Thanks to Dallas' efforts to preserve jazz education — look to Booker T. Washington High School or the University of North Texas' music programs — the city isn't short on talented brass players. Yet Quamon Fowler still stands out as a saxophone player with his 25-plus-years of hitting jazz notes right in the soul. The musician, teacher and bandleader has released seven albums and won third place in the Thelonious Monk International Jazz Saxophone Competition in 2008, and he continues to melt the ear off listeners with the Quamon Fowler Quartet. He's as smooth as it gets.