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Michael James

Professor Loudermilk

English Composition 2

April 26, 2020

Sax is the Greatest Instrument, Bring it Back!

Ever since I was a small child, I thought that the saxophone was a cool instrument. I used

to listen to quite a lot of 70’s and 80’s music with my father, and along with that style of music

came the wailing saxophone solos. Songs like “Maneater”, “Born to Run”, and “Baker Street”

immediately come to mind when I think about the saxophone. In fifth grade, I finally got the

chance to play the saxophone, and I immediately fell in love. It was an experience similar to that

of many other sax players. It was similar to Sonny Rollin’s first experience: “He picked up the

horn and he went into his bedroom for what he felt was for 15 minutes and he came out six or

seven hours later and he had been in a reverie the whole time” (Segell). I have been playing ever

since, and I am the first chair in all my school’s bands.

I love listening to any music involving the saxophone, but I have always wondered why

the saxophone is not involved in any new music being released. The rare times that the

saxophone does appear in a new song, it is with an indie band that is not very popular. Even

though the saxophone has almost always been at the top of the charts in America’s music, in the

past twenty years it has all but disappeared from the spotlight. This is due to three major reasons.

The first reason is that music technology has replaced most acoustic instruments, including the

saxophone. The second reason is that people are hesitant to use the saxophone because it has a

bad reputation in the minds of many people, because of it’s the way it has been used in the past
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as “the most annoying part" of a song. Finally, it has not been used because it still seems out of

place in the music that is being made today, largely due to the sound of newer music being

highly electronic.

Although still a relatively new instrument, the saxophone has had quite the interesting

history, full of controversy. The word ‘saxophone’

translates literally to ‘the sound of Sax’. It was

invented by Antoine Joseph Sax, who had quite the

interesting history of his own. He was born in

Belgium, and with the help of his father’s knowledge

of making instruments, eventually became the

appointed instrument maker to the Court of the

Netherlands. He became an impressive clarinet player

but kept returning to his workshop to try and improve

on its design. It is unknown what exactly he thought of

or led him to create the saxophone, nor is it completely

Fig 1: My Yamaha Custom Z Tenor
known when exactly he first invented it, but he sax, not so different from the one
made by Sax 180 years ago
debuted his design of a the new instrument at the

Brussels Exhibition of 1841. He did not win the gold prize that year but had much

encouragement to pursue his new design. He moved to Paris in 1842 (Ingham).

When Adolphe Sax got to France, his beautiful new creation threatened the businesses of

the local instrument makers. They decided the best way to keep their businesses was to simply

sabotage Sax’s, so they set about their task. They stole his designs, broke his prototypes, took
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away his workforce, accused him of insanity, tried burning down his factory, and even went as

far as to try and assassinate Adolphe himself (Cotrell p18). He still succeeded anyways, and his

instruments eventually became the ones used in French military bands. He also went about

teaching others how to play the saxophone, as he needed proficient players to be able to advertise

his invention. Still his competitors tried to ruin him, bringing multiple lawsuits against him.

Throughout the course of his time in France, he filed for bankrupt three separate times. He made

and lost fortunes but died almost penniless in his home in 1894 (Cotrell p36). There was even

controversy in the date of his death!

The saxophone did not make it to America until around 1872, when a French Military

band performed in Boston. It quickly caught on, and was eventually used in John Philip Sousa’s

Band, and the United States Marine Band (Ingham 34). In a truly American way, the sax began

to give a voice to a few people groups whose voices had been quieted in history previously. The

first of these groups was women. In the years after the saxophone’s invention, its newness meant

that it could practically be whatever people wanted it to be. Even now in its newness, people

have come to believe that anything is possible with it. Because of that mindset, women began to

play the sax. One of these women was Etta Morgan, a US saxophonist who was succeeding in a

male-dominated music industry, when it was considered unladylike to play an instrument

(Kelsey-Sugg). Then, in the 1910’s around the time of the suffrage movement in America,

women began to form all-saxophone bands (Segell).

