The saxophone was invented by Adolphe Sax, who was born 6 November 1814, in Belgium. Sax's father manufactured clarinets and brass instruments, so Sax learnt the skill of instrument making at an early stage. Sax grew up to be a good clarinetist, but was always struck by the instrument's shortcomings. He'd redesigned the bass clarinet to a greatly improved standard, but he also wanted to produce an instrument that played in octaves rather than twelfths. So, the …showed first 75 words of 387 total…

…showed last 75 words of 387 total…big bands usually used two altos, two tenors, and one bari sax in each section. Listen to different recordings and see if you can figure out which sax is being played. The most common are the alto and tenor saxophones. Although composers of classical music have written for it, the instrument has been most effectively used in jazz and popular music, and the number jazz performers risen to fame playing the sax is ever increasing.