What are the lessons of Russian culture, what does it have to offer us and our time? Fortunately, Russian cultural studies have a rich history - including the works of Nikolai Berdiaev, Pavel Miliukov, George Vernadsky, Nicholas Riasanovsky, Wladimir Weidle, Georges Florovsky, Dmitry Chizhevsky, James Billington, Mikhail Bakhtin, and Dmitry Likhachev (who is a contributor to this volume and a link to the earlier tradition), and more recently Alain Besançon, Yury Lotman, Caryl Emerson, Katerina Clark, Boris Groys, Mikhail Epstein, Irina Paperno, Boris Uspensky and Geoffrey Hosking among others - that offers orientation and points of engagement in answering such questions. In spite of a rich diversity of approaches that have changed over time and in reaction to historical and social context, these and other cultural analysts most often depend on certain basic vantage points they assume in common, whether in part or in whole. They are: the language origins of a culture, its geographic location, its religious and ideological attachments, and its broadly based folk ethos. Yet other points of view exist in aesthetic texts that are equally open to history and later uses by cultural observers but that have some material permanence in their media of transmission.

In any history of Russian film questions about boundaries arise, directly or by implication. The subject cannot include all of the production of the Russian Empire, the old Soviet Union, and the Commonwealth of Independent States. Nonetheless, Aleksandr Dovzhenko, among the Fathers of Soviet film, is a fact of the Russian and Ukrainian cinemas; Mikhail Chiaureli, in the Stalinist generation, a fact of the Georgian and Russian cinemas; and later, Sergei Paradzhanov, from the generation that came to artistic maturity after Stalin’s death, of the Armenian, Ukrainian, Georgian, and Russian cinemas. Iakov Protazanov is a pre-revolutionary filmmaker and a post-revolutionary one. The work of film artists in emigration or temporarily working in France, Germany, the United States, and elsewhere enters into various constructions of the subject. Ivan Mozzhukhin, Andrei Tarkovsky, and Andrei Konchalovsky are candidates for inclusion in histories in international contexts.

Questions about genres also arise. Avant-garde Soviet film challenged the dominant narrative models of bourgeois audiences, along with the conventions of film viewing. Agitprop in the twenties erased the boundaries between fiction and fact. Film became not a fiction or a document, but a tool in the reconstruction of reality; Sergei Eisenstein’s films about revolution in the twenties and even Aleksandr Medvedkin’s about collectivization in the thirties were part of this tradition.

Saxophone technique consists of the physical actions required to play the instrument – a simple definition, but this is nevertheless a very wide and often daunting subject, both because of the large number of actions and parts of the body used in playing, and because of the bewildering variety of styles and idioms in which the chameleon-like saxophone family of instruments is used. However, I believe that it is possible to identify a few important common fundamental principles, and that observations can be made with regard to saxophone technique which are widely applicable throughout the members of the saxophone family and across all styles of playing.

A framework of approach: breaking music down and using models

Instrumental technique does not exist in a vacuum. Rather, it is one aspect of musical performance; others include phrasing, interpretation within an historical and stylistic context, and of course sheer flair for communicating with listeners. It is a cliché that music is like a language, yet the analogy is a useful one. Like music, spoken language has both spoken and written forms; it can express ideas ranging from banal to profound, can be used either improvisationally or in set forms such as poems, stories, plays, novels or speeches, and there is a performance aspect to speech which we see most obviously in actors. In speech the simplest unit is the word, enunciated by a variety of vocal and oral actions. Words are connected by conventions of grammar into meaningful arrangements (phrases, sentences, paragraphs) which communicate ideas, large or small, of a practical or artistic nature.

A history of the saxophone in jazz is in many ways a history of jazz itself, inasmuch as many of the essential protagonists, those who took style and aesthetics forward, were saxophonists. This is also a story from the twentieth century, of an art form born in the early years and fast-forwarded through many of the changes that classical music history took much longer to experience. Perhaps that is in its nature as an oral art form, relying much more on spontaneous composition than on the written work for posterity. Jazz artists tend to be creators rather than interpreters, and consequently as much will be made in this chapter of performers' creativity as of their technical skills.

The story of jazz in the twentieth century is a story of music in the United States, of black and white popular culture. Latterly, Europe becomes important. Throughout, male domination of the creative process is self-evident. It is hoped that all of the significant saxophonists in jazz will be mentioned here – although some will be disappointed that their favourites have not been included. Rather than follow each career extensively, I have tried to indicate major soloists, along with the main features of their stylistic contributions.

