When Clarence Clemmons died recently, a couple of profiles noted how rare it is to have sax players in rock bands these days. In the 70s, bands as diverse as Chicago, the Silver Bullet Band, and Roxy Music had full time sax players. So why it so unusual to have bands with sax players these days? And what contemporary bands use sax these days?
Styles change? The 50’s - doo-wop. The 60’s - garage bands, folk music, cheezy Hammond organ. The 70’s - horny bands, thats when there was a lot of saxaphone. The 80’s - synthesizers. And so on. I love the sax, but it belongs to a more bluesy, melodic style.
They’ve been featured in a bit of death metal lately. I wrote about Ihsahn’s album After on my blog last year. There’s links to a couple of tracks there; the sax on Frozen Lakes On Mars is especially cool.
sax solos became something of a trite cliche. By the mid-80s, it seemed like every pop song being written had to have a sax blasting away in the middle of it. In those yuppified days, a sax solo was an easy way to add a bit of pseudo-sophistication to a song. Unfortunately, it became apparent that not all sax players, few in fact, are on the level of Coltrane. Some of those solos, well…blew. (sorry, I couldn’t resist.)
This is one of the questions I asked in a thread I started a few years ago, but I don’t think the question was really answered. Don Draper’s answer may be as good as any.
John Linnell of They Might Be Giants plays saxes, but I don’t think They use as much sax now as they did in their early days.
People started associating saxophones with gauzy softcore porn.
:dubious: 80’s Punk and Ska wouldn’t be the same without the sax!
My WAG, anybody can pick up a guitar or bass, or sit at a drum kit or piano and get, at least vaguely, musical sounds out of them. Wind instruments not so much.
CMC fnord!
Yep; that’s my thought. When rock music was the voice of teenage rebellion it was easier to get loud and noisy with a couple of guitars, bass and drums. And, from a rock perspective, electric guitars stole the role of horns in jazz and boogie back in the 50’s…so sax and other horns were relegated into a “nice option, but not required” position early on in rock’s history…
Destroyer’s most recent album had lots of saxes, but for the most part I think they’re not used much because 99 times out of 100 they make a song sound unbelievably cheesy and most artists wisely decided not to use them post-'80s.
It’s a good question. I love well-written sax parts in rock music. Pink Floyd’s “Dark Side of the Moon” was greatly enhanced by the sax music. John Helliwell’s sax work in Supertramp was a key part of their sound. Even hard-rocking bands like Foreigner used saxes (Junior Walker’s solo in ‘Urgent’, for example). Some of the biggest songs in the 70’s were built around sax riffs.
I don’t buy the argument that saxes are harder to learn. The sax is a staple of school band programs, and there are oodles of kids out there who played saxes for years in school. My daughter plays a mean sax. I played sax all through middle and high school. So did a couple of my friends. Guitar, on the other hand, was always something you had to pick up on your own.
I don’t have a good answer, other than that musical tastes and styles have changed somewhat, and maybe no one wants the sax sound any more. The same is true of other band instruments, isn’t it? How many bands use trumpets? Or clarinets or trombones? Herb Alpert used to break into the top of the pop charts with his trumpet regularly. Lots of funk, rock, and disco bands had big horn sections. Where have all of those instruments gone?
Kenny G signed his first recording contract in 1982 and it was downhill from there.
Bands are smaller now and sax players can’t play and sing backup at the same time. He’s another mouth to feed that brings only half the instrument potential of a bass player, guitarist or even a drummer. I’ve also noticed at the bar/garage level (where most bands start) fewer instrument-less lead singers.
Banco de Gaia’s Celestine has a prominent sax solo (and if it sounds very Pink Floyd-ish, there’s a reason). Beautiful song.
Like The Sanford Townsend band, Smoke From A Distant Fire? That was in 1977, a good example of a horn- laden 70’s band, IMO (and one of my forever favorite songs).
The saxophone is gone from rock music? That’s news to me. The Dave Matthews Band, one of the most wildly popular, beloved and emulated groups of our current era, was totally dominated by the sax playing of LeRoi Moore (and after his death, Jeff Coffin.)
I wonder how many kids take music lessons/play in a school band now as compared to 50 years ago. I could easily be wrong but I think it is fewer nowadays. And if you were a school band, one of the few instruments that would translate to rock/R&B was a saxophone (and drums). But violins, cellos, clarinets would not (with rare exceptions like Roxy Music and Papa John Creach-era Jefferson Airplane/Starship).
But I can see an argument that bands have gotten smaller (less expensive with fewer members) and a sax player would get the axe if you downsize.
Just finishing up a CD with Phil Kenzie, of Year of the Cat fame as well as many other things. He still is fabulous, but the songs are retro, and reminiscent of 70s and 80s.