They're here! Well, two of 'em, anyway...

Today my soprano and baritone saxes arrived. And they rock.

The bari arrived this morning -- while I was finishing up today's earlier blog entry.

I haven't played a bari sax since 1982, when I used one to double bassoon parts in a production of Evita. (Thanks, Dad, for reminding me of that.) After so many years, I was afraid I wouldn't be able to play it.

Let me tell you, this instrument, the Yamaha YBS-62 is so well-made, it was a dream to play, even with chops as stale as mine.

WARNING: The next paragraph is full of gushing musician-speak.

From the low A on the bottom of the instrument, all the way into the altissimo register, this horn plays easily and consistently. And the intonation across the instrument is incredible. Even with my wasted-away embouchure, this baby had an absolutely sweet tone -- not too bright, not too dark. The action in the keyworks is incredible. Without a doubt, this is the best bari sax I've ever played. Check that, it's the best sax of any type that I've ever played. It's that good.

The soprano arrived late this afternoon. It's a flat-out beautiful horn. As you can see in the photo above and in the detail photos at left, the body is coated with black lacquer, with the keyworks in shiny brass and the keys themselves topped with mother-of-perl. There is intricate scrollwork engraved into the bell. The engraving was cut through the black lacquer, which really shows it off. (The entire bell of the bari is also engraved, but the engraving doesn't photograph nearly as well.)

The soprano also plays beautifully, but was not as forgiving of my years of saxophone neglect. The upper octave plays fluidly and has absolutely clean intonation from D to A. Above A, I need to adjust my bite to keep things in tune, but not by much. Playing the instrument's middle C in the upper ocatave (all holes closed) also has a noticeable intonation difference, but again, it is easily compensated for in the embouchure. (For the unitiated, soprano saxophones are infamous for their intonation problems, which are an artifact of their short tube length and small bore. This horn has the best intonation of any soprano I've ever tried -- by far.) The lower register has very clean intonation all the way through. I am having some difficulty initiating low D, but I suspect that has more to do with my poor emboucure than any possible defect in the horn.

The tone is beautiful -- maybe even a touch on the dark side, which is a surprise, considering my prior experience with Yamaha horns.

For the most part, the horn almost feels like it's playing itself. The action is very fast and perfectly even. Overall, it's a superior quality horn. I'm very pleased.

Now I need to call Dennis and tell him I'm ready for some lessons.

And just think: the Tenor arrives tomorrow.