The saxophone, a single-reed woodwind instrument usually made of brass, was designed around 1840 by Adolphe Sax, a Belgian instrument maker, flutist, and clarinetist. As an outgrowth of his work improving the bass clarinet, Sax began developing an instrument with the projection of a brass instrument and the agility of a woodwind.
Initially created for classical music, the use of the sax expanded exponentially with the introduction of jazz becoming very popular across the US. As the jazz age died down, the sax took on new roles in popular music with folks like Clarence Clemons, Grover Washington Jr, Phil Woods, Ronnie Ross, and David Bowie using it in a variety of new styles and ways.
On today’s show we are gonna take a look at the sax in popular music a bit closer and give you our Favorite Sax-ey songs.