In the above Sonny Rollins interview he mentions a Herschel Evans. Evans played in the Count Basie Band and he also had that "gruff" tone.
Evans died very young of heart failure in 1939 but I was able to find the following video in which you can hear him solo. A very good player, IMHO.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XTrvw850N84
And this one with both Herschel Evans and Lester Young:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EQf8p2hRecc
Herschel Evans quick bio:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herschel_Evans
Evans died very young of heart failure in 1939 but I was able to find the following video in which you can hear him solo. A very good player, IMHO.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XTrvw850N84
And this one with both Herschel Evans and Lester Young:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EQf8p2hRecc
Herschel Evans quick bio:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herschel_Evans