[mightytenor]

Although some posts regarding this subject are found in this forum (isolated and spreaded), may I suggest creating this thread. What has become of the instruments many famous players owned/used? For example, there is one video of the grafton once played by Bird.


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[rzzzzz]

(a lot more writing than i would want on a vid, but this is from '61 and adds Dolphy on flute. was this horn auctioned off along with his two tenors a couple of years ago? i kind of remember it being withdrawn or something.)

 

[111518]

There's a story in Maxine Gordon's biography of Dexter Gordon --also on the site below-- about the friendship between Ben Webster and Dexter when both were living in Copenhagen. When Ben Webster died in 1973, Dexter bought his MarkVI, and played it for the rest of his life. As of 2016, it was in the possession of Maxine Gordon. That pretty much defines a "well-played" horn.
http://www.dextergordon.org/blog/2016/1/4/ben-and-dex-1

 

[whaler]

If that was Ben's sax, he never played it,
Rutgers has Ben Webster's BA tenor on display. The "one that 'never left his side".
I've never seen a photo of Ben Webster with that two tone Mark VI.
https://ijsrutgers.wordpress.com/

 

[111518]

Reading further down the story, into the comments and replies, Maxine Gordon says the the horn she is discussing is at the Institute of Jazz Studies in Newark, so, must be the same horn. Apparently Webster named it Betsy. As to the BA/MkVI distinction --I only know what I read.

 

[mightytenor]

Awsome! thanks for all the data. I've been searching and found this:

One of Bird's horns, now property of the Smithsonian:
https://www.si.edu/object/alto-saxophone-owned-and-played-charlie-parker:nmaahc_2019.10.1a-g

Latest Johnny Hodges horn (a true work of art):

Charlie Parker Grafton:

 

[mightytenor]

I wonder about those horns owned not by the obvious Bird and Trane etc, but for example Zoot Sims, Coleman Hawkins, Lester Young. I've done my search on the web (also eBay) and found too little, if any, information. Anyway, those horns must be in hands of private collectors, or worse, of people who know nothing about the true value of these instruments. Such a petty.

 

[greatlakeswinds]

Stan Getz's Mark VI tenor is on display at library (named after him) of Berklee college of music.

 

[Isle of Jazz]

I've mentioned this before, but I have a Vito baritone that was made for Cecil Payne and has his name inscribed on the bell. He played it in the early '70's before he bought his Yani in the '80s.

 

[111518]

I looked through the link that whaler posted for the Institute of Jazz Studies at Rutgers, and in addition to the Ben Webster horn they have Lester Young's Conn, and horns from Don Byas and Benny Carter.
https://ijsrutgers.wordpress.com/

 

[whaler]

I remember playing an early Mark VI tenor at one of the stores in NYC that they told me had belonged to Richie Kamuca. I think it was Pontes. I used to go to the stores sometimes to see if there was anything better than my Mark VI. That was the only one I thought played better but I didn’t have the money at that time and didn’t want to sell mine.

 

[LiAm84]

If that was Ben's sax, he never played it,
Rutgers has Ben Webster's BA tenor on display. The "one that 'never left his side".
I've never seen a photo of Ben Webster with that two tone Mark VI.
https://ijsrutgers.wordpress.com/

There is some video footage in one of the Ben Webster documentaries of him with the Mark VI at his home in Copenhagen I think.

 

[LiAm84]

Stan Getz's gold plated Mark IV apparently on display just inside the entrance to the main library at Berklee College of Music in Boston.

 

[LiAm84]

A few months ago I saw Ronnie Scott's Mark VI on display in a music shop here in the UK.

 

[LiAm84]

Lester Young's Conn NW, Ben Webster's Selmer BA, Don Byas' Dolnet, Benny Carter's Mark VI alto are at Rutgers University. See link:

https://ijsrutgers.wordpress.com/

 

[Jaice Singer DuMars]

I've got "Big Sam" Marowitz's alto that has a ton of history.

 

[LiAm84]

Lester Young's Conn Transitional tenor that he played towards the end of his career was recently donated to the Smithsonian.

https://jazztimes.com/blog/lester-young-instruments-and-hat-to-be-donated-to-smithsonian/

Also I believe his Dolnet was owned by Dave Pell:

https://www.artsjournal.com/rifftides/2009/06/56_years_of_rust_pell_rescues.html

 

[Reet McVouty]

If that was Ben's sax, he never played it,
Rutgers has Ben Webster's BA tenor on display. The "one that 'never left his side".
I've never seen a photo of Ben Webster with that two tone Mark VI.
https://ijsrutgers.wordpress.com/

Yeah, I read in a Dexter Gordon biography that Dexter's Mark VI was given to him by Ben Webster, not that Dexter bought it from Ben's estate. Ben may have had the MK VI and didn't play it so he gave it to Dexter. Here's a picture of Ben from 1969, four years before he died and he's holding a BA.

https://www.gettyimages.no/detail/n...er-performing-with-buddy-news-photo/959274360

 

[LiAm84]

There is some video footage in one of the Ben Webster documentaries of him with the Mark VI at his home in Copenhagen I think.

Here's the video footage I mentioned of Ben with the Mark VI. He is seen holding it at around 4:15 (not playing though). I guess he always prefered his BA.

 

[Stretch]

Pat LaBarbera plays a Mark VI tenor and soprano that once belonged to Lucky Thompson.