The
bass saxophone is the second largest member of the
saxophoneThe saxophone is a conical-bore transposing musical instrument that is a member of the woodwind family. Saxophones are usually made of brass and played with a single-reed mouthpiece similar to that of the clarinet. The saxophone was invented by the Belgian instrument maker Adolphe Sax in 1846...
family. Its design is similar to that of the
baritone saxophoneThe baritone saxophone, often called "bari sax" , is one of the largest and lowest pitched members of the saxophone family. It was invented by Adolphe Sax. The baritone is distinguished from smaller sizes of saxophone by the extra loop near its mouthpiece...
, with a loop of tubing near the mouthpiece. It was the first type of saxophone presented to the public, when
Adolphe SaxAntoine-Joseph "Adolphe" Sax was a Belgian musical instrument designer and musician who played the flute and clarinet, and is best known for having invented the saxophone.-Biography:...
exhibited a bass saxophone in C at an exhibition in Brussels in 1841. The modern bass saxophone is a
transposing instrumentA transposing instrument is a musical instrument for which written notes are read at a pitch different from the corresponding concert pitch, which a non-transposing instrument, such as a piano, would play. Playing a written C on a transposing instrument will produce a note other than concert C...
pitched in B, an octave below the
tenor saxophoneThe tenor saxophone is a medium-sized member of the saxophone family, a group of instruments invented by Adolphe Sax in the 1840s. The tenor, with the alto, are the two most common types of saxophones. The tenor is pitched in the key of B, and written as a transposing instrument in the treble...
.
Unlike the baritone, the bass saxophone is not commonly used. Bass parts are usually played by the
tubaThe tuba is the largest and lowest-pitched brass instrument. Sound is produced by vibrating or "buzzing" the lips into a large cupped mouthpiece. It is one of the most recent additions to the modern symphony orchestra, first appearing in the mid-19th century, when it largely replaced the...
in wind bands or by the
double bassThe double bass, also called the string bass, upright bass, standup bass or contrabass, is the largest and lowest-pitched bowed string instrument in the modern symphony orchestra, with strings usually tuned to E1, A1, D2 and G2...
or
electric bassThe bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
in
jazzJazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
bands and popular-music ensembles. In the 1920s, the bass saxophone was used in jazz recordings, since it was easier to record than the tuba or double bass.
The instrument was first used in 1844, both by
Hector BerliozHector Berlioz was a French Romantic composer, best known for his compositions Symphonie fantastique and Grande messe des morts . Berlioz made significant contributions to the modern orchestra with his Treatise on Instrumentation. He specified huge orchestral forces for some of his works; as a...
in an arrangement of his
Chant sacre, and by Georges Kastner in his opera
Le Dernier Roi de Juda.
Leonard BernsteinLeonard Bernstein August 25, 1918 – October 14, 1990) was an American conductor, composer, author, music lecturer and pianist. He was among the first conductors born and educated in the United States of America to receive worldwide acclaim...
’s original score for
West Side Story includes bass saxophone, as does
Meredith WillsonRobert Meredith Willson was an American composer, songwriter, conductor and playwright, best known for writing the book, music and lyrics for the hit Broadway musical The Music Man...
’s
Music ManMusic Man can refer to:* The Music Man, a Broadway musical play by Meredith Willson** The Music Man , a feature film adaptation** The Music Man , a television film remake...
and
Sandy WilsonSandy Wilson is an English composer and lyricist, best known for his musical The Boy Friend .-Biography:Wilson was born Alexander Galbraith Wilson in Sale, Greater Manchester, and was educated at Harrow School and Oriel College, Oxford. During the war he served in the Royal Ordnance Corps in Great...
’s
The Boy FriendThe Boy Friend is a musical by Sandy Wilson. The musical's original 1954 London production ran for 2,078 performances, making it briefly the third-longest running musical in West End or Broadway history until it was surpassed by Salad Days...
. American composer
Warren BensonWarren Benson was an American composer. His compositions consist mostly of music for wind instruments and percussion...
has championed the use of the instrument in his music for
concert bandA concert band, also called wind band, symphonic band, symphonic winds, wind orchestra, wind symphony, wind ensemble, or symphonic wind ensemble, is a performing ensemble consisting of several members of the woodwind instrument family, brass instrument family, and percussion instrument family.A...
