Contrabass saxophone

[Shrdlu]

When I was an eager kid wanting to get a sax, a mentor friend wrote out a list of the various sizes, and he included the contrabass, with a note saying "workshop curiosity".

He was pretty much right at the time, but a few manufacturers have worked on the design in recent years and made it a viable proposition - if you are pretty rich.

In case you don't know (and how many on earth do?), this is in Eb, an octave below the baritone, and twice as long. Yes, I have never seen a live specimen!

The expansion of sites like Youtube in the last year or two has been amazing. (Suddenly, tons of video clips of the top jazz musicians have been uploaded. You would do well to Google your favorites.) I was amazed to find this performance a few days ago:

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=4748127359655445832

It's a guy playing a blues on a contrabass. I had expected this enormous horn to sound like a weird physics experiment, but, much to my surprise, it is very musical.

Hope you enjoy it too.

[Rooster_Ties]

Ain't got nothin' on the the SUBcontrabass FLUTE!

(Sub = one octave below a contrabass, so THREE octaves below a standard flute.)

Edited November 4, 2008 by Rooster_Ties

[DTMX]

I saw Jay Easton play a contrabass sax at a recital in Atlanta a few years back; the recital was a meet-the-members-of-the-woodwinds-family type of deal. When he brought out the c-bass I saw some of the mothers pull their kids closer to them like a large unleashed dog had just walked into the room.

[robviti]

[B. Clugston]

There's a few 'great moments in contrabass saxophone history' on the Braxton Mosaic set, in particular in the Berlin concert and a duet with Abrams.

My favourite Braxton contrabass solo is from the duo album with Roscoe Mitchell on Sackville. Braxton plays contrabass and Mitchell plays his bass sax on a rumbling march.

[robviti]

My favourite Braxton contrabass solo is from the duo album with Roscoe Mitchell on Sackville. Braxton plays contrabass and Mitchell plays his bass sax on a rumbling march.

yeah, the china starts shaking in the cupboard with that one.

[Hot Ptah]

I saw Anthony Braxton play contrabass sax in duet with Ray Anderson at D.C. Space in 1980. When Braxton was on contrabass sax, and Anderson was on tuba, and they were both playing all out at the same time, it felt like an assault of very low tones being blasted out at us.

An assault in a good sense.

[medjuck]

There's a picture of Roscoe Mitchell surrounded by saxes on the cover of a Sackville record. I'm not sure whether the big one is a bass or contra-bass. Which is bigger? One of them needs a stand to be played. (I think.)

[.:.impossible]

The picture that robviti posted of Brax on cbass sax shows the horn resting in a stand.

[Free For All]

Scott Robinson recently released a recording of Thad Jones tunes, and he plays the whole range of saxophones, including the contrabass. Very well, too. If you get a chance to check out samples, listen to the last cut "Greetings and Salutations".

He's also done some other recordings using the big horns.

[Shrdlu]

The thing is, that whereas you hear about this massive thing, you can actually listen to it on that clip, and see the guy playing it. Prior to that, all I had ever heard was a five-second clip of a grunt or two on one.

There is another article (that Google brings up) about a guy who ordered a new one. He tells how he go on when it arrived.

Downsizing a little, I'd love to have a bass sax. It has a nice, rich sound all of its own. And, at the other end, I'd love a Selmer sopranino too.

I love low flutes, and there are some great examples of the bass, such as Joe Farrell playing one on the "Tide" album by Jobim. I wonder how much volume you can get out of a contrabass or sub contrabass flute though. The sub contrabass, despite its name, would only go down to C two octaves below middle C, which is not ultra low.

In the clarinet family, the Eb contrabass is a fine horn. You can hear that on "Canto de Ossanha", by Duke Pearson, where Frank Foster plays it. Michael Cuscuna erroneously listed it as a an alto clarinet, but it's an octave below that one, and also has a low C extension (sounding concert Eb). If a guy is going to go to bass clarinet, he might as well use the Eb contrabass.

[mikeweil]

The bigger the sax, the shorter the pants?

[B. Clugston]

There's a picture of Roscoe Mitchell surrounded by saxes on the cover of a Sackville record. I'm not sure whether the big one is a bass or contra-bass. Which is bigger? One of them needs a stand to be played. (I think.)

Roscoe has a bass saxophone. You are likely referring to the solo concerts album on Sackville. The contrabass is bigger.

[danasgoodstuff]

My dream sax would be a bass in C (some of you may recall I play C melody); it would be bigger/lower than a baitone but smaller/higher than a B-flat Bass sax. I know some were made in the 19th century, but I'm not sure if any/many were made in modern pitch.

[Late]

Thanks for posting that (first) video! Here's the same guy playing the "tubax" and soprillo.

(The soprillo is higher and smaller than the sopranino, and the tubax is, well, I'm not sure.)

[Late]

Braxton on contra bass:

[Late]

But I might like this contrabass saxophone video even better:

[DukeCity]

Thanks for posting that (first) video! Here's the same guy playing the "tubax" and soprillo.

(The soprillo is higher and smaller than the sopranino, and the tubax is, well, I'm not sure.)

The tubax is made by a guy named Eppelsheim. Available in a few different keys, and the basic idea is that the tube is as long as a contrabass sax (like Braxton plays) but the diameter of the tube is smaller. Also, the whole thing is "wrapped" to make for a smaller, easier-to-manage package.

I think most of Eppelsheim's instruments are done on a special order basis.

In the last few years there have been some Taiwanese manufacturers making "affordable" Bb bass saxophones (as in $6K - $9K as opposed to well over $10K for a Selmer or Keilwerth).

[Guest Bill Barton]

Thanks for posting that (first) video! Here's the same guy playing the "tubax" and soprillo.

(The soprillo is higher and smaller than the sopranino, and the tubax is, well, I'm not sure.)

Vinny Golia, who also has used a contrabass saxophone, plays tubax, which was designed by Benedikt Eppelsheim, whom DukeCity already mentioned. Eppelsheim also invented the soprillo. Pretty extreme...

Then there's the sub contrabass saxophone...

saxophone family

Edited November 7, 2008 by Bill Barton

[Late]

Check out this short tubax

Nice. The tubax (now that I know what it is) actually makes a lot more sense than the contrabass. It's a feasible, and beautiful, instrument.

[Late]

Quartet for two tubaxes, contrabass saxophone, and subcontrabass saxophone here.

[Shrdlu]

I imagine the C bass sax only exists in theory, lol.

The Bb one is so similar that surely it would do.

I saw a video of a guy playing a C soprano, but, again, the Bb does the job.

[danasgoodstuff]

I've gotten used to playing C-melody - if I finger 'C' and hear B-flat i'm all disoriented. Besides, a C bass would be more manageable size/weight wise.

[DukeCity]

I imagine the C bass sax only exists in theory, lol.

The Bb one is so similar that surely it would do.

I saw a video of a guy playing a C soprano, but, again, the Bb does the job.

From this article about the history of the saxophone:

"1841 - Adolphe Sax first showed his creation (a C bass saxophone) to the composer Hector Berlioz. The great composer was impressed by the uniqueness and versatility of the instrument."

Don't know if there were ever (m)any C basses commercially produced. The whole Key of C/Key of F family of saxes never really caught on (except for the C melody, of course) but there are some collectors who have F altos and F baritones.

[Guest Bill Barton]

Quartet for two tubaxes, contrabass saxophone, and subcontrabass saxophone here.

dragons and elephants dancing... love it!