SOLD Buescher bass saxophone

[Pete Thomas]

Price of Item

£6000

Cafe Fundraising

£150

Coming up for sale very soon is a very special bass. This belonged to Harry Gold, who procalimed that before him it was Adrian Rollini's, however this is open to debate as it is well documented that Rollini played Conns. The Harry Gold connection is verifiable via the insurance company who sold it to me as it had been stolen from him then recovered.

It's other claim to fame is that it is on the cover of the book The Bass Saxophone by Josef Skvorecky. I know this because the photographer rented it off me.

It blows very well, has been maintained by Stephen Howard.

It is lacquered brass. These were originally bare brass, so the lacquer is aftermarket. It has a few scratches and beaten out dings. Will post some pics soon.

 

[rhysonsax]

Life without a bass sax is unimaginable. Have you got a replacement ?

Rhys

PS You can always borrow mine if you need a bass.

 

[Pete Thomas]

Life without a bass sax is unimaginable. Have you got a replacement ?

I have a contrabass tubax threatening to arrive sometime.

Say no more...

 

[ByteOfTheCherry]

.....no wonder your selling everything....£17,000...???...Epelshiem..

 

[ByteOfTheCherry]

Actually if I was'nt so old I would have a serious look at the Chinese bass that Sax.co/Gear4Music are doing

 

[Young Col]

I was intrigued by any possible connection between Irish-but-played-in-Britain Harry Gold and Adrian Rollini. Harry Gold does say he saw Rollini at the Savoy in London when the latter was working with Fred Elizalde, pre-1930, and claimed him as a major influence. Not surprising - has anyone made a bass sax swing like Adrian Rollini? But that's not much of a basis for saying he sold him his sax and if Rollini played a Conn that does put it a bit distant! Still, its provable provenace is good.

I looked at a bass at sax co in Crowborough. It was up on the balcony display area near the sopraninos. What a contrast!

 

[Pete Thomas]

I was intrigued by any possible connection between Irish-but-played-in-Britain Harry Gold and Adrian Rollini.

Rollini played in England for quite a while, that's the connection.

 

[rhysonsax]

I was intrigued by any possible connection between Irish-but-played-in-Britain Harry Gold and Adrian Rollini. Harry Gold does say he saw Rollini at the Savoy in London when the latter was working with Fred Elizalde, pre-1930, and claimed him as a major influence. Not surprising - has anyone made a bass sax swing like Adrian Rollini? But that's not much of a basis for saying he sold him his sax and if Rollini played a Conn that does put it a bit distant! Still, its provable provenace is good.

Jazz Journal International June 1981 has an interview with Harry Gold. Here is an extract:

"I didn't start playing bass sax until I left Roy Fox. Before that I was playing tenor/clarinet and oboe and I took up baritone and bass sax after the war. Rollini was my 'daddy' on the instrument, Joe Rushton was good of course but it is all a question of personal taste.

I got my bass from Adrian Rollini. Actually, it fell off the top of his car and was in a terrible state when I acquired it and was literally a write off. I had it repaired - not very well but it was all right, and eventually spent a bit of money on it and it turned up trumps."

The magazine has a good photo of Harry Gold and his bass on the cover, but I can't quite make out the serial number ! It has also got a one page article on Adrian Rollini.

Rhys

I've heard some nice bass sax playing by two different sax stars playing tribute to Rollini:
Kenny Davern http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TH8yvL2V7Xo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nrIDhCTM1zY
Ronnie Ross on the soundrack of the TV series "The Beiderbecke Affair"

 

[Young Col]

Good research Rhys, which does put the claim in a more positive light. However as it fell off the back of a car any further confirmation probably has to be an act of faith!

Nice tribute clips (but no-one sounds like Bix did! ).
Colin

 

[Pete Thomas]

I did ask Harry Gold if he would write me a letter confirming that this was Rollini's, but he refused saying he was far too busy.

Later I got some correspondence from a Rollini expert who was disputing the claim on my site that this was Rollini's:

For as long as I can remember,I have
studied/documented/collected/visited/& tried to play like Adrian Rollini. Several years ago Harry Gold was interviewed by my friend, the late Tom Faber (of The Adrian Rollini Book Project)regarding Harry's claim that his Buescher bsx was once Rollini's as the evidence is overwhelming that all three of AR's bsx's were Conns. Harry reluctantly had to admit that he was not sure as to his claim.....
I'm not trying to belittle your site but please be aware that the bsx you are lucky enough to own, was never owned by Adrian Rollini.
With Regards & respect,

Me:

Thanks for the info, I was told that this Buescher was only used by Adrian in England. I did speak to Harry, who told me that this was imported to the UK for AR.