.
Although bass saxophones in C were made for orchestral use, modern instruments are in B. This puts them a
perfect fourthIn classical music from Western culture, a fourth is a musical interval encompassing four staff positions , and the perfect fourth is a fourth spanning five semitones. For example, the ascending interval from C to the next F is a perfect fourth, as the note F lies five semitones above C, and there...
lower than the baritone, similar in register to the B
contrabass clarinetThe contrabass clarinet is the largest member of the clarinet family that has ever been in regular production or significant use. Modern contrabass clarinets are pitched in BB, sounding two octaves lower than the common B soprano clarinet and one octave lower than the B bass clarinet...
. Music is written in treble clef, just as for the other saxophones — notes sound two
octaveIn music, an octave is the interval between one musical pitch and another with half or double its frequency. The octave relationship is a natural phenomenon that has been referred to as the "basic miracle of music", the use of which is "common in most musical systems"...
s and a
major secondIn Western music theory, a major second is a musical interval spanning two semitones, and encompassing two adjacent staff positions . For example, the interval from C to D is a major second, as the note D lies two semitones above C, and the two notes are notated on adjacent staff postions...
lower than written. As with most other members of the saxophone family, the lowest written note is the B below the staff — sounding as a concert A in the
first octaveIn music theory, the first octave, also called the contra octave, ranges from C1, or about 32.7 Hz, to C2, about 61.7 Hz, in equal temperament using A440 tuning. This is the lowest complete octave of most pianos...
(~ 51.9
HzThe hertz is the SI unit of frequency defined as the number of cycles per second of a periodic phenomenon. One of its most common uses is the description of the sine wave, particularly those used in radio and audio applications....
).
The lowest existing member of the saxophone family is the rare
contrabassThe contrabass saxophone is the lowest-pitched extant member of the saxophone family proper. It is extremely large and heavy , and is pitched in the key of E, one octave below the baritone.-History:The contrabass...
, pitched in E, a
perfect fifthIn classical music from Western culture, a fifth is a musical interval encompassing five staff positions , and the perfect fifth is a fifth spanning seven semitones, or in meantone, four diatonic semitones and three chromatic semitones...
lower than the bass. Inventor
Adolphe SaxAntoine-Joseph "Adolphe" Sax was a Belgian musical instrument designer and musician who played the flute and clarinet, and is best known for having invented the saxophone.-Biography:...
had a patent for a
subcontrabass saxophoneThe subcontrabass saxophone is a type of saxophone that Adolphe Sax patented and planned to build but never constructed. Sax called this imagined instrument saxophone bourdon...
(or
bourdon saxophone), but apparently never built a fully functioning instrument. In 1999, German wind instrument maker
Benedikt EppelsheimBenedikt Eppelsheim is a world-renowned German maker of high- and low-voiced saxophones, the soprillo and tubax , which are available exclusively from him...
introduced the subcontrabass
tubaxThe tubax is a modified saxophone developed in 1999 by the German instrument maker Benedikt Eppelsheim. It is available in both E contrabass and B or C subcontrabass sizes...
, a modified saxophone pitched in B an octave below the bass saxophone.
In jazz
The bass saxophone enjoyed some measure of popularity in jazz combos and dance bands between World War I and World War II, primarily providing bass lines, although players occasionally took melodic solos. Notable players of this era include Billy Fowler,
Coleman HawkinsColeman Randolph Hawkins was an American jazz tenor saxophonist. Hawkins was one of the first prominent jazz musicians on his instrument. As Joachim E. Berendt explained, "there were some tenor players before him, but the instrument was not an acknowledged jazz horn"...
,
Adrian RolliniAdrian Francis Rollini was a multi-instrumentalist best known for his jazz music. He played the bass saxophone, piano, xylophone, and many other instruments. Rollini is also known for introducing the goofus in jazz music...
,
Min LeibrookWilford F. Leibrook was an American jazz tubist and bassist.Born in Hamilton, Ohio, Leibrook began as a cornetist before switching to tuba and bass. In the 1920s he played in the Ten Foot Band in Chicago...
