The saxophone’s range of emotional expressiveness makes it one of jazz music’s premier solo instruments. Originally, however, Antoine-Joseph Sax invented the saxophone to be used in military bands and orchestras. Sax, the son of a musical instrument maker, patented the saxophone in France in 1846. Not long after the instrument’s development, the French army adopted it for its bands.
The saxophone is a single-reed wind instrument that is relatively easy to play. There are seven basic types of modern saxophone—from the high-pitched voice of the sopranino to the very deep voice of the contrabass, both pitched in E flat. From highest to lowest, the seven types of saxophone are pitched alternately in E flat and B flat. Generally, the E-flat alto, B-flat tenor, and E-flat baritone saxophones have been the most popular instruments in the family. Except for the straight-bodied sopranino and soprano models, saxophones have an upturned lower end and a detachable crook, or neck, at the upper end. The instrument has a conical body of brass that expands slightly toward its larger end. Along the body are from 20 to 23 note holes, each covered with a pad that can be lifted by one of the keys in a mechanical system. The instrument’s mouthpiece, which cradles a single reed, resembles the clarinet’s and commonly is made of a plastic material.
While it is assumed that Sax invented the saxophone to provide military bands with a link between the higher woodwinds and brasses, the instrument also was put to symphonic use by classical music composers, including Georges Bizet and Jules Massenet. Maurice Ravel featured the saxophone in Bolero, his most famous composition. The saxophone’s chief contemporary use is with military and marching bands and in dance and jazz bands—where it became one of the most important solo instruments in the development of swing and other forms of jazz. Saxophonists Coleman Hawkins, Lester Young, Charlie Parker, John Coltrane, and Ornette Coleman are considered some of the greatest innovators in jazz.