At the same time, jazz was growing in New Orleans, where black musicians found a

voice. There was a very harsh treatment of African Americans in the early Twentieth Century,

and jazz began to give them a voice. In the mid-teens, new all-black bands were featuring the

saxophone, and they were powerful. According to Sonny Rollins: “Jazz is really a black artform.
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The saxophone ‘almost represents’ jazz. If I played jazz, then I was automatically connected with

my black roots” (Sugg). Rollins also mentions that he was inspired by WEB Du Bois, a famous

black rights activist, to write music to empower black people. He said that he should speak out

through his music, and so he did. And he was not alone. He was joined by John Coltrane, Ben

Webster, Coleman Hawkins, and many other black sax players trying to make a difference.

The last group that was indefinitely impacted by the saxophone, which includes myself,

is children. During the saxophone craze of the teens and 20’s instrument manufacturers made

huge profits, due to the fact that around a million and a half saxophones got sold (Cotrell p148).

With these profits, the instrument makers basically gave away their instruments to school bands

to keep the interest in saxophones going. This pretty much funded and revolutionized music

education in America, and kept the money flowing into these programs far into the future

(Segell).

Even though it gave a voice to many underappreciated people groups, the saxophone also

began to make a name for itself in an infamous way. It began to be known as seedy, sleazy,

suggestive, degenerate, and profane, among other more colorful adjectives. Most of this was

probably due to its association with the types of music it was involved in playing. The Pope

declared that it ‘gave reasonable concern for disgust and scandal’. One magazine said that the

saxophone “rendered listeners incapable of distinguishing between right and wrong and evil and

good” (Segell). It began to be banned from churches; the Vatican banned it in 1914.

Once into the 1930’s, the saxophone had become the symbol of jazz. This meant that the

saxophone represented the American culture, so naturally the Soviet Union banned it.

Saxophones were pulled out of Soviet Orchestras, and players had to either hand in their

instruments or face arrest, imprisonment, or exile. Its heavy involvement in jazz also meant that
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it was a symbol of the African American culture, which the Nazis of the 30’s were not fond of.

The saxophone was labeled under the category of “degenerate art” because the Nazis wanted

nothing to do with non-Aryan culture. They banned the sax, and there are even reports of SS

soldiers knocking saxes right out of artists’ mouths (Sugg).

Then America went to war. The big bands fell apart because all the men were drafted.

The swing and jazz paused, and out of the smoke of World War II came a new genre for the

saxophone: bebop. Bebop was what made many of the solo sax artists into what they became. Of

these artists were Charlie Parker, Coleman Hawkins, Dexter Gordan, and the aforementioned

Sonny Rollins (Waring). Bebop continued well into the 50’s until Rock began to take over.

Naturally, the saxophone followed.

“When Rock ‘n’ Roll emerged in the 50’s it gave the saxophone another boost”

(McKinney). In the 50’s, the hook could make or break a song. Saxophones were used for a lot

of good hooks, like the one in“Pink Panther” (Thomas Erdmann). The sax was on practically

every song in the radio early on in rock. The sax sang out like a second voice to only the singers

themselves, especially in songs like “I Cried a Tear”, with LaVern Baker singing. It had wailing

solos in songs such as “The Wanderer” and of course “Yakety Yak”. Rock was targeting the

younger generation, and the sax was in front of new hits like the Teenagers’ “Why Do Fools Fall

in Love”. One song featuring the sax from that era that we still hear today is Brenda Lee’s

“Rocking Around the Christmas Tree” (Hinckley). But rock became more about the guitars, the

drums, and the singer, and so the saxophone was ushered out.

The sixties saw a lot of session work for the saxophone, being added into some records.

Hard bop was still popular, but it was on a downturn. A new genre, called soul jazz, became an
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offshoot of bebop and offered some opportunities for the saxophone, but jazz was losing its

appeal (Waring).

Fusion and jazz-rock became the avenue for the saxophone in the 70’s. In the fusion

department, there were some big names such as Michael Brecker. There were still some rock

bands that had a saxophone, with Bruce Springsteen’s East Street Band letting Clarence

Clemmons wield his saxophone with expertise, wailing out solos in “Born to Run” and

“Jungleland”. Session players still did very well, with the sax being used in a few really big hits:

“Just the Way You Are” and “Baker Street”. The Rolling Stones also used a saxophone in their

song “Brown Sugar”. But the saxophone was dying.

