Don’t play the saxophone. Let it play you. – Charlie Parker
Perhaps the greatest saxophonist of his time, Charlie Parker, who would have turned 100 on August 29, left a lasting mark on American jazz during his short life. Credited with the development of a new style of music known as bebop, Parker revolutionized American jazz with his complex harmonies and rhythms. Of course, none of Parker’s virtuosity would have sparkled were it not for the invention of the saxophone. First patented in 1846 in Paris by Belgian-French musical instrument maker Adolphe-Joseph Sax, the saxophone, a single reed instrument noted for its flexibility and penetrating sound, became a favorite of the masters of jazz improvisation. If Oscar Wilde was correct in his assessment that “imitation is the sincerest form of flattery,” then Sax should have indeed been pleased that his invention gained such popularity. Unfortunately, Sax spent decades embroiled in lawsuits defending against creators of reproductions before his patent expired in 1866, losing many profits along the way.
Those patent lawsuits were not the last time that the saxophone, or more specifically, the music in which it was so prominently featured, became the subject of legal disputes. Lawsuits involving jazz music and dancing typically focused on their characterization as public nuisances. A court in California even based its determination on “the effect that jazz music ha[d] on the health and comfort of residents.” Jazz was also the source of marital discord, prompting a music-loving wife to seek a divorce from her husband. As one would expect, copyright also played a role in some of the litigation surrounding jazz. The characteristic improvisations of jazz presented some unique challenges for the musical style in gaining copyright protection. The style was not viewed as particularly original and deemed to be more derivative, and therefore not entitled to such security.
From a societal standpoint, jazz was no stranger to the discrimination and racism that was so prevalent during the Jazz Age of the 1920s and beyond. Despite their appeal and popularity among Blacks and whites alike, jazz musicians faced discrimination from those outside the jazz community. From the required, but revocable, cabaret cards in New York City to the prohibition on becoming members of the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP), African-American musicians and composers were prevented from performing in clubs, deprived of copyright protection for their original works, and divested of well-deserved royalties. It’s no wonder then that jazz was at the forefront of the Civil Rights Movement.
America was not the only place where jazz flourished. In Europe, in the years leading up to and during World War II, jazz managed to survive boycotts of all things from “enemy” nations, bans on dancing, and life within the German concentration camps. In fact, jazz music boosted the morale of both prisoners and soldiers, served as camouflage for illegal meetings among prisoners, offered the possibility of avoiding the gas chamber to those in the camps, and acted as a means of propaganda and distraction for the government.
Jazz has a rich and colorful history, one that would not have existed were it not for the invention of the saxophone. So, on this National Saxophone Day, we commemorate not only the birth of Adolphe-Joseph Sax, the inventor the saxophone, but also those great jazz musicians who made that instrument sing and the masses dance.
Further Reading and Listening
Tell Tchaikovsky the News: Trade Dress Rights in Musical Instruments - Robert M. Kunstadt and Ilana Maggioni, 94 Trademark Reporter 1271 (2004) (available remotely through HeinOnline)
Possession is Nine-Tenths of the Law: The Story of Jazz and Intellectual Property - Aleksey Nikolsky
Saxophone History Timeline - Steve Stusek
The Soul of the Saxophone - Library of Congress
Jazz Research at the Library of Congress
The Law Police Used to Discriminate Against Musicians of Color - Jazz Night in America - NPR