We get a lot of questions about the sound of our instruments. How would we type the sound? What kind of horn is it?

Of-course we explain about this extensively on our page: http://bluerosesaxophones.com/the-voice/ However in this article we would like to talk about a specific song (one of them) which really had a big influence on our acoustic design. The idea for the sound of the Blue Rose was not born from some abstract principle. Instead it has come from combining some of the most: heart-piercing, inspired and fiery examples of real world saxophone playing Florian could find. In essence he took the recordings and solo’s that he loved the most, which embodied to him the full expression that is possible through a saxophone and he tried to combine the specific elements that allowed for that expression into one instrument.

One of the songs that was a big inspiration when working on the Blue Rose Alto Saxophone was the song Scotch and Water performed by Cannonball Adderley (written by Joe Zawinul). The recording helped Florian land on three aspects: 1 Flows like water, 2 Burns and growls like fire and 3 Flies like the wind! Which in a way provided us with a challenge. To be able to play a solo like the one Cannonball plays here, our horn would have to be able to channel and embody all three aspects. And so it was with these ideas in mind that we searched and experimented with the various aspects of our Alto until the day we met that challenge and built something that could truly do all three 🙂

So what does our Alto sound like? Well that depends on who is playing it, but what do we want each of our alto’s to be able to do? Well this!