Paul Quinichette

Lester Young’s light and feathery, yet subtly emotional, playing style was so powerful that it inspired a whole school of saxophone players (among them, Stan Getz and Paul Desmond). But Paul Quinichette nailed down the sound of "The Prez" so completely, he was dubbed the "Vice Prez." People who loved Young, like Count Basie and Billie Holiday, scooped him up and he recorded regularly during the 1950s. Unlike Getz, Desmond, or Art Pepper, Quinichette may not have added much to Young’s "cool" style but his recordings in his own name (and especially with Basie) are a joy to hear. He is not widely known today because by the end of the '50s he had left music for a career in electrical engineering.