The magical sound of the Saxophone

Next to the human voice, the saxophone is one of the most expressive instruments around that closest resembles the human voice. Like our voices, our saxophonists for hire are capable of producing an extreme range of sounds. From sad, haunting dark tones to uplifting screams of laughter.

The Saxophone came from Belgium and was invented by Adolphe Sax in 1842. Some people call it a brass instrument but although it's made from a certain type of brass mixture, it uses a single reed on the mouthpiece to make the sound which puts it in the woodwind family, like the clarinet. Other woodwinds are the oboe, bassoon, and bagpipes, these use double reeds. The recorder and flute are woodwinds as well but don't use reeds.
 
Adolph Sax drew up plans for 14 different types of saxophones. They are: sopranissimo, sopranino, soprano, alto, C melody, tenor, baritone, bass, contrabass, and subcontrabass. Some of these come in different shapes like the curved soprano and the straight tenor. The 4 most popular ones are soprano, alto, tenor, and baritone and these are the voices that make up a saxophone quartet.
 
Hard to imagine now but the saxophone didn't gain instant popularity... quite the opposite. Mr. Sax apparently worked hard to get his new invention to composers and band leaders but the instrumentation of the orchestra had been established for many years and nobody wanted to add a sax section, imagine that!

in 1858, Sax became the first professor of the saxophone at the Paris Conservatory. Method books were written and a few more composers were writing for the instrument and finally in 1885 the first one was made in the United States.
 
There was a bit of a sax craze in America in the early 1900's and a man who was partly responsible for that was the virtuoso Rudy Wiedoeft. Although not widely known today he was very popular in his time. He was an excellent saxophonist with classical training but recorded his own pop style, vaudeville, and novelty songs. Stylistically he was rooted in ragtime and classical - pre-jazz era. His saxes of choice were the alto and the C melody, which has been out of production since the early 1930's. 
 
During the 1930's, the classical saxophone had some well-known players; Marcel Mule from France, Sigurd Rascher, German/American, and later the American Eugene Rousseau. These musicians were performing, recording and having music composed for them. For most classical saxophonists the alto was by far the most popular choice.
 
The saxophone didn't make it into the classical orchestra as a section but that didn't stop people from writing and arranging for saxophone quartets... from Bach to Bartok to Ellington. It's a tribute to the quality sound of this instrument that it's popularity and versatility continues to grow and be played at a wide variety of live events and modern musical arrangements.

Hire a Saxophonist
​If you have an upcoming party, wedding, corporate event or other celebration, where you would like to add a unique sound, hire a saxophonist. We cover London and Essex but we can travel further afield if needed.

Call us on 020 8088 0945