,
Spencer ClarkSpencer W. Clark was an American jazz bass saxophonist and multi-instrumentalist. In addition to bass saxophone, Clark was also competent on mandolin, cornet, trumpet, clarinet, alto and tenor saxes, guitar, xylophone, and string bass, as well as an occasional vocalist.His first professional...
, and Vern Brown of the
Six Brown BrothersThe Six Brown Brothers were a Canadian vaudeville era saxophone sextet consisting of six brothers. The brothers were, William, Tom , Alec, Percy, Fred and Vern Brown. The Brown Brothers lived in Lindsay, Ontario until 1893. The first instrumentation consisted of a saxophone quintet The Six Brown...
.. The bass sax become more scarce in standard jazz band instrumentation during the mid to late 20s. Sheet music of the period shows many bands photographed with a bass sax in their collection of instruments. It was sometimes played by the tuba or string bass player rather a member of the sax section.
American bandleader
Boyd RaeburnAlbert Boyd Raeburn was an American jazz bandleader and bass saxophonist.Boyd Raeburn was born in Faith, South Dakota, and became one of the greatest and least-known of jazz bandleaders during the 1940s...
(1913–1966), who led an avant-garde big band in the 1940s, was a bass saxophonist. In Britain, the leader of the
Oscar Rabin BandThe Oscar Rabin Band was a British Jazz dance band that was one of the most successful bands of the 1950s. Band leader Oscar Rabin played bass saxophone, an unusual instrument then as now. His friend Harry Davis, tall, elegant and good-looking, acted as compère and conductor.-Formation:Oscar...
also played it.
Harry GoldHarry Gold Harry Gold Harry Gold (born Harry Goldberg; (26 February 1907 – 13 November 2005) was a British dixieland jazz saxophonist and bandleader.The eldest of six children, born to a Romanian mother, Hetty Schulman, and a German father, Sam Goldberg. Gold's career spanned almost the whole...
, a member of Rabin's band, played bass saxophone in his own band,
Pieces of Eight. In the 1960-1963 "Mellophonium Orchestra" (which featured fourteen brass players), American bandleader
Stan KentonStanley Newcomb "Stan" Kenton was a pianist, composer, and arranger who led a highly innovative, influential, and often controversial American jazz orchestra. In later years he was widely active as an educator....
used a saxophone section consisting of one alto, two tenors, baritone, and bass on Johnny Richards' compositions. Joel Kaye played the baritone sax doubling on bass sax on that band . The ensemble recorded several successful albums, including two Grammy winners.. The
Lawrence WelkLawrence Welk was an American musician, accordionist, bandleader, and television impresario, who hosted The Lawrence Welk Show from 1955 to 1982...
Band also featured Bill Page soloing on bass sax on several broadcasts during the 60s.
The 1970s traditional jazz band The
Memphis NighthawksMemphis Nighthawks were a traditional jazz band based in Champaign, Illinois during the 1970s.-History:Founded and led by Ron Dewar, from the School of Music at the University of Illinois, the Nighthawks performed compositions from the early days of jazz....
built their sound around a bass saxophone played by the diminutive Dave Feinman. Some revivalist bass saxophonists performing today in the 1920s-1930s style are
Vince GiordanoVince Giordano is a musician, arranger, and leader of the New York-based Nighthawks Orchestra. Giordano specializes in the jazz styles of the 1920s and early 1930s. Giordano and the Nighthawks have contributed to a number of films and he is especially noted for orchestrations featured in the...
and Bert Brandsma, leader of the Dixieland Crackerjacks. Jazz players using the instrument in a more contemporary style include
Roscoe MitchellRoscoe Mitchell is an African American composer, jazz instrumentalist and educator, mostly known for being "a technically superb—if idiosyncratic—saxophonist." He has been called "one of the key figures" in avant-garde jazz who has been "at the forefront of modern music" for the past...
,
Anthony BraxtonAnthony Braxton is an American composer, saxophonist, clarinettist, flautist, pianist, and philosopher. Braxton has released well over 100 albums since the 1960s...
,
Peter BrötzmannPeter Brötzmann is a German artist and free jazz saxophonist and clarinetist.Brötzmann is among the most important European free jazz musicians. His rough, lyrical timbre is easily recognized on his many recordings.-Early life:...
