Sil Austin

Sil Austin (17 September 1929 - 1 September 2001) was an American jazz tenor saxophonist. He had his biggest success in an overtly commercial rather than jazz vein, but he regarded jazz saxophonists like Coleman Hawkins, Lester Young and Sonny Stitt as his major influences. He was a showman on stage, and had a big, ripe blues-inflected tenor sound which was ideally adapted to hard-driving rhythm & blues, but was also highly persuasive on ballads.