vintage c g conn saxophone serial numbers

In 1875, a French musical instrument maker named Dupont stopped by the shop and asked if he might use Conn's bench to repair some horns. He made a few for his friends, but soon there was such a demand for his mouthpieces that he rigged up a lathe from an old sewing machine and began turning them out as fast as possible. The new mouthpiece, which he later patented, caught the eye of other musicians. Not good news for a man who played cornet with the Elkhart, Indiana 'Brick Brown Band.' In order to get around this problem, Colonel Conn set out to perfect a special rubber-cushioned mouthpiece so he could continue playing. One Saturday night in 1873, Civil War veteran Charles Gerard Conn got involved in a brawl that resulted in a split lip. Conn's storied history reflects a dedication for innovation and quest for the ultimate in design and craftsmanship - an industry leader in musical performance. Always committed to serving the needs of students, music educators, amateurs, and professionals, C.G. Conn, King and Benge brass instruments, Artley and Armstrong woodwinds and Scherl & Roth strings. Conn encompasses some of the greatest names in musical instruments - C.G. Conn, the oldest continuous manufacturer of band instruments in America, literally gave birth to the U.S. Here is the history of the Conn company, courtesy of the Conn-Selmer website.Ĭ.G. The best place to start discussing American saxophones would be with Conn. He would later leave Conn and start the Buescher Musical Instrument Company. The first saxophone built in the US was built by Gus Buescher in 1888 when he was foreman at the Conn factory in Elkhart, Indiana. The very vocal quality of the sax, and its tonal flexibility lends itself to so many genres of music. From the 1920's on, every jazz ensemble had a saxophone section, and the saxophone reigns supreme as the dominant wind instrument in jazz and popular music, and is now used more extensively in classical ensembles, particularly saxophone quartets and choirs. When Sidney Bechet went north and was in Boston, he had a young student by the name of Johnny Hodges.

As the New Orleans players started moving north and spreading the music, most notably Louis Armstrong, the saxophone began appearing in jazz ensembles to the point of being an indispensable part of any modern orchestra.

Sidney Bechet, a New Orleans player, was probably the first jazz saxophonist, having switched from the clarinet, the wind instrument that was common to New Orleans players of the time, to soprano sax, which he became famous for. Much of this was probably due to the fact that as a newly invented instrument, there still weren't many musicians playing it, and that teachers were few and far between. Early New Orleans jazz also did not include the saxophone, the clarinet being the most commonly used wind instrument. Composers like, Ravel, Goudonov, Bizet and Prokofiev wrote saxophone parts into some of their compositions. Although the saxophone was invented in 1840 by Adolphe Sax, a Belgian living and working in Paris, in its infancy it was sparsely used by symphony orchestras if at all. They were built by skilled craftsmen and women who plied their trade with pride. As those who follow my blog know, I really love vintage American saxophones, particularly those manufactured from the mid-twenties until the late 50's.

Vintage c g conn saxophone serial numbers