Postcards from Europe

Bonjour from Paris, France!

I’d originally planned to send you a postcard from our European adventures, but it’s been so action-packed, thrilling, and jammed with so many things to do and see, I couldn’t fit it all on one postcard, so I wrote FIVE just from Paris alone!

To be honest, I could write a book about the amazing music-centric things we’ve done and seen since our arrival. We started in London and saw the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical, Starlight Express, and the following day we enjoyed Jeff Wayne’s Musical Version of The War of the Worlds. After London, it was on to Portugal where we spent time visiting my old Fade2Shade bandmate, Derrick Raiter and his wife Molly, while celebrating our 21^st wedding anniversary.

From there we jetted off to Paris (we’re so sophisticated) where I was scheduled to visit the Henri Selmer Paris Showroom. The Selmer Showroom is where musicians are invited to explore and try out a range of Selmer instruments. Since my own set up is largely Selmer (Soprano Sax – Series III; Alto Sax – Super Action 80 Series II; Tenor Sax – Series III & Mark VI; Bb Clarinet – BT [Balanced Tone]) I was excited for the opportunity to visit and have been looking forward to it for many years.

Founded in 1885, Selmer began manufacturing saxophones in 1922. They are a company that prides itself on quality and innovation. In the mid-30s their Balanced Action model began to change how saxophones were made to improve handling and sound quality. Even today the Balanced Action model is sought after by vintage jazz players.

Fast forward to the late 50s and the introduction of the Mark VI, which is considered the gold standard for saxophones. Today, a solid portion of professional saxophone players will have a Mark VI in their collection, seeking out models from varying manufacturer serial number ranges. My Mark VI is a tenor model from the early 1970s.

Enjoy more photos from Europe:

One must make an appointment to visit the Selmer Paris showroom. Mind you, it’s not the place where they make their saxophones; that important work is done in a factory outside the city and tours are not offered.

From the outside, the Paris Showroom was rather nondescript. There was just a sign on a building on the street. The windows were functional and not decorative. It would be very easy to simply walk by and not even notice it if you weren’t looking for it.

Once inside I was suddenly transported into a musician’s Xanadu — it was part museum and part repair shop with sound-controlled studios upstairs for testing all models of Selmer saxophones. Yet curiously enough, they don’t sell their instruments there.

When I applied for my appointment, I had to identify who I was (a pro musician, professor, technician, etc.) and what I was interested in playing. I was instructed to bring my own mouthpiece and reeds.

For this visit, I chose to play alto saxophones for a few reasons: first, the vast majority of my students are on Altos; second, that’s the horn I’ve been playing the most in recent years.

I requested to play a Balanced Action model saxophone as it’s one I’ve never played. The other model I requested was their current model, the Selmer Supreme, which happens to be four models beyond my Selmer Super Action 80 Series 2.

Once taken upstairs to a studio I was given four saxophones to try. Visually the differences between these four saxophones were impressive.

• Model 26, built in 1928. The 26 was very simple looking and shockingly lightweight. If one is used to playing a modern instrument, the 26 definitely plays awkwardly for the fingers as well as the airstream. It feels like trying to blow up a balloon that was never stretched. It’s hard work. The sound it produces is pinched and I could feel the break from the low octave to the high octave. Harmonics are difficult to produce. Overall, the sound was not as full and round as what’s produced with a modern-day horn. Unless a person is interested in a very vintage tone, like an orchestra playing on catgut strings vs modern strings, this saxophone doesn’t fit our ear’s expectations of what a saxophone should sound like.
• The Balanced Action. The Balanced Action is only 10-15 years newer than the 26 but with an improved keywork design that makes it look more like a modern-day saxophone. In reality, Balanced Action wouldn’t evolve into a more modern instrument until the production of the next Super Balanced Action model. For the latter, they rotated the keywork for offset tone holes that eventually became the standard for saxophones today. This particular saxophone played quite a bit easier than the 26 — the harmonics popped better, and the sound was more like one produced by a big band jazz saxophone from the 1940s. This is why this and the Super Balanced Action models are much sought after by Big Band Jazz players today. It was a real treat to play this model saxophone having never had the opportunity before. As a saxophonist, I would say that it felt and sounded more like a Mark VI without the keywork of a Mark VI. It was remarkable just how much more advanced this horn was.

