A saxophonist is a person who plays the saxophone — that shiny, curved metal wind instrument with a reed in the mouthpiece. You hear it a lot in jazz, in school bands, and sometimes in pop. The word is the ordinary, slightly careful name for the player; in easy talk many people just say “sax player.” You can add a kind, like jazz saxophonist or tenor saxophonist, when you need to be exact. It names the person, never the instrument itself.