[Dixielandjazz] C-melody sax

Mon Mar 17 10:40:44 PDT 2008

It's always a problem with any sax to avoid interference with other players. 
The soprano runs into the Cornet occasionally.  The tenor really shouldn't 
be used if you have a trombone player.  (Yes I know everyone knows some one 
that pulls it off)  Tenor and trombone just are all the time running into 
each other.  The "C" (and the alto) IMHO shares the worst of both worlds by 
being pitched just where it will run into both.  If he plays in the low 
register it runs into the trombone and if used in the upper it runs into the 
cornet.  I think that it shares a lot with the tenor here.   A lot of this 
depends on the players skill and just knowing what the other guy is going to 
do so you can be somewhere else.

I have listened to recordings with both the tenor and trombone player but 
what they seem to be doing is just not playing when the other guy is playing 
that is, they are playing off of each other and when one is holding a tone 
the other is moving and a lot of time they just aren't playing at the same 
time.

Last week I recorded a gig and the cornet player and I had a pretty bad 
train wreck at the end of a tune.  The recorder was on a shelf and there was 
a couple of people between us and the recorder.  We were doing a duo in 
minor seconds and this lady went OOOOOH!!!!  My thoughts precisely. 
Fortunately that doesn't happen very often.  In an improvisational situation 
train wrecks are almost inevitable unless you really have the tune very 
solid.

The C has as best I can describe it a unique voice and I think of it as sort 
of a covered sound compared to the other two.  It doesn't sound like a Tenor 
or an Alto.  I'm not saying that it's unpleasant but just different.  I hear 
them fairly often in recordings of bands of the 30's and if you want that 
sound, the C is the only instrument that can do it.

I also think that the C just didn't have time to have all it's kinks worked 
out.  As I said before the saxophone is still a work in progress. 
Manufacturers are still experimenting with all sorts of things to make the 
action better and help the instrument play more in tune.

I have been looking around for one but the prices are just are too much 
considering the restoration costs.

BTW my first sax was a C.  I had an Uncle that had died sometime in the 30's 
and my Aunt  who lived in Pennsylvania didn't get rid of his horn.   I 
wanted to play the violin or my next pick was trumpet but my parents didn't 
have the money to buy me an instrument.   One day this sax shows up in the 
mail.  My teacher applied rubber bands to appropriate places and the rest is 
history.  I was about 11 years old and that sax was the most beautiful thing 
I had ever seen but it did smell a bit from basement.  I think it was a 
Martin.  I used it for three years until my parents got me a new horn.

Do you have an address or web site for the mouthpiece guys?
Larry
St.L
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Sue Fischer" <sfischer1923 at gmail.com>
To: "Larry Walton" <larrys.bands at charter.net>
Cc: "Dixieland Jazz Mailing List" <dixielandjazz at ml.islandnet.com>
Sent: Tuesday, March 11, 2008 10:23 AM
Subject: Re: [Dixielandjazz] C-melody sax

> I have a 1919 Conn C-melody and it has a few notes at the top of the lower
> register that are a little flat.  But overall, it's got a lovely tone and
> plays across the breaks very well.  I use an old C-mel mouthpiece with it.
> (I tried both a tenor and alto mp at the suggestion of my repair tech, but
> either had problems getting the low notes with the alto or the high notes
> with the tenor mp.)  Before I bought mine, I borrowed a friend's horn, and
> it plays more out of tune than mine.  I also had more trouble getting the
> high F out of it.  But then, he uses a tenor mp on it....
>
> It's true that the instrument was made primarily for people who wanted to
> play along with a piano or small combo, but Frank Trumbauer sure did all
> right with it.  Some of the older guys here say that if they have to have 
> a
> saxophone in a band, they prefer having a C-mel because it is voiced so 
> that
> it interferes less with the clarinet or trombone lines.  Have any of you 
> had
> experience with this?
>
> And there's a company in New Zealand that makes brand-new C-mel 
> mouthpieces;
> you can get them for about $25.  I prefer my old one though, as beat up as
> it is.
>
> Sue
>
> -----Original Message-----
>> From: dixielandjazz-bounces at ml.islandnet.com
>> [mailto:dixielandjazz-bounces at ml.islandnet.com] On Behalf Of PHIL WILKING
>> Sent: Monday, March 10, 2008 3:22 PM
>> To: lherault at bu.edu
>> Cc: Dixieland Jazz Mailing List
>> Subject: [Dixielandjazz] C sax
>>
>> Is it true that most C saxophones are not in tune at one or the other end
>> of
>>
>> the register?
>>
>> Phil Wilking
>>
>>
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