RJ Verdi and the Side Street Strutters

[Pete]

Mr. V. and his band are coming to my neck of the woods on Tuesday, Feburary 4th. So why didn't I mention this in the Announcements topic?

* This is at a retirement community out here in Mesa, AZ and if you're not a member of that community, you can't go :(

* Mr. V. will be bringing his original Evette & Schaeffer/Buffet-Crampon contrabass sax (one of about 20 remaining in the world) and hopefully some other toys: his Conn-O-Sax, Buescher Straight Alto, etc.

If y'all have any questions you want me to ask him about his horns, please post here.

(This is, like, my first saxophone reporting assignment. Kewl 8) !)

I have gotten some of his black-and-white publicity photos of his contra and I hope to take more in person! I'll try to post some on my website, soon.

Mr. V's website is www.sidestreetstrutters.com.

[saxtek]

PJ - Check the octave keys on the contra and compare them to the Nuclear Whales' Buffet.

[Pete]

Completely different: the horn is s/n 27xxx and has a single octave key.

It's also bare brass and doesn't have pearls.

I'll be writing up something on this relatively soon. It was really fun to go there and he brought his Conn-O-Sax and Dolnet curved sopranino, too.

[Bo Meyer]

I would like to see pictures of the Dolnet curved sopranino

Bo

[Pete]

The ones I took of Mr. Verdi's sopranino really didn't come out all that well. The ones of the contra came out relatively nice, if a bit dark.

For a look a the two curved sopraninos "from" Dolnet (they're probably stencils), check out http://www.saxpics.com/the_gallery/dolnet/belair/sopranino/

Speaking of curved 'ninos, I contacted the folks at http://www.kalison.it about their sweet little curved sopranino (http://www.saxpics.com/the_gallery/kalison/). They did confirm that they themselves did produce the horn from 1930 to 1950. I quote: "Kalison produced the line of miniature instruments in that period. This line of miniature instruments was designed to increase the sales in a period of crisis" (the crisis being WWII and the founding of the company in 1928).

Anyhow, Harri's got my Side Street Strutters article and he's testing it for your viewing pleasure ...

[Harri Rautiainen]

Anyhow, Harri's got my Side Street Strutters article and he's testing it for your viewing pleasure ...

Pete's article has been uploaded, now:

http://www.saxontheweb.net/Resources/SideStreetStrutters.html

It makes very interesting reading.
Recommended,
-Harri

[paulwl]

This line of miniature instruments was designed to increase the sales in a period of crisis" (the crisis being WWII and the founding of the company in 1928).

Based on playing (and I use that word advisedly) one of these suckers in New York a few years ago, I can wholeheartedly agree that the founding of the Kalison company was indeed a crisis. :?

[Pete]

Howdy, folks!

I fixed the links in the article:

http://www.saxpics.com/buffet/1895_1927/contrabass/brass/27xxx/
and
http://www.saxpics.com/dolnet/belair/sopranino/

Now bring up bunches of pictures.

[insanebeetle]

i recently had the opportunity of having a jazz clinic with Rob Verdi as our clinician at disneyland, anaheim, ca.

he showed us his conn O sax, his curved sopranino(which he played "saxophobia" on, you can hear it at sidestreetstrutters.com (http://www.sidestreetstrutters.com/sound_bites/StruttersLive/Saxophobia17sec.mpg)), and his contrabass sax. i couldnt take pictures because they dont allow them backstage.

he was an awesome sax player and a great guy. he tried to get me an employee discount on one of his cd's, and he was really cool and made some jokes. it was a very cool experience.


more on the conn O sax:
it looks like a straight alto except it has a silver spherical bell at the end. rob said that conn made it as a blend between the saxophone and the english horn. it wasnt successful, so conn threw most of them out of the windows of their offices to have mechanics practice on them. he said his was one of the remaining O saxes that are still intact.

he also said that he collects rare saxes and has about 60.

p.s. you havent seen the contra mpc until you've seen it in person! it was HUGE! so was the ligature and reed!