Page 50 - Blues Festival Guide Magazine 2015

The

Saxophone

From squawks to the big stages

Charlie Parker acrylic painting by Leanne Nelson

By Terry Hanck
The saxophone as we know it today was invented in the was his tenor sax player on most of the recordings. I got to see
mid-1800s in Belgium by Adolphe Sax amid a lot of controversy both Ray Charles and B.B. King live in 1963 at the Regal Theater
with classical music lovers. In the United States, the horn tradition in Chicago, and that turned me on to the guitar in the blues. It
with jazz and blues took hold in New Orleans and then moved blew me away and sent chills down my spine.
up the rivers to Memphis, St. Louis, Kansas City and Chicago, After I spent those two years trying to play avant-garde jazz
and spread into Texas and beyond. without knowing anything, I came back down to earth and got
I didn’t pick up the horn until I was 21. For two years, I just together with some people who were into the blues, and I just
squawked and grunted and scared my friends, while attempting taught myself.
to play avant-garde or free jazz, before I had learned anything There are many types of saxophones: soprano, alto, C
about music. So I went back to the music I loved when I was melody, tenor, baritone, bass and contrabass, which is so big
growing up. That was when rock 'n' roll first hit with white you almost have to use a stepladder to play it. Mouthpieces
audiences. are varied and as important to the sound as the reed and the
Most of it was coming out of New Orleans from a studio horn. The reed is the constant bane of the horn player. All the
run by Cosimo Matassa on labels like Specialty, Imperial and technology of the horn – all the little springs and pads, all of that
Atlantic. A lot of it was all the same band. Most of the solos were – is brought to its knees by a piece of wood. It’s made from cane
on saxophone by Lee Allen or Herb Hardesty. It was all R&B and grows in the same climate as grapes for wine: warm days
then. The term “rock ’n’ roll” came later. I really liked Ray Charles and cool nights. That’s why originally reeds came from France.
when I got out of high school, and David “Fathead” Newman I have two 1967 Selmer Mark VI saxophones, which were
made in France from
1954 - 1973. The
alloy metals used at
the time were good,
but the horns are
pretty delicate and
in need of constant
repair. A good horn
repair person is
hard to find, which
makes it hard when
you are on the road.
I’ve had to do a lot
of on-the-job repairs
with rubber bands.
The one I am having
Maceo Parker was the longtime saxophone player for James Brown completely rebuilt cost The saxophone entered the European music scene
Photo courtesy FleaMarketFunk.com amid much controversy Photo by Kurt. E Johnson

48 Blues Festival Guide 2015