The 80’s came, and with it the sexy sax solo. Kenny G and David Sanborn brought in a

new age of ‘smooth jazz’, which worked well with the pop music of the time. But the sexy sax

solo also had its downside. Bands moved away from sax sections to a single saxophone, used to

create catchy but annoying hooks, like in “Careless Whisper” The rise of the pop star shining in

the spotlight—artists like Michael Jackson—made the pop star the center of pop music. The old

way of sax was tacky, and the instrument was out of its element in wake of the newer styles of

music. It fell out of fashion, and barely made an appearance in the 90’s, save for Bill Clinton

and Lisa Simpson.

And so, in the 2000’s and 2010’s, the saxophone was seemingly extinct. In 2014, it

appeared four separate hit songs, but then disappeared again. So the question being asked is

“Where did all the saxophones go?”

One of the main reasons as to why the saxophone does not appear in modern music is that

music technology has changed, and pushed the saxophone out of the way. It’s no secret that
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technology has rapidly advanced in the

past few decades. Musically, recording

has gone from records, to CD’s, to MP3

and then MP4 formats. Right now we are

in an era where downloads and streaming

reign supreme (Townsend). Just as the

original design of the saxophone has

improved, so has the actual software that makes music. Now, we can have software on a home

computer that can produce the sound of any instrument, including the saxophone. Thomas

Erdmann, a professor of music at Elon university, says that “Synthesizers came in and now you

can pay one guy to do the job.” Anyone wanting to use the sound of a sax in their song can

simply boot up some software to mimic the sound of a horn, without ever having to see one.

There is also the option of using a sound byte that includes a saxophone, so that one can use a

previous recording without having to hire a new musician. Computer generated sounds are in

almost any modern hit, so there is almost no need for a sax (McKinney). Some might say that

someone wanting to play the saxophone on an album could come in and record on a microphone,

that way the computer wouldn’t have to take over, but there is also the problem of mixing the

sound of the saxophone into the music it would be attempting to join.

This brings me to the second reason why the saxophone hasn’t been utilized as heavily as

it had been in the past. It simply doesn’t fit into the styles of music that are popular today. The

styles of music that are popular all seem to include some sort of computer element; from pop to

electro to rap, they all use very synthesized sounds. Harrington says that “We’re seeing a big

evolution of production, of recording techniques, and of the actual sounds. Everything’s getting
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samples and synthesized. When we do have an acoustic instrument like the saxophone, it tends to

get processed to where it’s almost unrecognizeable.” There aren’t many acoustic instruments in

popular music at all, no matter what instrument they are. When we do hear them, they sound out

of place (McKinney).

The saxophone has also been absent from modern music because it just gets a bad rap in

the eyes of most modern music listeners. In many critic’s eyes it is “the punchline in a joke

about men who think they’re sexy.”. It has “Become shorthand for a greasy 80’s man”

(McKinney). The instrument has been used a few times in more modern music, but with

moderate success. It was used in the song “Problem” by Ariana Grande and Iggy Azalea as a riff

that was repeated over and over that repeated throughout the entire song. Jeff Harrington, a

professor of woodwinds at Berklee, says that “the latest trend that we see saxophone-wise is the

use of the saxophone for rhythmic loops… sometimes throughout the entire song.” He says that

he thinks that people don’t really hate the saxophone, they just get “Sick of repetition.” And so

because of the way that the saxophone is perceived, it has been getting used less and less.

Now, there are a few exceptions to including sax in modern music, with the band M83

having quite a beautiful saxophone solo at the end of their song “Midnight City”. Kanye even

has a new song with Kenny G! This makes me hopeful for the future of the saxophone in pop

music. Recently, there has also been a resurgence of jazz music, brought about by artists such as

Michael Buble and some new young jazz bands like Onyx Collective. There have also been a

few saxophones featured in newer rap songs (Pimp a Butterfly with artist Kamasi Washington),

finding an audience outside of jazz. Part of why the instrument might be coming back is that we

are entering a time where a new generation, who believes that any genre of music can and should

mix with any other genre, have embraced the instrument. They do not have the same kind of
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‘suspicion’ of the instrument as the last generation did. Christopher Duffin, a saxophone player

today, has said that when people give him reviews that a lot of them start with “I’m not usually

into saxophone,” or “despite previous sax crimes”, even though they go on to say nice things.