Early soloists

The development of the saxophone in jazz from that of a negligible bit-player, through tonal feature, to essential requirement, includes influencing factors both from within jazz and from wider society. The early jazz ensemble evolved into front line and rhythm section instruments, where the front line consisted of cornet, trombone and clarinet, whilst the rhythm section used piano/banjo/guitar, tuba/string bass and drums. The rhythm section as a functional unit (bass – harmonic rhythm; drums – decorative percussion; piano – harmonic filling and clarification) remained fairly constant up to the 1970s, once the banjo had disappeared and the string bass eased out its brass cousin. The front line, however, was to undergo regular upheaval.

Saxophone teaching and learning comprise a diverse field. Every student is an individual, as is every teacher; study can be at any level from elementary to conservatoire or university; it can take place in one-to-one or group situations; and of course there are many different musical idioms to explore using the saxophone. It is difficult to imagine a ‘complete’ guide to teaching and learning the saxophone. However, I shall try to offer at least a personal view of what I consider to be some of the essential factors, common threads running through good teaching and learning at all levels.

Although there are a very few exceptional saxophonists who are truly self-taught, learning usually occurs through a process of interaction between students, teachers and institutions. The goals of this learning process are: the awakening and refining of the latent talent and musical imagination which is there to a greater or lesser extent in all saxophone students; the equipping of the student with the skills, techniques, judgement and experiences to draw upon in giving the imagination a voice, making communicative and accurate performances. These performances may be made by playing from written music, from memory or by ear, in as many of the different styles of music available to saxophonists as possible or desired.

Music is a complicated subject. It has physical, emotional and intellectual components, which all need to be addressed. There is a long continuum of levels of achievement; through the learning process the effort of the student, guided by the teacher possibly in the environment of an institution, is directed towards gradually improving the communicative range and technical standard of their playing.

The nineteenth century

In 1983, it was estimated that the composers of more than 2000 operas, ballets and symphonic works had by then included parts for one or more saxophones. Only a very small number of these works were written between 1850 and 1900. I am sure that Adolphe Sax the designer, manufacturer, player and publisher was disappointed that his family of instruments had not found a much more secure place in the affections of classical composers by the turn of the century.

The eulogies heaped upon Sax and his inventions by Hector Berlioz, even before the patent was secured in 1846, should have helped to popularise them. It is all the more strange that Berlioz only scored one piece including saxophone, an arrangement for six instruments, all designed or perfected by Sax, of one of his own vocal works, Chant sacré (arr. 1844). Few composers used saxophones in the orchestra in the nineteenth century. Their works are well known and frequently quoted; Ambroise Thomas in his operas Hamlet (1868) (alto and baritone) and Françoise de Rimini (1882), Bizet in L'Arlésienne (1872), Delibes in the ballet Sylvia (1876), and Massenet in Hérodiade (1877) and Werther (1892) all wrote effective and beautiful solos. These are mostly in the form of brief set pieces, although the saxophone plays throughout the whole opera Werther. Hérodiade requires an alto and a tenor. César Franck scored for a complete quartet (SATB) in his rarely performed opera Hulda (1882–5).

Introduction

The indispensable bibliographical index 150 Years of Music for Saxophone catalogues ‘more than 12,000 works of “classical music” for saxophone, 1844–1994. Not included are the 3,000 symphonic or operatic works in which one or several saxophones appear in the orchestration.’ The index lists music from dozens of countries by composers of all levels of recognition and of widely diverse aesthetic approaches. These men and women have written concertos for saxophone with band and with orchestra, sonatas for saxophone and piano, unaccompanied pieces, saxophone ensembles of various sizes, and works for saxophone in unusual combination with instruments such as voice, percussion, organ, tape and synthe-sizer.

The great majority of these works were written for the alto saxophone; only in the first and the most recent decades of the instrument's existence have composers given serious consideration to the other members of the family. This chapter will attempt to trace the growth of the saxophone literature, to identify influential compositions, and to create a sense of the heritage of the performing repertoire.

Much of the core of the saxophone repertoire dates from the 1930s and provides a striking parallel with that of the clarinet. Mozart's clarinet Concerto, K.622, written in 1790, is the first masterpiece for the clarinet, an instrument created around 1700. The saxophone first appeared around 1840; Ibert's Concertino da Camera was written some ninety years later in 1935, and is a comparable landmark in the history of the saxophone literature. Each composition has important predecessors, but the saxophone repertoire had an important advantage: Adolphe Sax.

