I am reasonably sure you friend was referring to three tenors and a baritone sax. The best known tenor band I know of was Woody Herman. Hope this answers your question.
 

Little Richard used a drummer and three awesome tenors. Many of the black players that people stole fron (Pat Boone) used the same setup. Ray Charles used a number of tenors in early days also. Jimmi Hendrix came from such an enviroment, but many people just don't know the true musical history behind where we are today. Tenor saxes were very dominant in the early crossover days. It took European white guys to make the black music make stream.

There use to be "Tenor Bands" in the 40's and 50s and earlier.. They were corny bands that played at places like Moose, Elks Clubs and VFWs. They had usually the 3 tenors, a trumpet with a rhythm section. Then there was the Woody Herman Band that had the 3 tenors, a Bari, Woody played alto and clarinet, a brass section and rhythm. They were a very hip Jazz band.