Tenor saxophonist, he joined ellington's band in 1940; his "airy" ballad style solos were so tuneful that they often sounded as though they could have been the original song:

I believe the correct answer is Benjamin Webster.

Benjamin Francis Webster was an American jazz tenor saxophonist that is considered to be one of the three most important "swing tenors". He played in Ellington's orchestra for the first time in 1935, and by 1940. he was performing with it full-time as the band's first major tenor soloist.