This evening, Gordon and I were among the woodwinds, with an entire show dedicated to the saxophone. The single-reed instrument was designed around 1840 by Belgian Adolphe Sax. Sax invented two groups of seven instruments each—one group contained instruments in C and F, and the other group contained instruments in B♭ and E♭. The B♭ and E♭ instruments soon became dominant, and most saxophones encountered today are from this series. The modern saxophone family consists entirely of B♭ and E♭instruments: Soprillo, Sopranino, Soprano, Alto, Tenor, Baritone, Bass, Contrabass, and Subcontrabass. There’s an on-air demo of what some of these saxes sound like.
Tonight’s playlist
Choo Choo Ch’Boogie by Louis Jordan & His Tympany Five, released in 1946, is an energetic track that epitomises ‘jump blues’, a genre that helped bridge blues and country, and ultimately paved the way for rock and roll. ‘Choo Choo Ch’Boogie’, which features Louis Jordan on vocals and alto sax, remained on the R&B charts for 18 weeks. Gotta love all of those “track” rhymes. Personal favourite – “pal around with democratic fellas named Mac”.
John Coltrane‘s My Favorite Things (1961) , from the eponymous album, is modal jazz at its best. Coltrane takes Rogers & Hammerstein‘s famous tune and moves it away from traditional chord changes, soloing over a two-chord vamp on soprano saxophone. It was Coltrane’s first outing on soprano, an instrument he began playing the year before, when Miles Davis giftedhim one during a European tour.
Supertramp‘s The Logical Song, released in 1979, earned Roger Hodgson an Ivor Novello Award in 1980. The song draws on his childhood experiences at boarding school and, like other songs of the time (e.g. Pink Floyd‘s 1979 The Wall), is deeply critical of the British education system. That famous alto saxophone line is from the remarkable John Helliwell, who also provides siren whistle, backing vocals, and ‘intro breathing’…
Earth, Wind and Fire’s After The Love Has Gone is an R&B classic, featuring an extended alto solo by the great Don Myrick that soars over the relentless key changes that close the song. It would have topped the US Billboard Hot 100 but for the tenacity of The Knack’s “My Sharona”. The song has been certified gold in the US by the RIAA and silver in the UK by the BPI.
While saxophone solos in pop music have become a somewhat rarer occurrence in the new millennium, they haven’t disappeared entirely. Katy Perry’s Last Friday Night features a memorable appearance from saxophone legend Kenny G—though funnily enough, he’s only miming in the video. The real solo was played by Lenny Pickett – the long-time musical director of the Saturday Night Live band.
Kenny G makes an actual appearance in Use This Gospel by Ye (formerly Kanye West). In a surprise collaboration, that smooth sax solo provides a striking contrast to the gospel and hip-hop elements of the track. Kenny G ended up featuring on Use This Gospel after being hired by Ye to play privately for this then-wife Kim Kardashian on Valentine’s Day.
We briefly also visited INXS‘s 1988 ballad Never Tear Us Apart, with a centre-stage sax solo by Kirk Pengilly. I love the way it transitions from A minor blues scale licks to that simple ascending C major scale in the final bar, arriving on the G for the downbeat of the final chorus – it sets up Hutchence’s vocal re-entry perfectly, as if the sax and voice are in conversation.
Last on the list is one of the best selling songs of all time, and contains perhaps the most iconic saxophone riff of all time; Careless Whisper. Though the song was released as part of Wham!‘s Make It Big, the single release is credited to either ‘Wham! featuring George Michael’ (in North America and several other countries) or solely to George Michael (in the UK, Ireland, and some nations in Europe). That oh-so-memorable sax riff was composed by George himself, and played by Steve Gregory, who was reportedly the 9th musician called in to attempt it!
Our soundslike this week features a quartet of similar riffs: She’s Mine by Liverpool Five (1966), We Ain’t Got Nothin’ Yet by The Blues Magoos (1967), and Black Night by Deep Purple (1970) all resemble Ricky Nelson‘s 1962 rendition of George Gershwin‘s Summertime. I first wrote about the unusual history of this riff – and its associated copyright loophole – in 2014 for Total Guitar magazine – here’s the full print article.
Sax quiz
For our quiz you will have to identify six themes from the world of film and television that all heavily feature the saxophone – we’ll give you a small snippet and the name of the saxophonist.
As always, find the show and blog at joebennett.net/5live, with occasional Instagram extras at @joebennettmusicology. And you can find our Spotify mega-playlist, which contains all songs ever featured on the show, here:
- Words: Joe Bennett, John Pierce O’Reilly
- Audio production and mashup potato-peeling: Joe Bennett, Rafi Waters
Thanks to the following for outstanding educational resources relating to the sax:
- United States Marine Band and Khan Academy
(Master Gunnery Sgt. Steve Longoria – soprano Bb, Gunnery Sgt Steve Temme – Alto in Eb, Staff Sgt Jacob Chmara – Tenor in Bb, Otis “IV” Goodlet Eb Baritone). (Creative Commons, attribution) - Dr Wally Wallace and The Saxophone Academy
- David Sills and Music Lifeboat
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