I do remember asking him to write a letter confirming this, but he refused to do so, so I've always been aware that whatever the provenance I have no documentary proof so there is no monetary value to the claim that this was Rollini's.

Still I do know for a fact that it's the horn on the cover of the Skvorecky book.

Do you happen to know what mouthpiece Adrian Rollini used? The mouthpiecec that came with this bas i a Toots Mondello (baritone I think). I don't know if these were rare or not

Harry was a great storyteller & dined out on the Rollini bsx story for many

years.
Anyway, there is mystery concerning Adrians mouthpiece & indeed the mouthpipe as well. Some say he had a special mouthpipe made but he would have needed 2 as his first bsx had the early "L" shaped variety whereas the later one had the more complicated sort incorporating the drain valve. I've owned both sorts & studied every photograph & to me, his were perfectly standard. Also, as his new gold bsx was seemingly purchased quickly whilst on a very short visit to NY from his residency at the Savoy with Fred Elizalde, I would not have thought there would have been enough time for a special leadpipe to be made.
Similarly the mouthpiece appears to be the standard Conn baritone of the period.....
The sound he got was the singer, not the song......
Regards,

I still like to think that when in the UK Rollini used this Buescher, but I do tend to believe the above sadly.

 

[neil]

hang on pete...its friday.....euro lottery night.....i`ll let you know after i check my ticket

 

[jonf]

Asking £6000, but you are welcome to make offers, I may well take one as I am not completely sure of the value of these rare beasties.

Compared to £3500 for a Hawk yours sounds like a bargain

 

[ByteOfTheCherry]

Compared to £3500 for a Hawk yours sounds like a bargain

I phoned Sax.co today, this thread whetted my appetite and I had an interesting prop.on friday to join a sax quartet to make it a quintet....hawk sold, no future plans for a replacement and the Gear4Music version(same factory £750.00 cheaper but delivery date Oct.09) what to do..??

 

[kevgermany]

I phoned Sax.co today, this thread whetted my appetite and I had an interesting prop.on friday to join a sax quartet to make it a quintet....hawk sold, no future plans for a replacement and the Gear4Music version(same factory £750.00 cheaper but delivery date Oct.09) what to do..??

Talk to your bank manager and give a piece of history a loving home where it can work its life away, not sit, unplyed in a museum....

 

[Pete Thomas]

I still like to think that when in the UK Rollini used this Buescher, but I do tend to believe the above sadly.

Further research (the Guardian obituary) suggests that Rollini sold his spare to Harry, so this makes his claim to Rollini\s bass more likely, however in regard to provenance value it isn't much because

1. It wasn't Rollini's main horn as on the recordings so doesn't have that value
2. There is no proof because Harry is even more unlikely to write a letter for me now he is dead

 

[Pete Thomas]

Here is the actual horn as played by Harry Gold:

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View: https://youtu.be/CKdxiqkhq4I?t=1568

 

[turf3]

Well, I don't see anything here that says Rollini COULDN'T have owned and used a Buescher in England, either as his main horn or a backup. Bass saxophones might have been a wee bit more common in the 30s than now, but not much more so. If you were Adrian Rollini and you needed a horn, and you needed it now, after you'd gone to 20 different shops in London and struck out, if you saw a Buescher bass for sale in the 21st shop, you didn't quibble that it wasn't a Conn.

We forget so easily that in the 1930s there wasn't anything like an internet; if you wanted to buy an unusual instrument either you scanned the classifieds every day in hopes of seeing one for sale, or you haunted music stores constantly. I'm sure the music magazines had a big classified section, but you'd have to write a letter, and that ad that looked so promising might be in Glasgow and there you are in London...You didn't run around making long distance phone calls unless you just enjoyed burning money, either.

Heck, I remember what it was like trying to find a BARITONE for sale in the late 70s. Music store after store, weeks on end, when you finally found one you bought the damn thing. You didn't hold out for the exact thing.

 

[lydian]

In the Jan. 1990 issue of the Saxophone Journal, Paul Cohen writes, "[Rollini] played a Buescher bass that eventually was acquired by the famous English bass saxophonist, Harry Gold". Furthermore, Dave Robinson wrote, "[Harry] Gold, a tenor player who had bought a bass sax from Rollini after it fell off a truck, use the instrument in a Rushton-like counter-point/solo role...".

No guarantees these accounts true, but they're in black and white at least. Paul is somewhat an authority on the bass sax.

I'd love to buy your horn myself if I could afford the shipping. Just the fact that the great Harry Gold played it is good enough for me. The Rollini connection would just be icing on the cake.