JazzWax List: 5 Beatles Saxes

Though not a single jazz musician is pictured on the cover of the Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, John Lennon and Paul McCartney, in collusion with producer George Martin, made strong use of the saxophone and British jazz players in their later works. Used mostly for texture or novelty effect, saxes in Beatles' works were typically masked slightly by overdubbed effects or arranged to sound like plastic instruments. 

Here are five of my favorite sax passages on Fab Four albums:

All You Need Is Love—This horn-heavy anthem featured Rex Morris and Don Honeywill on tenor saxes, with the pair playing the scored unison tag of In the Mood toward the end.

Savoy Truffle—Baritone saxophonist Harry Klein (he played with Stan Kenton in Europe in the mid-1950s) anchored a six-man section that featured Art Ellefson, Danny Moss and Derek Collins on tenor saxes with Ronnie Ross and Bernard George on baritone saxes.

Honey Pie—A jazz-age jape, this tune featured saxophonists Harry Klein, Dennis Walton, Ronald Chamberlain, Jim Chest and Rex Morris arranged to mimic a 1920s English sweet band.

Good Morning, Good Morning—Yes, there's actually a spirited saxophone sextet stitched into this track from Sgt. Pepper's. The wax-papery sax orchestration was handled by producer George Martin.

Got to Get You Into My Life—Tenor saxophonists Peter Coe and Alan Branscombe were used on this classic from Revolver. The sax parts were orchestrated by George Martin.

Comments

[Nick Rossi]

Don't forget "Lady Madonna"! That 1968 single featured Brit Jazz legend Ronnie Scott. Scott even gets a solo spot earning him a place alongside Eric Clapton and Billy Preston as one of the few non-Beatles to solo on a one of their discs. By the way, Pete Coe was a member of Georgie Fame's Blue Flames at the time (1966) of his appearance on "Revolver." He had a solid jazz background and recorded many excellent solos with Fame during his tenure with the group. In fact, he was the soloist on Fame's hit version of "Yeh! Yeh!" , originally recorded by Mongo Santamaria and later given lyrics by Jon Hendricks. And which group did Georgie & Co. displace off the top of the UK singles chart with that single in early 1965? The Beatles.

[Ed Leimbacher]

Hmmm... pretty off-the-wall, Marc. Shows your breadth and depth of listening. And here we rockabillies always thought of the Merry Moptops as saxless.

[Alan Hill]

Other non-Beatle soloists included Alan Civil (French horn on For No One), David Mason (piccolo trumpet on Penny Lane) and Nicky Hopkins (electric piano on Revolution).

When I'm 64 gains its distinctive sound from the efforts of clarinettists Robert Burns, Henry MacKenzie and Frank Reidy.

At least one other Beatles song contains a saxophone solo but memory fades.