Saxophone Day

What the day is

Saxophone Day is observed on November 6, the birthday of Adolphe Sax, born in Belgium in 1814.

Origin and background

Sax was a instrument maker's son and an inventive one himself. He patented the saxophone in the 1840s to solve a specific orchestral problem: military bands needed an instrument that could carry outdoors with the power of brass and the agility of woodwind, and nothing existing did both. His answer was a conical brass body played with a single reed, which is why the saxophone is classified as a woodwind despite being made of metal.

The invention made him enemies. Rival makers contested his patents for decades in a series of lawsuits that consumed his finances, and he was bankrupted more than once. He also survived an extraordinary run of accidents in childhood, including falls, burns and swallowing a pin, which his mother reportedly took as a sign he would not survive at all.

The instrument found its real home elsewhere. European orchestras adopted it sparingly, but it became central to American jazz, and through jazz to blues, rhythm and blues, rock and soul. The tenor and alto are the most common of the family, which runs from the rarely seen sopranino down to the baritone and bass.

Its tone is unusually vocal, with a wide dynamic range and a capacity for growls, bends and breath noise that players use deliberately. That expressiveness is why it carries a solo so well and why it is difficult to play quietly and cleanly.

How to take part

• Listen to one player properly rather than a compilation. Coltrane, Parker, Getz and Shorter are all reasonable starting points.
• Notice the range: hear a baritone and a soprano in the same sitting.
• Try one if you can borrow one. Producing a first note is easier than on most brass, and controlling it is not.
• Support school music programs, which is where nearly every saxophonist starts.
• Read about Sax's patent battles, which are a case study in inventing something and profiting from it being different problems.