Thanks to Adolphe Sax, inventor of the saxophone, the world was introduced to luminaries such as John Coltrane and Bill Clinton. Ok, maybe Clinton wasn’t a luminary, but he sure he looked the part on Arsenio Hall back in 1992. I you want to travel back in time to the dotcom era and relive Clinton’s epic performance on Arsenio Hall for funsies, click here.
Mr. Sax would’ve turned 200 today had he somehow figured out how to become immortal or bionic. He was born in Belgium where he worked with his father making instruments. He created the saxophone in the early 1840’s after he had tweaked and improved the bass clarinet and invented a slew of saxhorn instruments.
Listen to how saxophone has evolved over the years in a great NPR interview with Music Commentator Miles Hoffman. Click here to listen now.
