Count Saxes March

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The format is fairly standard. Brass trumpets and bones make up the back wall of the band with percussion off to the sides -- bass and guitar, drums and piano. Reeds, meaning saxes, sit in front because of the lack of sound-carry in the construct of their instruments.

Each section chairs a soloist or two , and the rest of the players carry the sound, which is something on loan from another generation and influenced, to a large extent, by a pianist who went by the name of Count Basie. When I think of Basie, the word "syncopation" comes to mind. William Basie learned stride piano from Fats Waller. In time he would morph that rolling, percussive sound into a distinctive vision that took almost two dozen musicians at a time to fully realize. Basie led his shows from behind the piano, answering his band's downbeats with loud, offbeat keyboard accents. It became a trademark sound, and he fronted it with the blues and jazz legends of the day -- names like Billy Holiday, Joe Williams, and, later, Ella Fitzgerald and Frank Sinatra.

Count Basie died in a Florida hospital in , almost 50 years after forming his first group in from the leavings of Bennie Moton's big band. So, what's left of the Basie Orchestra today? After winning 16 Grammys, critics call him an institution, but his band has never really stopped performing. This prevented the saxophone from being used for its original purpose in the orchestra. However, many composers were impressed with the sound of the saxophone and steadily incorporated it into their pieces.

This versatile instrument was used in many musical styles. For example, it has been used in opera such as Bizet's VArlesienne and also worked into Ravel's orchestral piece, Bolero. In the United States , the instrument was made famous by J. Sousa who used it extensively in his marching band compositions. The true potential of the sax was realized by jazz musicians during the early s. Artists like Charlie Parker and John Coltrane helped make it the most popular woodwind solo instrument for jazz. Both of these musicians had distinctly different sounds. The individualized sound is a result of various mouthpiece materials and structures, reed hardness, and the musicians mouth position.

For jazz musicians, the mouthpiece was modified so the instrument would be louder. Saxophones are primarily made from brass. Brass is a composite alloy made up of metals including copper, tin, nickel, and zinc. Other types include gold brass and silver brass which have different ratios. The zinc in brass makes the alloy workable at lower temperatures.

Some custom manufacturers use special blends of brass for different saxophone parts. A small amount of arsenic or phosphorous also may be added to make the brass more useful in tubing applications. Other materials are used to make the saxophone. Most of the screws are composed of stainless steel.

Cork is used to line the joints and water keys. In some cases, a wax is applied to these joints.

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Mouthpieces can be made from various materials, however, the material has little effect on the sound. The most common material is black, hard rubber or ebonite. Metal or glass mouthpieces are also available. Plastic resonators are made and the instrument is often coated with a lacquer. Nickel plating on the keys helps strengthen them and keeps them attractive.

The typical saxophone is a single reed instrument constructed from brass with a curved bottom. Originally available in 14 different sizes and keys, today that number has been reduced to six. This includes—in order of pitch from highest to lowest—the sopranino, soprano, alto, tenor, baritone, and bass saxophones. Generally, the smallest instrument is the sopranino and the largest is the bass.

Maurice de Saxe

The saxophone mouthpiece is the part of the instrument that the musician blows in to produce the sound. The construction of the mouthpiece has an important effect on the final sound of the instrument. It makes the difference between the sax player in a symphony orchestra and one in a rock band. There are two main parts of the mouthpiece that affect tone: Mouthpieces are typically marked with a letter or number to denote the width of the lay.

The reed is attached to the saxophone and vibrates to create the sound. Saxophone reeds are made from bamboo Arundo donax which is grown in southern France. The reed can be made soft or hard depending on the desire of the musician. The ligature is the part that holds the reed on the mouthpiece.

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It attaches to the mouthpiece with screws. They can be made from innumerable materials such as leather, metal, or plastic. The crook is the part that joins the mouthpiece and the main instrument body. At the top of it is a cork which is important for tuning the instrument. The tone changes depending on where the mouthpiece is positioned on the cork.

The other end of the crook is a metal joint that fits into the main body of the saxophone. It connects with a screw to keep the crook in place. Saxophone keys are of two types, closed standing and open standing.

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Closed standing keys are those that are held closed by a spring when the instrument is not being played. When the key is pressed, the hole it covers is opened. Open standing keys are held open by a spring and close when the key is pressed.

Each key has a pad on its end which provides an airtight seal on the hole. The saxophone tube is a long, metal tube which steadily gets wider at one end. It has holes drilled in the side at specific spots to create notes. When all the holes are closed, the instrument works much like a bugle amplifying the sound of the vibrating reed. When a hole is opened, the sound is modified producing a different note.

The conical shape of the saxophone makes the overtones octaves. This makes fingering easier because the higher pitched notes are produced with the same fingering as lower pitched ones. Since saxophone demand is relatively high, their manufacture is largely an automated process. The primary production steps include piece formation, assembly, and final polishing. Production of the various saxophone parts is a specialized operation and often done by contract manufacturers. They produce the pieces and send them to the saxophone producers for assembly. John William Coltrane Jr. Discovering jazz through the recordings of Count Basie and Lester Young , he persuaded his mother to buy him a saxophone, settling for an alto because it was supposedly easier.

Coltrane showed a proficiency on the saxophone almost immediately. After studying at the Granoff Studios and at the Ornstein School of Music in Philadelphia, he joined a cocktail lounge band. He played for a year with a Navy band in Hawaii before landing a spot in the Eddie Vinson ensemble in For Vinson's band, Coltrane performed on the tenor sax. After a year with Vinson, Coltrane joined Dizzy Gillespie 's group for four years.

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By then he was experimenting with composition and technical innovation. In the s Coltrane played horn for Miles Davis and Thelonious Monk ; the latter showed him tricks of phrasing and harmony that deepened instrumental control. Coltrane devoted himself to rapid runs in which individual notes were virtually indistinguishable, a style quickly labeled "sheets of sound.

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