[Dixielandjazz] Is this the real deal?

[Denny Schreffler]

 Definitely a saxonette.  Not necessarily French -- could be a Buescher. 
And probably a decade or more earlier than the 1930s.  Although C
(Albert) was common, they also came in B-flat and A, and with Boehm
setup.  Not really a new type of instrument, basically a mezzo-soprano
clarinet with a turned-up bell.  Just my conjecture, but as the saxophone
rose to iconic status after WW I, it was cool to play the saxophone -- I
have seen a 1920's trumpet in the Streitweisser Trumpet Museum (no longer
extant) that was built to emulate the shape of a saxophone.  The
commonality of the key of C for the saxonette probably was heavily
influenced (as it was for the "C Melody Sax") by the popularity of parlor
music and the inconvenience of not being able to read a B-flat instrument
from the piano score. Someone with a good ear and able to see what is
being fingered on the video could determine the key of the instrument.
Yeah -- a trumpet shaped like a saxophone. Denny Schreffler Tucson

  ----- Original Message -----
  From: "John McClernan"
  To: "Denny Schreffler"
  Subject: Re: [Dixielandjazz] Is this the real deal?
  Date: Wed, 17 Oct 2007 22:51:49 -0400


  At first glance, I thought it was a Basset Horn, which is a kind of
  alto clarinet, pitched a fourth lower than a Bb clarinet.
  But I think the one in the clip is too small to be a Basset. I
  think it is a Saxonette, which is a variant of the clarinet, but
  not really a member of the clarinet family, though it has more in
  common with the clarinet than the saxophone. The Saxonette is
  pitch in C, with the same range as a C clarinet, and uses the
  Albert fingering system. It may have been created in France in the
  1930s.
  (info from: http://hem.passagen.se/eriahl/saxonette.htm )
  Cheers,
  John



  On Oct 17, 2007, at 9:41 PM, Hal Vickery wrote:

  > Check this one out:
  > http://youtube.com/watch?v=kfDECEGBJyw&mode=related&search=jazz
  >
  > Apparently Alphonse Picou in 1959 playing (a lot slower than I've
  ever heard
  > it played) his famous High Society solo. My real question is, what
  the heck
  > is that that he's playing. I've never seen a clarinet that looked
  like that
  > before!
  >
  > Hal Vickery
  >
  > -----Original Message-----
  > From: dixielandjazz-bounces at ml.islandnet.com
  > [mailto:dixielandjazz-bounces at ml.islandnet.com] On Behalf Of Kent
  Murdick
  > Sent: Wednesday, October 17, 2007 10:32 AM
  > To: Hal Vickery
  > Cc: Dixieland Jazz Mailing List
  > Subject: [Dixielandjazz] Is this the real deal?
  >
  > I don't know if you historians out there have seen this, but it
  looks
  > like the real deal for early jazz.
  >
  > http://youtube.com/watch?v=fJT1PuCw4TA&mode=related&search=jazz
  >
  >
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