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View Full Version : Where are they now?

Joseph Boucher
04-10-2003, 05:05 AM
Has anyone ever wondered were Charlie Parker's alto sax is, or Gerry Mulligan's bari is right now? I 've often wondered what happened to all the horns used by the greats went after their deaths. Did their families keep their saxes or did they donate them to some museum? There are some here that collect vintage horns. Just imagine owning Paul Desmond's alto. How much do you think it would be worth today or Parker's? :?: Who knows, maybe someone has the sax of a former great artist and dosen't even know it. Joe.
paulwl
04-10-2003, 05:06 PM
One of Parker's altos is in the Kansas City Jazz Museum. I believe it fetched the highest price ever given for a saxophone.

One of Mulligan's baris was (and may still be) on display in the Library of Congress.

The Institute of Jazz Studies at Newark has several notable instruments, including I believe a Lester Young tenor.
MusicMedic
04-10-2003, 07:34 PM
One of Mulligan's baris was (and may still be) on display in the Library of Congress.

The Gold Conn is there. Does anyone know where his silver Conn went to?
-Just curious.
Hornlip
04-17-2003, 09:18 PM
Once (years ago) I was at the Smithsonian's U.S. History Musuem in D.C., and I remember they had a tenor that had belonged to Lester Young. I don't remember if it was on loan or part of the permanent collection. Don't remember the horn's make, either. At the time I was just getting into jazz, so I knew the name "Lester Young", but I didn't know enough about gear to notice more than "tenor sax".
Paul Maass
04-24-2003, 06:19 PM
I have seen 2 interesting saxes on ebay in the last few months: one was reported to be Wayne Kings King C melody, if I remember correctly. It was truly gorgeous.
the other was a sax, [I do not remember what, I think it was a gold plate Bari], which was reported to have belonged to Rudy Vallee, the famous 1920s vocalist. It was likewise stunningly beautiful
A little investigation revealed that Rudy Vallee took the name Rudy after HIS idol Rudy Weidoft (sp?) of the well known Rudy Weidoft Model extra fancy , but said not to actually be very good, Holton saxes.