Someone bring back the jazz c melody

[jov1988]

Its been dead for soo long. I realize that the old ones are out of tune but if someone gets rediculisly sick on the c melody maybe good companies will make good ones.
I wonder if c melody would be bebop, swing, "sheets of sound" or somthing else. what do you think?

[MonchMan]

I remember reading some where that Leblanc, Yamaha or someone attempted to market a new C Melody in the late 60's or early 70's and sold less that 25 world wide. The long and the short was there is no market

[jov1988]

Oh. Well then. i always wanted a c melody.

[cmelodysax]

Hello, I play one of the last Martin C-Mels made, and there's absolutely nothing 'second-rate' about it - sad they died in the depression, because by the early 30's they were fine horns.

I use modern tenor mpcs, a 60's Berg 100/0 M or Lawton 8*BB with mine, and you'd be hard-pushed to tell it apart from a tenor (and I don't need to sight-transpose any more). Even an aux-front-F key. Nothing out of tune, easy harmonics, the lot........

It compares favourably with my 'Martin Magna' alto & 'The Martin' tenor, all syles, funk, jazz, R&B. Get a late Martin or Buescher C-Mel and hear what you're missing !!

Regards, Alan.

[paulwl]

I'll put in a good word for the Conn as well. There must be a quinzillion straight necked Conn C melodies out there, and when well set up they're really pretty playing horns. Check out the Conn if you want to explore a more intimate, "chamber" sound. Hurry though – the mega-church praise-bands want these horns, because they read from the hymnbook, and are driving up the prices.

[cmelodysax]

Yes Paul, apologies for not mentioning Conn. Although I had initially bypassed Conn for the 'meatier' Martins & Bueschers, I've grown to love a favourite straight-neck Conn C-Mel for just that quality you mentioned.

Because of the straight-neck, it feels mentally more like an alto, so I find I approach playing with a gentler (more reflective) style. It's really beginning to grow on me - proves again what variety is available with existing horns.

All I can say to anyone is ' don't knock it before you've tried it' - but with the caveat that the horn is well set up and the mouthpiece is capable of producing a sound that compliments the horn (rather than stifling it).

Regards, Alan.

[katysax]

About two years ago I posted that I thought Unison, or Cannonball, or Jupiter or LA Sax or one of the other companies making Taiwanese horns - should make and market a modern C melody. It should sell for something under $1000. My suggestion generated dozens of responses overwhelmingly telling me I was wrong - but I still think I was right.

My thinking was that if there were a decent C melody that it would attract players who already have all the other saxes and would enjoy something a little different, players who play in church or with other groups in the key of C who don't want to or can't transpose, beginners intimidated by transposing instruments and serious players looking for slightly different tonal palette. It might also get some traction in markets where folk music or other ethnic music needs C instruments (like Chinese opera where C melodies are used).

This would be a great way to separate the company from the pack of horns - kind of like the LA Sax straight alto and Tenor - and to get players who otherwise are devoted to the big name brands to give the Taiwanese horns a try. A player who had say a great Unison C Melody might develop a different point of view about a Unison Alto or Tenor.

It's all in the marketing. The company has to find an influential pro (like Yamaha with Phil Woods and the Z, LA Sax with Joe Lovano and the straight alto/tenor) and get that person to help with the design and use the horn to record a few tracks. Even if they don't sell a lot of them or make much profit the residual effect will make them stand out against the competitors on getting attention for their altos and tenors which is where the market is.

I think the real problem is that the majority of the Taiwanese companies are really good at copying and not much good at coming up with something original. Most of their "originals" are minor variants on copies of existing horns. My suggestion is that they start with the Conn straight necked C melody and add modern key ergonomics.

[cmelodysax]

Yes, even coming back to the area of children learning ( and they are the players of the future ) it's a lunatic situation where (e.g.) three students playing alto, clarinet & flute need three sets of music to play in tune with each other !

C-clarinets are available, and I've seen a modern C-trumpet advertised. OK, a lot of band parts are (historically) written for Eb & Bb instruments - but is that a good enough reason to keep going down that path ?

Regards, Alan.

[Captain Beeflat]

The question concerned the suitability of the C Melody for Jazz, Be Bop etc. The answer is that as all the old Jazz standards are written in flat keys then the Bb, Eb range of saxophones are surely more suitable. However, it always suprises me that the C Melody is not adopted for Blues & Rock which are invariably played in G, A, or E. Who needs to be stumbling around with a Bb tenor or Eb alto in F# & C# when you can play a C Melody "straight up the middle of the horn"?
As has been mentioned above, the C Melody's intonation is as good (or bad) as any other horn of the 1920's, & they do seem to vary. I agree absolutely that the Buescher TT C Melody is a great horn, I have one; I believe also that the straight neck Conn is also very good, but here I have to put in a word for my favourite - The King. This is a much under-rated horn. I have two, which I use when playing with a Blues or Rock band, the engineering is exquisit & the intonation is as good as it gets.
As Tinminer states, the bottom end, with a suitable tenor mouthpiece, gives big, fat & lush bottom end which belies the phisical size of the instrument & yet can scream away with the guitars at the top, & all in sensible keys!!! The C Melody is just perfect for rock & Blues..You really should get out & try one before everyone finds out & the prices rise. Do people realise that a superb Buescher, Martin, King or Conn in immaculate condition, can still be bought for the price of a battered student horn?....Bb

[Roger Aldridge]

Jov1988,

Regarding your original question, all you need to do is listen to some CDs of Dave Pietro or Joe Lovano wailing away on c-melody. Nothing else needs to be said.

PS, c-melody buddies.....

I'm going to let out a little secret. Thanks to Paulwl I've become deeply impressed with the Morgan 3C mouthpiece. It's thought of as a "classical" saxophone mouthpiece. But, I get a much BIGGER, rounder, and richer sound with it than with any jazz mouthpiece (including Morgan jazz models) I've ever played. So, I asked Ralph Morgan to make a c-melody 3C mouthpiece for me and he said he would.

Man, I can't wait to get my hands on this mouthpiece and see what it can do on my Conn c-melody!!! I can't help but think that it will bring out remarkable qualities in the horn's sound. I suspect that I'll like it even better than the original c-melody mouthpiece Ralph made for me. This mouthpiece just might open up whole new possibilities for us! I'll post a message on the Forum after it arrives and I've given it a work out.

Roger