There also used to be something called the C-melody saxophone — Bix Beiderbecke’s sax man, Frankie Trumbauer, played one — but it faded away with the Coolidge administration. Telling them ...

Trumbauer’s work on the C-melody saxophone slipping easily from rapid-fire virtuosity through honey-smooth phrasing into an occasional dash of whimsy. It’s no surprise that their playing was ...

We acknowledge Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the First Australians and Traditional Custodians of the lands where we live, learn and work.

Steve Cowles cradles a silver 1921 Conn C-Melody saxophone, a novelty even when it was made nearly a century ago. “I’ve been here three times this week,” Cowles says wistfully.

Moments before, he’d been skronking away on his C-melody saxophone, lobbing a torrent of notes into the spaces around Sam Wilkes’ bouncing bassline. Suddenly, his voice erupts, as though he ...