Saxophones

The saxophone (colloquially referred to as sax) is a conical-bored instrument of the woodwind family.

It is usually made of brass and played with a single-reed mouthpiece like the clarinet. The saxophone is commonly associated with popular music, big band music, blues, and jazz - but was originally intended as both an orchestral and military band instrument. The instrument has also been used often by several groups of the dansband genre. Saxophone players are called saxophonists.

The saxophone was developed circa 1840 by Adolphe Sax, a Belgian-born instrument-maker, flautist, and clarinetist working in Paris. Although he had constructed saxophones in several sizes by the early 1840s, he did not receive a 15-year patent for the instrument until June 28, 1846. It was first officially revealed to the public in the presentation of the bass saxophone in C at an exhibition in Brussels in 1841. After the patent expired in 1866, many different manufacturers introduced competing models, including many different modifications to Sax's original design.

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