The Mighty Indiana

Last Tuesday I messed up my back. I usually play tenor on my gigs, but Friday night each set was torture, I couldn't support it w/o it straining my back. To make matters worse, on the last song of the night, already past 1:00 , the guitar player gets inspired and decides to play an extra 7 minutes on his solo! So for Sat. night I decided to play alto. We play mostly rock, blues, a little jazzy stuff and one or 2 Willie Nelsons. I got out my trusty '49 King Zephyr and to my horror, one of the upper stack springs was broken. In a panic(one hour before the gig) I searched for and found my $165.00, hanging on the wall behind the "high end" jewelry counter, Goodwill special mid 50's Martin Indiana alto. I put on my trusty Bari brand Richie Cole mouthpiece, tested it for intonation (do all altos have worse intonation than tenors? All 5 of mine do) and left for the gig.Well, I was pleasantly surprised to say the least.This horn was as close to a tenor sound an alto can make! Pretty ballsy and a truly beautiful tone. Even the guitar player voluntarily commented that he really liked the tone and said to bring either tenor or alto whatever I preferred. Other than adjusting to playing in the new keys, it was a great night of playing. I played it Sunday morning in church and got many, many favorable comments how they liked my sax playing. So, maybe I should play it more often!! Love those Martins!!!