re: #99 Dangerman

my grandma (dad’s mom) bought him a saxophone in 1940.
he was 16 and played in school i guess. (he was very bad im told.)

i still have it, but it’s not any good anymore.

the best part is i have the original paperwork, which includes notes my grandma wrote on the back of a deposit slip from a local uptown NY bank that we’d become the auditors

Apropos of absolutely nothing, I looked up the Buescher Band Instrument company as I’d never heard of them before. Being that I played both the clarinet and the tenor sax all through school and college in the 70s, I’ve had some interest in the various manufacturers for some time. The company made a line of wind instruments out of their Elkhart, IN factory but were primarily known for their saxophones. They were in business from the late 19th century until 1963 when they were bought by the Selmer company. Selmer discontinued the brand in 1980. Conn-Selmer, today, owns a variety of brands and it continues to manufacture instruments in Elkhart as well as importing instruments from France and Japan. Paul Desmond and Sonny Rollins were among pro musicians who played Buescher at one point in their careers.

Ebay is currently listing a number of saxes and trumpets for sale.