[Dixielandjazz] Bechet's sarrusophone

[TBW504 at aol.com]

I do not think there is any question that a sarrusophone is a double-reeded  
instrument. In fact the sarrusophone was unique in double-reeded instruments.  
Unlike the oboe or bassoon which have a parallel bore, the sarrusophone, a 
brass  instrument, is conically-bored like a saxophone. It seems that its 
inventor  in 1856, a man called Sarrus (!), was in direct competition with Adolphe 
Sax but  his instrument fell out of favour in the early 1900s. There were seven 
sizes of  sarrusophone, ranging from the sopranino to the contrabass. John 
R.T. Davies had  one in 1963, got it working and learnt to play it all in a few 
days before  recording with it.
Brian Wood