Pepper Adams ....

PEPPER ADAMS (saxophonist, bandleader) was born Park Adams III on October 8, 1930 in Highland Park, Michigan and passed away September 10, 1986 in Brooklyn, New York. Nicknamed the “Knife” because according to Mel Lewis… “when he would get up to blow his playing had almost a slashing effect on the rest of us… and before he was through, cut everybody down to size”.

Citing Wardell Gray and Harry Carney as his influences the hard bop baritone saxophonist released 20 albums as leader and co-led a group with Donald Byrd. Adams was primarily a much sought after sideman, working with the big bands of Stan Kenton, Maynard Ferguson and Benny Goodman, supporting Paul Chambers, John Coltrane, Hank Jones, Lee Morgan and most notably Thad Jones/Mel Lewis Big Band and Charles Mingus.
read more: http://www.canadianjazzarchive.org/en/musicians/pepper-adams.html

Park "Pepper" Adams III, Baritone Sax solo starts at 2:42 min.

Already in the late-1950s, Stan Kenton had an appropriate nickname for the baritone beast: 

"The Knife." 

Pepper Adams and Nick Brignola were indisputably, unquestionably the two greatest bari sax players ever. 
No other baritonist has ever come close.
(Frank Basile, keep practicing)

Pepper Adams did his best work in the 1970-1980 period. Recommeded Pepper Adams albums/CDs from this decade: "Ephemera", "Reflectory", "Be Bop?" [with Barry Altschul], "Baritone Madness" [Nick Brignola], "The Master", "One For Bird" [Bishop Norman Williams], "Twelfth & Pingree", "New Life" [Thad Jones/Mel Lewis], "Julian", "Four On The Outside" [Curtis Fuller], "Live in Europe", "Live Jazz By the Sea", just to name a few...

"Urban Dreams" (1981) is also phenomenal, but it's a great pity he used a crappy new mouthpiece (and his new sax) during this recording (he promply discarded the piece-of-junk mouthpiece for another one that improved the sound quality, although it was never as good as the old Berg Larsen he had acquired in the late 1940s -- the one you see in the above video).