• The Signature. With that, I flipped from the very old to the very new. The Selmer Signature is nine reincarnations and nearly a century beyond the 26. It is a legacy horn of the Super Action 80 lineage and perhaps could be considered the Series IV of that line. From the new lacquer to the digital etched design on the body and bell to the top to bottom modern keywork, it was like going from driving a Model T to a Mustang. The feel and playability of this saxophone was like a better version of my Series II, because it was exactly that. The sound was very open, bright, and forward. It was responsive and easy to blow through. Harmonics popped with no effort. I can only describe the experience as amazing and unexpected, like ordering your usual latte but this time it tastes like the barista studied coffee making in Brazil.

• The Supreme. So, what could possibly be left to discover with the Selmer Supreme? This newest model was released in 2021 (alto) and 2023 (tenor). It’s the first completely new saxophone since the reference model in 2001. After play it, I only have three things to say about it:

I would never say that there is a horn that could play itself, but if it were possible, this would be that horn. Everything about it was effortless and easy. The response was immediate. The harmonics did something I’ve never encountered with another saxophone before — not only did the harmonics pop, but they BLENDED. This model enables a musician to blend one harmonic into the next with limited effort. The sound was full and rich. There was no fuzz or airiness in the transitions. The fundamental was so present that even as I was going up and down the harmonics, I could still hear that low note ringing.

At the end of my visit to Selmer I thanked them for the opportunity, after which they gave me some reeds and a little swag. I look forward to another opportunity to visit them again someday and to play with other saxophones.

 Je t’aime, Paris Selmer et merci!

To wind down our Parisian tour, we visited the graves of Rossini, Chopin, and Jim Morrison of The Doors at the Cimetière du Pére-Lachaise followed by a special lunch at Le P’tit Piano where I had the pleasure of playing their piano.

Au revoir for now!

Andy

Enjoy more Selmer photos:

Cheerio mates from the UK,

A couple of days after leaving Paris we traveled to London where we paid a visit to Sax. These guys have been one of my favorite YouTube content creators for years now posting videos that compare saxophone models, setups, mouthpieces, and drop-ins and featuring well-known saxophonists like Leo P.

Their shop is mostly focused on saxophones but does carry other woodwinds as well. They have some unique saxophones in their window display, including a wood carved saxophone, a few Vibrato Saxophones made from clear polycarbonate referred to as “Nude” saxophones, and a couple of Grafton saxophones that were made from injected molded acrylic plastic in the 1950s. Their store also carries the very weird and very cool Glissotar!

On one wall they even had some saxophone blanks which are sax bodies with no tone holes or keys. These are parts of saxophones before the full manufacturing process.

There is a story about Sigurd Rascher, a renowned player and teacher who used to have a “keyless saxophone.” He would use it to demonstrate his skill of overtone series to students and people who could not believe it was possible to play overtones on the saxophone.

The Sax shop is beautiful and well-lit which makes all of their horns really stand out on their showroom floor. They carry all sizes of saxophones in the most well-known quality brands and models available for purchase today. I happily took the opportunity to play a few saxophones that I had never tried before. While I can say that the saxophones I tried are all ones that any of my students would have success with, it is difficult to hide my bias for the Selmers.

While in London, we also stumbled upon a piano from Phantom of the Opera that was signed by Andrew Lloyd Webber. It was located in St Pancreas-Kings Cross Station, and I took the opportunity to tickle those ivories as well.

Until our next musical adventure, ta for now,
Andy

More photos from Sax UK: