[Dixielandjazz] Sarrusophones

[tcashwigg at aol.com]

Dear Sweet William and esteemed listmates:

Please before you shoot Pete Main, some Jazz Society give the band 
leader a Five dollar raise so poor Pete can buy that second Reed for 
the next gig and possible salvage the reputation of that instrument by 
being able to play it properly and not sound like a half fast rendition 
of what it was originally intended to sound like.   Two reeds must 
obviously be better than one,  if not when I hear it again I will shoot 
Pete  myself and put it on E-bay  with a hit contract for the next guy 
who dares to play it in public.   :))

Cheers,

Tom Wiggins

-----Original Message-----
From: Bill Gunter <jazzboard at hotmail.com>
To: jobriant at sunrisetelecom.com; Dixielandjazz at ml.islandnet.com
Sent: Thu, 23 Mar 2006 23:43:57 +0000
Subject: RE: [Dixielandjazz] Sarrusophones

   Listmates, 
 
  My grateful thanks to Jim O'Briant for his exellent treatise on the 
sarrusophone (also, thanks for the correct spelling). 
 
  I was, in my flippant way, merely giving an objective report on Pete 
Main's sarrusophone solos at the NOJC gig in the Bay Area last Sunday 
afternoon. And Jim may have a point there when he states that the 
sarrusophone is actually a double reed instrument. To look at a 
sarrusophone one is immediately struck by the fact that it looks like a 
bassoon only made out of brass. It also looks like a bedpost, a small 
telephone pole or a large candy cane. It is undoubtedly the brass band 
answer to the more symphonic bassoon. 
 
  In any case I will henceforth regard the instrument with more respect 
and instead of making rude and thoughtless remarks about the 
sarrusonphone's overall ugliness in appearance and sound I will simply 
shoot Pete Main! 
 
 Respectfully submitted, 
 
 Bill "phhhtttt! - BANG" Gunter 
 Jazzboard at hotmail.com 
 
  
  
 >From: <jobriant at sunrisetelecom.com> 
 >To: <Dixielandjazz at ml.islandnet.com> 
 >Subject: [Dixielandjazz] Sarrusophones 
 >Date: Thu, 23 Mar 2006 13:57:52 -0800 
 > 
 >Tom Wiggins wrote: 
 > 
 > > Perhaps that lovely instrument (the Sarrusophone) was 
 > > just unfortunately missmatched with a bunch of other 
 > > more well known and exposed OKOM instruments that 
 > > have been over tuned for mellowness and sweetness. :)) 
 > 
  >Well, the Cornets and especially the Double-Belled Euphoniums are 
certainly >more mellow than the Sarrusophone. 
 > 
  >But we weren't hearing this Sarrusophone as it was intended. Pete 
played >it with a single-reed mouthpiece, as do a number of other 
contemporary >Sarrusophone players. I'm guessing that his instrument is 
either a Bb Bass >or Eb Contrabass Sarrusophone, but that's just a 
guess. 
 > 
  >But as invented, the Sarrusophone used a double reed. Here's some 
 >additional information, adapted from the International Double Reed 
Society >web page: 
 > 
  >The Sarrusophone was invented in 1856 by Monsieur Sarrus, a band 
leader for >the French 13th Regiment of the line. M. Sarrus The French 
patent was >awarded June 9, 1856 and gave manufacturing rights to the 
firm of P. L. >Gautrot in Paris. The Sarrusophone was intended 
primarily for use in the >marching band, to replace bassoons and oboes 
-- which are difficult to play >when marching and can't be heard very 
well outdoors anyway. 
 > 
  >The Sarrusophone fingering system is suspiciously like that of the 
>saxophone. 
 > 
  >And like the Saxophone, the Sarrusophone came in a family of several 
>instruments of differing sizes and pitches: 
 > 
 >Eb Sopranino 
 >Bb Soprano 
 >Eb Alto 
 >Bb Tenor 
 >Eb Baritone 
 >Bb Bass 
 >Eb Contrabass 
 >C Contrabass 
 >Bb Contrabass 
 > 
  >These similarities did not go unnoticed by M. Adolph Sax, who sued 
Sarrus >for patent infringement. Sax lost. 
 > 
  >Gautrot in Paris and C.G. Conn in the USA had manufacturing rights. 
Conn >made about 200 Eb Contrabass Sarrusophones between 1914 and the 
early >1920's. To enable single-reed instrumentalists to play the 
Sarrusophone, >both companies also made a single-reed mouthpiece for 
it, similar in shape >and size to a soprano Saxophone mouthpiece. 
 > 
  >Apparently Sidney Bechet also played Sarrusophone, and made some jazz 
 >recordings on one or another member of this instrument family. I'd 
never >heard of these before (much less heard them), but I'd venture a 
guess that >he had a Bb Soprano Sarrusophone; the fingerings would have 
been similar to >his Bb Soprano Saxophone. 
 > 
 >In another message, Bill Gunter wrote: 
 > 
 > > If you took all the ugly noises in the universe and 
 > > rolled them into one it would still not sound as bad 
 > > as a sarousaphone [sic]. Pete could put the ax down 
 > > and make armpit farts and get a more beautiful sound 
 > > than that ugly, miserable excuse for a "musical" 
 > > instrument. It truly is an instrument for people 
 > > with "tin ears" or perhaps a death wish.  
 > 
 >Some C.G. Conn advertising literature took a different tack: 
 > 
  >"Although comparatively new in this hemisphere, the Sarrusophone as 
 >produced by Conn has already established itself in America. and its 
>popularity is assured." 
 > 
  >However, the IDRS concludes its Sarrusophone article with a statement 
that >seems to agree more with Bill: 
 > 
  >"The brief popularity and rapid decline of the Sarrusophone is 
perhaps, as >Heinz Becker has pointed out, an argument for the 
hypothesis that the >lifespan of an instrument depends more on its tone 
quality than its >technical quality." 
 > 
  >I would agree with that, but not too loudly, as someone is likely to 
bring >up the fact that I own and play an Ophicleide. 
 > 
 >Jim O'Briant 
 >Tuba (& Ophicleide & other stuff) 
 >Gilroy, CA 
 > 
 > 
 > 
 > 
 >_______________________________________________ 
 >Dixielandjazz mailing list 
 >Dixielandjazz at ml.islandnet.com 
 >http://ml.islandnet.com/mailman/listinfo/dixielandjazz 
 
  
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