Love the topic. But how can I possibly answer this? Let me see...
My personal influences (I'm a professional sax player):
Maceo Parker
Gerald Albright
John Coltrane
Lenny Pickett
What I've been listening to lately:
Gran Torino
Jamiroquai
Dr. Dre
Some of my favorites:
Anything from Motown
Sting
Edwin McCain (I prefer his older stuff "Honor Among Thieves" Album etc)
Dave Matthews
Bela Fleck
Actually, you know what... I don't normally do this on the forum but fuck it. Here's my MySpace page, see for yourselves.
http://www.myspace.com/chrisholtsax