The Sopranos

Respect for the little saxophone

After Sidney Bechet, the soprano saxophone didn’t get much respect in jazz circles. Steve Lacy was one of the few to make it his main axe, and he inspired John Coltrane to showcase the instrument on “My Favorite Things.” About the same time, the soprano was showing up in pop music.

Sidney Bechet, Steve Lacy, John Coltraine

In Ben E. King’s “There is a Rose in Spanish Harlem,” from 1961, Romeo Penque plays a brief solo on soprano. In the Tokens’ “The Lion Sleeps Tonight,” an unidentified player solos on the instrument, accompanied by opera singer Anita Darlan, a soprano. During the 1960s, the tenor and alto saxophones continued to dominate solos, but the soprano would make a comeback of sorts.

In 1968 with the Paul Butterfield Blues Band, David Sanborn broke out the soprano on “In My Own Dream,” but with his own groups continued to feature the alto. The Band keyboardist Garth Hudson plays soprano sax on the out-chorus to “It Makes no Difference,” with Rick Danko on the vocal. By then the guitar was king and saxophone solos, when they happened at all, tilted toward the tenor.

Otis Hale of the Sanford Townsend Band played soprano on the intro to “Smoke from a Distant Fire” but returns to tenor on his solo. Soprano was also a secondary horn for jazz players, but they turned in some great performances on the instrument.

Here is Zoot Sims, best known for tenor, on “Moonlight in Vermont,” and “Willow Weep for Me” from his “Soprano Sax” album. The soprano is a sweet singer but in the right hands can get nasty on the blues, as James Rivers shows on the intro to Clint Eastwood’s “Tightrope.” And how about Grover Washington Jr. on “Blues for DP,” with Herbie Hancock on piano.

Hear Branford Marsalis with father Ellis on “Angelica,” which Coltrane performed with Duke Ellington. Ray Charles encouraged David Newman to play all the saxes, so check out David on “One for My Baby.” Stan Getz didn’t play much on soprano, but he sure knew how. Same goes for Dexter Gordon, heard here on “Tivoli.”

Kenny Garrett, James Carter, Steve Marcus, Wayne Shorter, David Liebman, Stefano di Battista and Jimmy Heath also shine on soprano but a whole generation knows the instrument only from Kenneth Gorelick, better known as Kenny G. As the late Eddie Harris (“Listen Here” “Freedom Jazz Dance”) said, if you can’t remember anything a guy played, maybe he didn’t play anything. Pat Metheny’s take is just a bit stronger.

Contrary to popular belief, the soprano is not the smallest saxophone. Here is a sopranino, even harder to master, in this classical ensemble. Just for fun, check out multi-instrumentalist Rahsaan Roland Kirk on a straight tenor saxophone, in effect a giant soprano. And here is James Carter playing a bass saxophone on Django Reinhardt’s “Nuages.” Don’t forget the much larger contrabass saxophone, which can also be used to signal ships. Adolphe Sax never dreamed his invention could be so multi-tasking.

Adolphe Sax