There are more and more artists being asked to do saxophone work, even if it hasn’t reached

main stream music yet. People want to listen to people improvise on the saxophone for thirty-

plus minutes again, and that is something that makes my heart happy. Duffin also says that

“We’re through the looking glass now and maybe [the sax] will be totally exonerated of its

previous crimes sometime soon” (Wray).

My hope is that in the future, the saxophone will keep growing out of just indie music,

overflowing into the world of popular music, whether it be pop, rock, or rap. It seems as though

people are beginning to discover jazz again, and I cannot wait to see how that trend continues. I

am going to be a Music minor in college, and it is my hope that there are many new opportunities

in the future for young musicians such as myself. It seems as though there already has been.

Only time will tell as to what the future holds for the saxophone, but I for one am very hopeful.

Even though the saxophone is a relatively new instrument, it has had quite the eventful

history, sprinkled in with some of its own flair of controversy. It has been through a long history,

but has almost always been at the front of popular music. The saxophone rose and fell many

times, and so we are in that cycle again. It began to lose its popularity in the late nineteen-

eighties, and was all but extinct by 2000. The saxophone disappeared from music because of the

bad reputation it got, the computer technology that overtook it, and the styles of music that it just

did not fit into. And yet, although it is a hopeful statement, the sax seems to have been making a

slow and steady comeback in the past few years. If people can ‘forgive it’ for what is has come

to stand for, it may have a chance. If artists can find a way to implement it into their songs
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without autotuning it, it will not need to be overshadowed by computerized music. Finally, if

modern music follows the path it always does, and begins to change style again, the saxophone

could make its comeback. Now that people can better understand what took away the saxophone,

maybe there is a chance to rewrite the past and see it renewed in music.

A link to all the music mentioned in this essay:

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/3rvNQTlE0PE1LXg8SVAPBw?

si=LWSTS_e8TXCj06b1F4TIiQ
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Works Cited

Cottrell, Stephen. The Saxophone. Yale University Press, 2013, The Saxophone: EBSCOhost,

https://web-a-ebscohost-com.sinclair.ohionet.org/ehost/detail/detail?vid=0&sid=588be4ea-

0a78-4559-b75d-

eaf3343e9036%40sessionmgr4008&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d

%3d#AN=518267&db=nlebk

“Full Well Recording Studio.” Studio Filter, https://studiofilter.com/studio/full-well-recording-

studio/

Hinckley, David. “From King Curtis to Clarence Clemons, the Saxophone Holds a Special Place

in Rock 'n' Roll.” Nydailynews.com, New York Daily News, 13 Jan. 2019,

www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/music-arts/king-curtis-clarence-clemons-saxophone-

holds-special-place-rock-n-roll-article-1.127330.

Ingham, Richard. The Cambridge Companion to the Saxophone. Cambridge University Press,

2009.

Kelsey-Sugg, Anna. “It Was Banned by the Nazis, Stalin and the Vatican. This Is the Surprising

History of the Saxophone - ABC News.” Abc.net.au, ABC Radio National , 24 Feb.

2020, 8:00 pm, https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-02-25/saxophone-history-of-musical-

instrument-brutal-and-beautiful/11960922

McKinney, Kelsey. “Where Did All the Saxophones Go?” The Outline, The Outline, 25 Apr.

2017, https://theoutline.com/post/1409/saxophones-in-american-pop-music-history?

utm_source=contributor_pages
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Townsend, Peter. The Evolution of Music through Culture and Science. Oxford University Press,

2020. EBSCOhost, Saxophone.

Waring, Charles. “What Is Bebop? And Why Is It Jazz's Most Important Style?: UDiscover.”

UDiscover Music, 13 Apr. 2019, www.udiscovermusic.com/stories/what-is-bebop-jazz

Wray, Daniel Dylan. “The Resurgence of the Saxophone, from the Rise of New Jazz to the

Guitar Groups Sick of the Stale Band Setup.” Loud And Quiet, Loud and Quiet, 10 July

2019, www.loudandquiet.com/interview/the-resurgence-of-the-saxophone-from-the-rise-

of-new-jazz-to-the-guitar-groups-sick-of-the-stale-band-setup/.