There can be absolutely no doubt that for the original forty years worth of Jazz, the clarinet was one of the major lead instruments for nearly every single jazz band along with the trumpet. Later on, the same was true as well for the swing orchestras, which embraced the clarinet for the rich tone that it could produce. With the more recent advent of be-bop music in the 1940s, however, the saxophone, and especially the tenor saxophone, suddenly took over with a prominent position in Jazz music, especially when the saxophone fell into the able-bodied hands of the versatile Jazz Trio, Ben Webster, Coleman Hawkins and Lester Young. In a number of ways, their playing of the saxophone, as well as the playing from Charlie Parker, managed to make the saxophone into the true voice of Jazz music for the entire remainder of the 20th century.
There was another player that managed to bring about a rather neglected saxophone family member to the forefront, and this was Cecil Payne. Thanks to Cecil Payne, the baritone saxophone has now been widely considered to be one of the most expressive of all instruments that has fallen into the hands of the jazz arsenal. When Cecil Payne was living, he never seemed to receive enough credit for his work other than by his peers, but he still managed to take the most cumbersome saxophone family member, the baritone saxophone, and thrust it firmly into the solo limelight where it still stands proud.
As with many other budding reed instrument players, the biggest influence on Payne was Lester Young, who had a softly swinging and laid back style that moved Payne in his own sax playing, especially following World War II. It was not until the 1950s that Payne finally switched over to the baritone sax, an instrument that was at the very core of Harry Carney's Ellington band.
Payne was born in December of 1922 and he grew up with a multitude of incredible jazz legends including Duke Jordan and Randy Weston as well as a certain legendary drummer known as Max Roach. Upon reaching the age of 13, he heard Lester Young playing on the radio and somehow managed to persuade his family to buy him an alto sax. From this point on, Payne attended nearly every Count Basie and Lester Young gig, memorizing their music and then practicing to the best of his ability. Cecil Payne took the saxophone chair in Max Roach's band when he formed his first in the early part of the 1940s.
Payne's ability to play fluently in high registers and low, and the beautiful tones he created played a major rule in the influence of a myriad of jazz saxophonists.
Photo credits: Iguana Jo
Originally posted 2009-09-02 03:32:04. Republished by Blog Post Promoter
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