,
J. D. ParranJ. D. Parran is an American multi-woodwind player, educator, and composer specializing in jazz and free improvised music. He plays the soprano, alto, tenor, baritone, and bass saxophone, as well as the E-flat clarinet, clarinet, alto clarinet, bass clarinet, contra-alto clarinet, flute, piccolo,...
,
Hamiet BluiettHamiet Bluiett is an American jazz saxophonist, clarinetist, and composer. His primary instrument is the baritone saxophone, and he is considered one of the finest living players of this instrument...
,
James CarterJames Carter is an American jazz musician.Carter was born in Detroit, Michigan and learned to play there before moving to New York City. He has been prominent as a performer and recording artist on the jazz scene since the mid-1990s, playing saxophones, flute, and bass clarinet...
,
Stefan ZeniukStefan Zeniuk is a New York City based musician and filmmaker.Often seen performing on the tenor saxophone, bass saxophone, c-soprano saxophone, english horn, clarinet, contra-alto clarinet & bass clarinet he is noted for his intense musical personality and dynamic stage presence...
,
Vinny GoliaVinny Golia is an American composer and multi-instrumentalist specializing in woodwind instruments. He performs in the genres of contemporary music, jazz, free jazz, and free improvisation....
,
Joseph JarmanJoseph Jarman , is a jazz musician, composer and Shinshu Buddhist priest. He is perhaps best known as one of the first members of the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians and the Art Ensemble of Chicago.-Early life:Jarman grew up in Chicago, Illinois...
,
Jan GarbarekJan Garbarek is a Norwegian tenor and soprano saxophonist, active in the jazz, classical, and world music genres. Garbarek was born in Mysen, Norway, the only child of a former Polish prisoner of war Czesław Garbarek and a Norwegian farmer's daughter...
, Urs Leimgruber, Tony Bevan, and
Scott RobinsonScott Robinson is an American jazz musician. Robinson is best known for his work with various styles of saxophone, but has also performed with the clarinet, flute, and sarrusophone, along with other, more obscure instruments....
, although none of these uses it as his primary instrument.
In rock
Bass saxophonists in rock include:
- Angelo Moore
Angelo Christoper Moore is an American musician, best known for his work as the founding member, lead singer and saxophonist for the Los Angeles alternative rock band Fishbone. Moore also performs and records spoken word poetry under the stage name of Dr. Madd Vibe.-Biography:In 1993 he released a...
of the American band FishboneFishbone is a U.S. alternative rock band formed in 1979 in Los Angeles, California, which plays a fusion of ska, punk rock, funk, hard rock and soul. Critics have noted of the band: "Fishbone was one of the most distinctive and eclectic alternative rock bands of the late '80s...
- Rodney Slater
Rodney Slater was a member of the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band, playing saxophones and other musical instruments ....
in the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah BandThe Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band are a band created by a group of British art-school denizens of the 1960s...
(1960s)
- Ralph Carney
Ralph Carney is an American musician. While his primary instruments are various saxophones and clarinets, Carney collects and plays many instruments, often unusual or obscure ones....
of the avant-garde rock band Tin HueyTin Huey is an experimental rock and New Wave band from Akron, Ohio that formed in the mid/late 1970s.-Original lineups:The band was originally known as Rags and started out with three members: Mark Price, Michael Aylward, and Stuart Austin. Later, the band decided to rename themselves after...
(1970s)
- John Linnell
John Sidney Linnell is an American musician, is known primarily as one half of Brooklyn, New York alternative rock duo They Might Be Giants...
of They Might Be GiantsThey Might Be Giants is an American alternative rock band formed in 1982 by John Flansburgh and John Linnell. During TMBG's early years Flansburgh and Linnell were frequently accompanied by a drum machine. In the early 1990s, TMBG became a full band. Currently, the members of TMBG are...
(formed 1982)
- Dana Colley of Morphine
Morphine was an American alternative rock group formed by Mark Sandman and Dana Colley in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in 1989. They disbanded in 1999 after frontman Sandman died of a heart attack....
(formed 1989)
- Kurt McGettrick in Frank Zappa
Frank Vincent Zappa was an American composer, singer-songwriter, electric guitarist, record producer and film director. In a career spanning more than 30 years, Zappa wrote rock, jazz, orchestral and musique concrète works. He also directed feature-length films and music videos, and designed...