The saxophone quartet as a medium is generally thought to have dated from 1928, although earlier works were written for the combination by Jean-Baptiste Singelée (1812–75), including Allegro de Concert (AATB), Quatuor en 4 Parties (SATB) and Grand Quatuor Concertant en 3 Parties (SATB). Another early introduction of the ensemble was by Edouard Lefèbre (1834–1911). He was born in Holland of French parents and was a soloist with the New York based Gilmore band from 1873. The band featured a saxophone quartet in 1878, consisting of Lefèbre, Walrabe, Steckelberg and Schultz. In 1905, Lefèbre established his own quartet, which toured the USA, Alaska, Europe and the Philippines; their repertoire consisted of transcriptions.

The major push to establish the saxophone quartet was by the French virtuoso Marcel Mule, whose ensemble gave its first performance in La Rochelle on 2 December 1928. Le Quatuor de la Musique de la Garde Républicaine consisted of Mule (soprano), René Chaligné (alto), Hippolyte Poimboeuf (tenor) and Georges Chauvet (baritone). When Mule left La Garde in 1936, the group became known as Le Quatuor de Saxophones de Paris, and in 1951, the group took the name Marcel Mule Quartet, under which it was known until its disbandment in 1967. The original grouping remained the same until 1932, and subsequent members were Paul Romby, Fernand L'homme, Georges Charron, Marcel Josse, André Bauchy, Georges Gourdet and Guy Lacour.

With a celebrated figure such as Mule behind the artistic development of the ensemble, the grouping did actually create its own chamber music category. Because of Mule's own soloistic virtuosity and resultant contact with composers, many of these composers were forthcoming with works which formed the basis of the classic French repertoire. The nature of the ensemble was already apparent – well balanced in tessitura like a string quartet, and homogeneous in texture. Mule himself was still experimenting with the introduction of vibrato into classical saxophone performance at this time, and the quartet played for the first four years of its existence without vibrato.

In praise of saxophonists

With so-called traditional instruments, the gradual emergence of major works and an evolution of repertoire have, over time, contributed to the steady development of a particular school, usually with consistent and well-defined concepts of writing, phrasing, tone and stylistic parameters – in other words, a clear notion of what represents ‘good’ playing.

Saxophonists themselves have long faced the thorny problem of repertoire, both in terms of quality and quantity. Although orphaned for the sins of its youth, the saxophone is currently enjoying one of its most fruitful phases, with the emergence of a stability not dissimilar to that being experienced by contemporary composers.

The fifty years since the Second World War have seen both iconoclastic and purely exploratory adventures: the blind alley of total serialism and the experimental electronic ideas of the 1980s. Today's young composers see themselves as educated but not ‘academic’, knowledgeable but still inquisitive, displaying both brilliance and perception. The same applies to saxophonists. Free from any musical ‘establishment’, they have a ferocious appetite for new music and an acute sense of responsibility which will undoubtedly benefit the generations of the twenty-first century. Very rarely tied to one style, method or particular practice, their cultural base, while not actually larger than that of other instrumentalists, is often much more receptive to the most stimulating of influences. Coming from a state of ‘No Fixed Repertory’ the saxophonist can often end up trying everything, as much a polymath as his instrument is a polymorph.

Early soloists

Belgian-born Henri Wuille (1822–71) was a contemporary of Sax and one of the most ardent proponents of the new instrument. He toured widely, performing on both clarinet and saxophone to great acclaim, and his tours with impresario Louis Antoine Jullien led to his being credited as the earliest solo performer on the saxophone to play both in England and the United States.

M. Souallé (dates unknown), also Belgian, attracted the praise of Hector Berlioz after a concert in Paris in 1851, following his return from several saxophone performances in London in 1850. Souallé's artistry was proclaimed, as were the saxophone's then already obvious (at least to Berlioz) ‘incomparable and expressive qualities; the trueness and beauty of sound which can be produced when one really masters the technique are such that it can, in slow pieces, challenge the finest singers’.

Louis-Adolphe Mayeur (1837–94) earned a first prize for clarinet at the Paris Conservatoire and became an accomplished saxophonist after studies with both Klosé and Sax. He performed regularly with the Paris Opera and taught widely, contributing a tutor, the Grande Méthode, for saxophone published in 1867.

Introduction

The word ‘saxophone’ means ‘the sound of Sax’ – specifically that of Adolphe Sax. The Greek word ‘phone’, according to the Oxford English Dictionary, relates in particular to vocal sounds, so we should not be surprised that the saxophone is often described as a ‘singing’ instrument. In fact, the saxophone is the most flexible and expressive of musical instruments, exceeded, perhaps, only by the human voice. The human voice, of course, is capable of sounds as varied as cheerleading and Schubert lieder; it is capable of producing guttural sounds and fine-spun eloquence, of rabble-rousing and of inspiring. The saxophone is similar in its potential to move people, both viscerally and emotionally.

