument.

Here are some of mine:
- Dick Parry, sax on Pink Floyd's Money
- Kenny Kirkland, piano on "When the world is running down" on Sting's "Bring on the Night" live album
- Lew Soloff, trumpet on "God Bless the Child" by Blood Sweat and Tears
- Ian Anderson, flute... lots to choose from, but my personal fave is the one on the live version of "Thick as a Brick" on Jethro Tull's Bursting Out
- Jan Van Halen, clarinet, "Big Bad Bill" on Van Halen's Diver Down. It's far from the greatest clarinet playing of all time, but I always loved the fact that they got their dad in to play on an album.
 
Benny Good - Live at Carnegie Hall. Specifically "Sing Sing Sing". More specifically, Jess Stacy on piano at the end. A lot of other great solos in that performance, and that night in general. But it doesn't get any better than that piano solo.



Piano starts at 9:25
 
The famous sax solo from Hazel O'Connors 'will you' from the breaking glass movie - one for all you ex 80's punks :D
 
Multiple choices from Tony Banks, Rick Wakeman, Keith Emerson, Patrick Moraz, Jon Lord, Par Lindh, Peter Bardens, Rick Wright, Mike Oldfield, Thijs Van Leer, Tomas Bodin, Erik Norlander, Ken Hensley, Clive Nolan, Chris Squire, Geddy Lee, Greg Lake, Pete Trewavas, John Wetton, Dick Parry, Ian Anderson...


i.e: minute 3:00 of this




 
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Rory Gallagher's sax on I can't believe it's true - 1971.
Ending solo starting at 5:50

 
Sax:
Clarence Clemons – Jungleland, Raphael Ravenscroft – Baker Street, Sonny Rollins – Who by fire, Paul Gonsalves - Diminuendo &Crescendo In Blue, John Coltrane - someday my prince will come, Candy Duffer – Will You.

Flute:
Ian Anderson (Too many to list), Roland Kirk – Serenade to a Cuckoo, Francois joseph Gossec – Tambourin, Claude Debussy - Prélude à l'Après-midi d'un faune, James Galway – The Flight of the Bumblebee.

Rock Piano : Too many to list by Keith Emerson, Nicky Hopkins, Bill Payne, Leon Russell etc…
 
Hands down all time favorite non-guitar solo is the sax solo on Prince's version of "Nothing Compares 2 U". Sinead O'Connor made this song popular, but Prince wrote it and his version kills. He and Rosie Gaines on vocals trading phrases back and forth is awesome. Can't remember who the sax player is, but he plays a note in his solo that you can't hear without your back involuntarily arching. Pure magic.
 
I know it is fairly cheesy, and the saxophone equivalent of guitarist's "Stairway to Heaven", but one of the first none guitar solos that I tried to learn on the guitar was the saxophone solo on Dire Strait's "Your Latest Trick"...



While still on the saxophone, I always found the haunting sax playing on Men At Work's "Who Can It Be Now" to be very memorable... RIP Greg Ham :| (Apparently the solo on the record was the 'practice' take which the band loved, so they kept it)...

 
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Keyboard wise there's too many to list, but a few players that come up again and again: Lyle Mays, Rick Wakeman, Elton John, Bill Evans, Thelonious Monk, etc.

I always loved Branford Marsalis' solo on "I'll Dream of You Again" by Harry Connick

I'll Dream Of You Again - Harry Connick Jr..wmv - YouTube

This isn't a solo so much as a solo version of a David Bowie tune, it's Rick Wakeman's version of the part he originally played on the Bowie album:

The Other Side Of Rick Wakeman (2006) Part 6- Life On Mars - YouTube


These were just two off the top of my head, there's so many others.
 
CyberFerret said:
I know it is fairly cheesy, and the saxophone equivalent of guitarist's "Stairway to Heaven", but one of the first none guitar solos that I tried to learn on the guitar was the saxophone solo on Dire Strait's "Your Latest Trick"...

Click to expand...



I always loved that sax part. I usually don't like sax in rock settings as much (not counting Pink Floyd), although I love it in Jazz.
 
I have to many, since my favorite solos are not guitar.

John Coltranes solo on Miles Davis's '58 Newport Live Bye Bye Blackbird. Black Pearls and Soul Trane.
John Coltrane Chim Chim Chere. Too many.
Chick Corea - Now He Sings Now He Sobs or Matrix from the same album.
Charlie Parker - Ko Ko. Too many to choose really. Ko-Ko was just the first major one.
Michael Brecker - too many to choose.

Brad Mehldau Too many.

I give up.
 
I'll add another: the combination of Andy MacKay's sax solo and Bryan Ferry's multitracked harmonica solo in "Grey Lagoons". The fun starts at 1:10:

 
There's 2 drummers I've always loved, Ginger Baker and Bill Bruford (snare sound is the best I've heard)



Soft Machine 1973, can't get enough of it. THe keyboard player's mastery of sublime chords is beyond words

 
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