Sax & Brass Book

[Helen]

There is a really good book titled: The Sax & Brass Book: saxophones, trumpets and trombones in jazz, rock and pop. No author credited, but it is published as A Balafon Book (emphasis theirs). Copyright 1998.

It really has more pages on sax brands, makes, models, and players than anything else. Very nice colour pages with lots, and lots of photos of vintage horns, bands, and players. It also has Directory in the back where the various musical instrument brands have their histories explained and serial number lists are included as well.

I found the book a few years ago at a Chapters store in Atlantic Canada. I don't know if it's still in print, but it is a great reference book, and very pretty coffee table book as well. Oh, did I mention that it also has some fold out pages? Very nice.

Edit:

I just checked on a couple of online bookstores (Canadian) and it looks like it is currently available only in paperback. But the good news is Hal Leonard now publishes it. Check it out.

Just in case in the future, this link no longer works, here's the book info:

Format:Trade Paperback
Published:June 21, 2003
Dimensions:9.38 x 7.25 x 0 in
Published By:Hal Leonard Music Books
The following ISBNs are associated with this title:
ISBN - 10:0879307374
ISBN - 13:9780879307370
From the Publisher

This is the first illustrated history of the horns that have defined jazz since the 1920s and enhanced more recent pop and rock music with their distinctive, classy sounds. Offering superb, specially commissioned photography and inviting descriptive text, The Sax and Brass Book tells the unique 70-year story of these instruments. Exquisite, color pictorials included throughout enhance detailed historical profiles of master brass and woodwind manufacturers, including Buescher, Buffet, Conn, Holton, King Leblanc, Martin, Sax, Selmer, Yanagisawa and Yamaha.</I></B>

 

[Gandalfe]

Got it at Half-priced Books for ~$3. Nice book.

I'm currently lusting over the Martin Magna bari sax pictured on page 75.

 

[Ed]

I have this book. Another book I highly recommend is the book Paul Lindemeyer wrote called "Celebrating the Saxophone".

 

[pete]

I'm pretty sure that it's this book has at least two glaring errors I found when flipping through it:

* That's a bass clarinet that's pictured, not a sax (horribly mislabeled as a tenor).
* Conn never made a (production model) Eb contrabass.

Other than that, I seem to remember that it was shiny. I didn't look too far into it.

I have Paul's book and I recommend it. We should do a different thread on that ....

 

[pete]

Done.