As a ‘singing’ instrument, the saxophone is unmatched by its mechanical counterparts. This is often reflected in its classical repertoire, but there can be little doubt that the saxophone is the pre-eminent jazz instrument. If jazz first came from the work-shouts and the blues sung in the nineteenth century, then it is natural that a ‘singing’ instrument such as the saxophone should be well suited to jazz and popular music. What is remarkable is that the instrument took so long to be adopted by jazz musicians.

The saxophone is the invention of a single man, Adolphe Sax. Both a thinker and a doer, he had the genius to conceive a new and versatile instrument, the practical background to bring his theories to fruition and the foresight to create the mechanisms necessary to ensure that it would become an important part of the musical world.

In the vocally dominated genres of rock and pop, the saxophone has made its own special contribution, using its unique vocal attributes with conflicting personalities of sweetness and anguish. From the jump style of Louis Jordan to Courtney Pine's hip-hop, and from Junior Walker through the Baker Street phenomenon to Branford Marsalis and Kenny Gee, saxophone soloists and sections have played a crucial role. But is it rock or pop, is it rock and roll, rhythm and blues, soul, dance or funk? The transient nature of much popular music makes historical accounts sometimes vague, often conjecture, and always selective, but this short chapter will attempt to identify the general trends and most significant exponents.

The big bands of the 1930s and 1940s featured and relied on major soloists, and an important precursor of rock saxophone was to be found in the ‘Texas’ tenor sound of Arnett Cobb, Illinois Jacquet, Buddy Tate and the alto of Eddie Vinson. Stars of the Lionel Hampton and Count Basie bands in the main, their playing was renowned for its excitement and energy and was steeped in the blues. Cries and wails coloured their solos as well as riff developments; a trademark was the use of the extended upper register. Illinois Jacquet's solos with the Hampton band in Flying Home (original 1942) became legendary. ‘Cleanhead’ Vinson concentrated his career on blues playing and singing, although he was also a fine bop player, and employed the young John Coltrane in his band in 1948.

Progressive popularity

By the time of his death in 1894, Adolphe Sax had already achieved the near-impossible, though like many great inventors he would neither recognise this nor profit from it; to introduce a new musical instrument and gain acceptance of typically conservative musicians and public is a feat probably partially paralleled in the last 300 years only by Arnold Dolmetsch's re-introduction of the now common recorder. Sax's early liaison with the Garde Républicaine had assured the saxophone of a continuing presence in the French army bands, and it was this strength which eventually fed the instrument into other musical areas as the twentieth century dawned. His efforts in the classical field reaped little reward, and this was to remain a much less active arena for many years.

It is to Sax's credit that most of the acoustical and mechanical improvements to the saxophone constitute refinements which do not significantly depart from the original patents or render the early instruments unplayable today: most are developments appropriate to more modern manufacturing techniques, greater performer agility, or the optimisation of the tonal requirements of players. Since Sax's original patent rightly includes the mouthpiece, it is necessary to record a parallel development here also.

At the beginning of the twentieth century there was a firm and continuing role for the saxophone in the military bands of France, Germany and elsewhere in Europe, with a rather recalcitrant England soon to follow. In America the Gilmore and Sousa showbands did much to extend the exposure of the instrument to the general public. However, in classical music the saxophone made only an occasional appearance, due in large part to the lack of substantial repertoire and the disinterest of orchestral musicians. Indeed the tenuous thread spun by Adolphe’s early teaching at the Paris Conservatoire seems barely discernible until reinforced by Marcel Mule and Sigurd Rascher some fifty years later.

This is Ezra Pound to his friend James Joyce, who was a singer with, by some accounts, the potential for a career as such. On the other hand, all accounts of Pound's voice are pretty well in accord with his own jocular assessment - raucous, nasal, a scratchy phonograph. Recordings bear this out. When we say someone has a beautiful voice we usually mean a speaking or singing organ of great resonance, power, suppleness, freedom, range, capable of an infinitude of nuance, a strangely affecting Gestalt through which we experience a thrill akin to the sensation of flight. But there is another kind of voice than the merely frequency producing one, another kind of singer than the paragon of high notes - certain poets, who, either naturally, or by acquisition, have the ability to compose words which prescribe the voice which should utter them, poets with an “ear,” poets who never separate word from sounding tone and the percussive rhythm of consonants.