Saxophones

Saxophonist Chang-Kyun Chong belts out the blues on the tenoraltosoprano. If that's a mouthful to say, try playing it. Chong wraps his lips around three mouthpieces, spreads his arms around three horns and stretches his hands over six sets of keys to do it. But first, he takes a deep breath. A very deep breath. "People don't believe it when I tell them I play three saxophones at one time," said Chong, 53, of Los Angeles.

The public doesn't warm to every instrument it hears. Every winter audiences are enchanted by the celesta, a kind of keyboard glockenspiel, because Tchaikovsky made its sweet sound famous in "Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy" from "Nutcracker. " The jury is out on the siren. Edgard Varèse shocked listeners in 1930 when they heard its high-pitched wailings in his all-percussion "Ionization. " The siren will get another hearing when percussionist Steven Schick joins 47 other percussionists in a performance of John Luther Adams' outdoor piece, "Inuksuit," at the Ojai Music Festival in June.

He was in his mid-30s, a businessman and he hadn't played the sax since high school. But after all the publicity surrounding Bill Clinton's saxophone performance on the "Arsenio Hall Show," all the saxophone jokes on "The Tonight Show" and all the saxophone paraphernalia now being hawked, he finally broke down. He visited Marshall Music in Torrance on his lunch break last week and rented a sax.

Buddy Collette, a Grammy-nominated jazz saxophonist, flautist, bandleader and educator who played important roles in Los Angeles jazz as a musician and an advocate for the rights of African American musicians, has died. He was 89. Collette died Sunday at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles after suffering shortness of breath a day earlier, according to his daughter Cheryl Collette-White. Collette's virtuosic skills on saxophones, flute and clarinet allowed him to move easily from studio work in films, television and recording to small jazz groups and big bands.

"Bird still lives," said Bill Clinton last July. "Trane still rules, and for all of our jazz enthusiasts, Lester Young will always be the Pres." Clinton's remarks came at a convention of the National Urban League in San Diego. The then-Arkansas governor--an avocational saxophonist--was introduced to the gathering by Bernard G. Watson, the league's vice chairman, who, like Clinton, also happens to play the saxophone.

Poor Bill Clinton. The media is after him again and this time they are calling him "unfocused," "limpid," "raw." And those are just the polite reactions. Where does this name-calling come from? Is it more backlash over the crime bill? A few verbal rounds in the battle over health care reform? Or maybe some analytical commentary on his diplomatic skills? Nope. This time it's the President's work on the tenor saxophone.

The song was empty without words, and the band members knew it as they played inside the Santa Ana union hall on Saturday. There was no "pardon me, boy," or "dinner in the diner," but "Chattanooga Choo Choo," somehow still felt right. It was Gordon Lee "Tex" Beneke's signature arrangement--a song for which he earned the first gold record in history when it sold 1.2 million copies.

Did you hear the one about the saxophone player who got himself a gig at the White House? MORRIS ROSEN Santa Monica

Leo Potts is eager to affix the lofty classical music label to the saxophone, a culturally disdained instrument that has long been a staple in marching bands and jazz groups. So Potts, along with his pianist friend Jack Reidling, fired a salvo in the quest with their new album exclusively of classical music for the saxophone for Crystal Records.

The saxophone has been, almost from the music's earliest years, one of the primary voices of jazz. From Johnny Hodges and Sidney Bechet, Charlie Parker, Sonny Rollins and John Coltrane, the instrument has virtually defined jazz for many listeners. And, in the new millennium, it continues to be heard in an amazing number of styles and settings.

Buddy Collette, a Grammy-nominated jazz saxophonist, flautist, bandleader and educator who played important roles in Los Angeles jazz as a musician and an advocate for the rights of African American musicians, has died. He was 89. Collette died Sunday at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles after suffering shortness of breath a day earlier, according to his daughter Cheryl Collette-White. Collette's virtuosic skills on saxophones, flute and clarinet allowed him to move easily from studio work in films, television and recording to small jazz groups and big bands.

All That Follows A Novel Jim Crace Nan A. Talese / Doubleday: 230 pp., $25.95 British novelist Jim Crace has written in "Gift of Stones" about a Stone Age community that senses its doom when a Bronze Age tribe settles nearby. He has written in "Quarantine" of a young and annoying Jesus spending his 40 desert days among craggy cave-dwelling neighbors. In "Being Dead" he has written of the life in and around the decaying bodies of a murdered husband and wife. In an odd way, each of those novels is a masterpiece.

Charlie Mariano, 85, an alto saxophonist best known for his association with Stan Kenton's big band in the 1950s, his playing on two albums by Charles Mingus in the 1960s, and his later stint in Europe with Eberhard Weber's jazz-rock group Colours, died Tuesday of complications from cancer at a hospice in Cologne, Germany, according to his website. A native of Boston, Mariano served in the Army during World War II and began studying music at what is now the Berklee College of Music after the war. He had two stints with Kenton in the early 1950s before moving to Los Angeles, where he played with trombonist Frank Rosolino and in drummer Shelly Manne's group.

LeRoi Moore, a saxophone player for the Dave Matthews Band, died Tuesday of injuries suffered in an accident on an all-terrain vehicle in June. He was 46. Moore, born in 1961, died at Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center in Los Angeles, the band said on its website. He was initially hospitalized in late June after the accident on his farm outside Charlottesville, Va. He had recently returned to his Los Angeles home to begin physical rehabilitation when complications forced him back into the hospital July 17. It was not immediately clear what the complications were.

Disgraced Democratic fundraiser Norman Hsu had a well-known affection for fine living and all things Clinton. And his collector's taste and eye were on display Wednesday, when federal authorities unsealed documents showing they had seized more than 180 bottles of pricey wine from Hsu's New York apartment, as well as a saxophone believed to have been autographed by President Clinton.

Herman Riley, the jazz saxophonist whose hard-driving, soulful playing as a sideman and accompanist with such artists as Count Basie and Jimmy Smith earned him critical acclaim, died of heart failure April 14 at Brotman Medical Center in Culver City. He was 73. Riley was a favorite of vocalists because of his ability to play well without overpowering singers. "There are some musicians ... who certainly shine as soloists out front," said musician and longtime friend George Bohanon.

The next time alto saxophonist Gerald Albright works Concerts by the Sea, the management of the Redondo Beach nightclub would do well to remove the seats and open the floor to dancing. Not that Albright's music is so compelling that people just can't help themselves from jumping up and stomping; rather, it is that this music is designed more for dancing than for serious listening.

Saxophonist Tim Berne is an honest, look-you-in-the-eye expressionist. His duo performance with bassist Michael Formanek as part of the New Music Monday series at LunaPark sometimes took the form of a confession as Berne, playing alto or baritone, seemed intent on revealing his every emotion. With the possible exception of John Zorn, Berne is the best-known saxophonist to come out of New York's downtown alternative scene.

The many facets of saxophonist Kenny Garrett's musical imagination were on full display by his quartet Saturday night at Catalina Bar & Grill. Opening with a stunning burst of notes that must have scared the wits out of the weekend date-night couples sprinkled throughout the near-capacity crowd, Garrett then ripped into a long, exploratory solo that scoured the outer limits of his alto saxophone.

Denis Payton, 63, the saxophone player in the British pop band the Dave Clark Five, died Sunday of cancer in Bournemouth, southern England, Clark's office said Monday. Payton, who was born in Walthamstow, East London, England, appeared on all the group's records and also played guitars and harmonica and sang backup vocals. The group was London's answer to the wave of hits pouring out of Liverpool in the 1960s. Their hit records include "Bits and Pieces," "Do You Love Me?" and "Glad All Over."