Definitely 90% the sax player.

Breath support, embouchure (mouth on the mouthpiece and reed), even changing the shape of the player's oral cavity can change the sound of the sax.

A good player can make his/her sax sound in many ways, from a sub-tone to a razor's edge. Quite a few famous sax players develop a signature sound which identify them on their recordings, but most are capable of doing much, much more.

I try to be versatile and have played in jazz, blues, rock, Latin, and other bands (being a Chameleon means greater possibilities of gigging). I'll use the same sax/mouthpiece/reed/horn to play a mellow jazz ballad ad I will to play a Junior Walker song. The difference is in the things I wrote about above. I try to play what is appropriate to the song I'm playing.

Plus there are things that can't be changed, the resonance of the body of the person playing the sax. I could duplicate Stan Getz's sax, reed, and mouthpiece and work to sound similar, but I could never sound exactly like Stan did.

Next it's the mouthpiece. How wide the tip opening is, how large/small is the chamber, and to a lesser extent what is the mouthpiece made of. Some sax players go crazy with mouthpieces. I've known guys with scores of mouthpieces and are still searching for the perfect piece. I hope they find it.

The reed is related to the tip opening. Larger tip openings require softer reeds, but there still is a variance in reed strength due to the players preferences.

Then comes the horn itself. The shape of the bore and the density of the brass affect the tone as well.

After saying all that. The great Charlie Parker had a drug problem. Often his horn was in a pawn shop, so he borrowed horns. He even played on a Grafton plastic sax and still sounded like Charlie Parker.

It's mostly the player.

When it comes to recording the saxophone, the mic, EQ and all those other tools can shape the tone.

I remember trying to record my Alto with a Shure SM58 on a 4 track reel-to-reel Teac back in the 1980s. It sounded quite a bit like a clarinet on tape. Using a Sennheiser 421MD made all the difference in the world.

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