's band in the late 1980s
- Alto Reed
Alto Reed , is an American long-time saxophonist with Bob Seger and the Silver Bullet Band. His most recognizable performances included the introduction to "Turn the Page", and the saxophone solo in "Old Time Rock and Roll"...
, of Bob Seger and the Silver Bullet Band, often plays bass sax during live shows on songs without a prominent sax part.
- Colin Stetson
Colin Stetson, born in Ann Arbor, Michigan and currently based in Montreal, Quebec, is a bass saxophone player and touring member of Arcade Fire, Bell Orchestre and Bon Iver...
- touring member of Arcade Fire and Bell OrchestreBell Orchestre is a six-piece instrumental band from Montreal, Quebec, Canada.In late 2003, they recorded their first album, at the same time and in the same studio that Arcade Fire recorded Funeral. However, Arcade Fire's popularity was just beginning to break when they asked Bell Orchestre to...
. He has performed and recorded with dozens of other artists, including Tom WaitsThomas Alan "Tom" Waits is an American singer-songwriter, composer, and actor. Waits has a distinctive voice, described by critic Daniel Durchholz as sounding "like it was soaked in a vat of bourbon, left hanging in the smokehouse for a few months, and then taken outside and run over with a car."...
, TV on the RadioTV on the Radio is an American art rock band formed in 2001 in Brooklyn, New York, whose music spans numerous diverse genres, from post-punk to electro and free jazz to soul music....
, Bon IverBon Iver is a Grammy nominated folk band founded in 2007 by American indie folk singer-songwriter Justin Vernon. It includes Michael Noyce, Sean Carey, and Matthew McCaughan. Vernon released Bon Iver's debut album, For Emma, Forever Ago independently in July 2007. The majority of that album was...
, and LCD SoundsystemLCD Soundsystem was a prominent American dance-punk band from New York City. It was fronted by American singer-songwriter and producer James Murphy, co-founder of record label DFA Records...
.
In classical music
It was used by
Richard StraussRichard Georg Strauss was a leading German composer of the late Romantic and early modern eras. He is known for his operas, which include Der Rosenkavalier and Salome; his Lieder, especially his Four Last Songs; and his tone poems and orchestral works, such as Death and Transfiguration, Till...
in his Sinfonia Domestica, where included in the music are parts for four saxophones including a bass saxophone in C.
Gallery
Image:Adolphe Sax bass.jpg|E baritone saxophone keyed to low B-natural, made by Sax in 1858 (left). B bass saxophone made by Adolphe SaxAntoine-Joseph "Adolphe" Sax was a Belgian musical instrument designer and musician who played the flute and clarinet, and is best known for having invented the saxophone.-Biography:...
in 1876 (right).
Image:1920s Pan American Bass Saxophone.jpg|A size comparison shot of a man holding a bass saxophone.
External links
- BassSax.com web site
- Bass saxophone page at www.contrabass.com, the "Contrabass Mania" web site
- Innovative Bass Saxophone design from Eppelsheim
- Six Brown Brothers
- Vince Giordano plays bass saxophone on A Prairie Home Companion
A Prairie Home Companion is a live radio variety show created and hosted by Garrison Keillor. The show runs on Saturdays from 5 to 7 p.m. Central Time, and usually originates from the Fitzgerald Theater in Saint Paul, Minnesota, although it is frequently taken on the road...
radio program, 9 April 2005
- MP3 excerpt of first movement of "Sonatina Giacosa" for bass saxophone and piano (1987) by Walter S. Hartley
Walter Sinclair Hartley is an American composer of contemporary music.-Biography and education:He was born in Washington, D.C., began composing at age five and became seriously dedicated to it at sixteen. All his college degrees are from the Eastman School of Music of the University of Rochester....
, performed by Jay EastonDr. Jay C. Easton is an American multi-instrumentalist who plays all sizes of saxophone as well as a variety of other woodwind instruments from around the world. He is known as a specialist in very large saxophones...
- http://nl.youtube.com/watch?v=s-8-HwK9aEk Watch Bert Brandsma in a bass saxophone feature: Sweet Georgia Brown, recorded April 28. 2007 (YouTube)