[saxtek]

I have just added an old cassette recording of my 1861 original Adolphe Sax baritone saxophone to my MYSPACE site. Click on Septieme Solo de Concert.

The other saxophones in the quartet recording are modern instruments played by superb modern players - Richard Brookens, soprano; Neal Bonsanti, alto; Scott Klarman, tenor (with a brief solo).

We recorded the piece in the living room of Scott's father, Murray Klarman, one of the great New York woodwind doublers. The recording device was a Sony Walkman! - Not exactly high tech, but how often do you get to hear the sound of the earliest saxophones?

The baritone saxophone was made in 1861 by Adolphe Sax himself. The mouthpiece was a 100 (?) year old grenadilla wood baritone mouthpiece with a HUGE chamber. It is brighter than many people might assume.

http://www.myspace.com/saxpsychosis

 

[hakukani]

Great stuff!. The recording was fine except for the dropouts. Outstanding!

(It still sounds like cartoon soundtracks--not that that's a bad thing)

 

[Reedsplinter]

Gorgeous tone. Thanks for posting that!

 

[MRC]

Hey, that was cool. Never heard a real Adolphe sax before, always wondered how they would sound. And yes, not nearly as dark-sounding as I was thinking it would be. The recording itself was quite acceptable, never would have guessed it was done on a Walkman...

 

[Saxby]

I would have thought that a sax of that age would be completely useless today!

Shows how much I know

WOW.

 

[SactoPete]

Wow - that was beautiful. The tone was soulful, and the playing superb. Thank you so much for sharing it.

BTW, that "four big brothers" blew me away too. Amazing how you can get around those big horns.

Pete

 

[haptown]

Very nice. Thanks for that.

 

[Isle of Jazz]

Ditto. Inspiring!

 

[jthole]

Wow - that was beautiful. The tone was soulful, and the playing superb. Thank you so much for sharing it.

BTW, that "four big brothers" blew me away too. Amazing how you can get around those big horns.

Pete

Just amazing how that sax is singing!

 

[saintsday]

Thanks, Randy.

 

[jnewmann]

A breath of fresh air

 

[saxtek]

The 146 year old baritone sax actually has very good intonation with an old-style mouthpiece. There are a few notes that are slightly off, but that is true of any saxophone. The "bad" notes on the Adolphe Sax baritone are not necessarily worse than a newer horn, but they tend to be different notes.

For example, on most saxophones the octave jump from low D to middle D is one of the worst intervals. On the 1861 baritone, it is just about perfect.

My myspace page - click Septieme Solo de Concert

http://www.myspace.com/saxpsychosis

 

[Rackety Sax]

Randy, I'm confused. Shouldn't the Sax sax be high pitched and hopelessly out of tune with modern horns?

 

[saxtek]

"Randy, I'm confused. Shouldn't the Sax sax be high pitched and hopelessly out of tune with modern horns?"

Good question.

When the saxophone came into common use, in the 1850s, pitch varied quite a bit all over Europe. The tuning note, A natural, had been rising, and in many places it was approaching A=450. The biggest problems occurred when musicians from different localities tried to play together, because in some places A natural was below A=440.

If my memory serves me well, it was in 1859 that France made the official legal standard pitch A=435. However, at the time, almost every wind instrument in existence was tuned a little higher than that. Any manufacturer who constructed an instrument pitched at A=435 would have a very unpopular horn because it would be the flattest insrument in the band. All other things being equal, a little sharper is better than a little flatter.

Most instrument makers, including Sax, chose to lower the pitch of their wind instruments only slightly at first. My 1861 Adolphe Sax baritone was probably made for the French army (clue: There is a presentation number on the bell), so by law, it should have been an A=435 horn.

By actual play testing, however, my baritone plays best somewhere around A=440 to A=445, depending on the mouthpiece. it actually makes sense. The French army wasn't going to dump all their musical instruments just because of the new law, nor was anyone else.

Over the next few years, the actual playing pitch (in France at least) slowly got lower until it reached the legal requirement of A=435. My Adolphe Sax alto saxophone made in 1876, for example, plays very well at exactly A=435.

In my experience, the general rule about early saxophones (and I know there are exceptions) is:
From around 1850, most saxophones are a little above modern pitch, with the average being about A=445. Most of these instruments can be played in a modern ensemble if the player uses his ears.
By 1876, and probably a little earlier, most saxophones are at A=435. these horns are a little harder to use at modern pitch. Arno Bornkamp's terrific CD, ADOLPHE SAX REVISITED, is played entirely on an 1876 alto just like mine, and Ivo Janssen, his piano player, plays on an early piano tuned to A=435.

Whew! That was a long one. Sorry about that.

My MYSPACE music page - click on Septieme Solo de Concert

http://www.myspace.com/saxpsychosis

 

[Rackety Sax]

OK, thanks for the thorough explanation!

 

[Giganova]

Wow -- fantastic!

It's the first time that I hear an A Sax saxophone and didn't expect it to sound so beautiful. On the other hand, saxtek probably sounds great on a garden hose.

 

[CiaranAudio]

(drool...)

 

[cleger]

If my memory serves me well, it was in 1859 that France made the official legal standard pitch A=435.

I love this, they actually passed a law for standard pitch? I can just see it now, "the honourable member from upper numbnuts Saskatchewan is proposing a bill to set standard pitch".

Oh, by the way, beautiful playing on those recordings. Incredible what those old horns can still do.

 

[saxtek]

Hear Ye, Hear Ye!

I love this, they actually passed a law for standard pitch? I can just see it now, "the honourable member from upper numbnuts Saskatchewan is proposing a bill to set standard pitch".

Or how about, "All stand! The Emperor vs. Frenchie le Clampjaw, accused of playing Le Marseillaise at A=445! How do you plead?"

My Myspace page - click Septieme Solo de Concert (At an illegal pitch, but close enough to keep me out of jail, even in 1861)

http://www.myspace.com/saxpsychosis

 

[Gaines (bari]

that's how I'm going to strive to sound from now on! That horn sounds beautiful