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From: bary01
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  • can I buy this sax (:

  • The Grafton was great between -250 and +250 above or below sea level. I played it atop Kilimanjaro and my co-eneers said that it sounded a semi-tone flat but I still just kicked ass. And the biscuitry was superb. Calor reigns.

  • It's has to be great to be able to play in a similar way like "the great one!

  • Is he reading off a motha fuckin omni book?!?! wtf?

  • He's Peter King. They say he's the closest thing to Charlie Parker out there. To be honest I like King better, though parker was a true legend.

  • @sadizes maybe, but ah aint his level and i can transcribe Bird perfectly. He also can for sure

  • I will tell you guys that that Parker/ King Grafton and others Iv'e played are the best sounding horns Iv'e ever played on. I wish someone would make one out of modern carbon polymers that dont break

  • Interesting...I know the 6M is a fantastic horn, but the Grafton was supposed to be a TERRIBLE horn. The community claimed that the Grafton was not suitable for pros, but Parker didn't care, it looked cool.

  • The Grafton plays evenly between registers like a tenor and the sound is very open and uniform all over the horn and it is a big, warm sound. They were made during the war when there were brass shortages. Jackie McClean played the Bird Grafton here in KC when it was put in the museum and he said it far outplayed his Selmer. Maby they have been making saxes out of the wrong materials all these years. I'd love to reproduce it with present day hard polymer carbons

  • it would be very interesting to see a new plastic saxophone. I'm sure the material (acrylic) has a large effect on the sound. As far as I've heard, Graftons play with a warmer, softer sound more suited for a more traditional, old style jazz like Paul Desmond, regardless I don't care enough about setups to buy a plastic saxophone and risk the money+wrecking it

  • @SaxophoneProductions In fact I believe he just needed a horn :L

  • I dig that cat from D.C. Ron Sutton Jr. anybody know wherehe's playing these days?

  • I'd be afraid to play on the damn thing out of fear that i would break it somehow. That plastic must be fairly brittle by now. I play on a Conn 6M "Metro" (no tuning slide) that sounds VERY close with an old Meyer 5 Medium chamber and a 3 1/2 Van Doren reed that is slightly shaved in order to vibrate just a little more freely.

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  • I think you don't know this man...

    What's your name BTW?

  • of course it should be played!!!!! music lives, museums don't!

  • Peter King, what a good friend !

  • I think it's funny that so many people know parker for the white brillhart he used with the lady face, yet when he used this horn he switched to a link 5. I have to say from personal experience that the brillhart is MUCH better with the lady face than the link. however the plastic horn is a different story.

  • Was Bird's white mouthpiece one of the Brilhart "Great Neck NY" series or was it a Tonalin ? I played a Grafton that my KC repair man bought and restored recently...really a great sounding horn. Jackie Mclean also played on this Grafton of Bird's and loved it. It is on display at The American Jazz Museum at 18th and Vine in Kansas City.

  • Goodness gracious so much BS here. Parker played 2 pieces. A Streamline Tonalin and a Runyon Modele 22. The streamline tonalins are worth over $500 and are a rarity. The modele 22 is $22 from runyon. You can still buy IDENTICAL ones that only have slightly wider rails for reed friendliness. Parker sounds great on anything. Stop worrying on what he plays, get a modern Meyer, get it refaced, shutup and practice

  • Of all the bullshit on this page SaxophoneProductions...yours finally comes off as the most arrogant...telling people to shut up and practice. Are you the ultimate badass mo fo alto player? It would be nice to lay waste to your arrogant ass sometine on a bandstand somewhere

  • Are you kidding me? So let's get this straight, you're criticizing me for recommending to practice rather than spends thousands on a setup. Just cause you play a Streamline tonalin doesn't that you get instant chops. Its called the "chops in the box" syndrome. Arrogant players think that good equipment will make them better. No I'm not a god player, but I'll tell you that ANY good player I've met has had a situation where something breaks and they use a Yamaha 4C for a pro gig

  • No, your'e right bro that a mouthpiece doesnt make a player or a "sound" or anything. Those things are hard fought for and take years of shedding. It's just that all this mouthpiece search is innocent on the part of young players and you could be a little nicer and more tolerant. After all...it's only music.,not war. I have sometimes played on one of Bird's altos,the one he borrowed from John Jenkins,nice old Conn 6M and Iv'e played on the Grafton in the museum...didnt sound like Bird , just me

  • NIce playin', but he shouldn't be playing that horn. It should be in a museum for jazz. It should never be played on.

  • It is in The American Jazz Museum at 18th and Vine in Kansas City. ....Bird's home town. It was bought at this auction by KC's mayor for $350,000

  • peter king did not get enought recognition. saw him on talented mr rilpley. burn baby burn.

  • It's that the famous plastic alto?

  • Wow. Never heard of him! Another unsung hero.. Thanks for posting!. I wonder who owns the famous plastic alto now?

  • yeah man the bop is back thank's for the lesson if parker was alive he certainly liked to play with you...

  • looks like a snob with stick up his ass, but plays like a goddamn genius.

  • 3 Words: Sax A Phone !!!

    PS. I LOVE it

  • great but charlie parkes there arent two...

  • No, theres more than one plastic alto in the world people, i saw one for sale recently.

  • There are quite a few actually. But only one the Bird played on. For those curious, it is a Grafton Alto. Made in England.

  • incredibile,fantastica tecnica unita ad un grande suono,eccezzionale

  • As Red Rodney said about Bird when a representative gave him that plastic horn. 'Bird could play a tomato can'.

    So can Peter King. The finest alto Britain has ever produced, and one of the best in the world today.

    Go and see him now, while you can.

  • Right as right can be. The greatest living sax player. To see him play Lush Life at the Bull's Head is as good as it gets. And I haven't done it for more than a year now as I have moved away. Must make the effort. Thanks for a good post.

  • what is that first song he played, is it an acutall song, if so, can someone tell me the name thanks

  • It's called "Parker's Mood",credited to Charlie Parker who recorded it in 1948.

    King Pleasure wrote lyrics to his improvisation,and recorded these in 1954.

  • Classic clip thanks bary01.

    I have just returned from a Peter King gig.

    Wonderful band- Steve Melling,piano;Geoff Gascoyne,bass;Martin Drew,dms.

    Peter King is a true marvel!

  • Pete King is my absolute favourite Alto in the whole wide world.

  • GROW UP

  • Peter King:superb creative artist & totally professional in all audience situations.

    Iam now listening to Peter with Louis Stewart[gtr];Greg Burk[pno]Jeremy Brown[bass]Stephen Keogh[dms]

    The recording also has a beautiful solo"Angel Eyes" by Louis.

    Stephen,if you see this,please have it released!

  • I played with Pete King on his visits to the north west of England in the 1970s

    in the John Rotherham Trio.

    He is as good as anybody in the world an absolutely amazing player and a great guy, Not a Clone !!!

    Coolestjagman

  • Mmm-mm! Man, how I wish I could've been alive back when Charlie was still up and kicken. But it's cool, my dad's so old he met Charlie once and was a huge fan. My dad's a jazz dumbest, I myself play Alto sax. Jazz band tomarrow, can't wait (I'm the youngest, yet highest chair ^.^)

  • No point regretting what can't be changed kid. Think, you might have live before Charlie Parker and never got to hear him in any form. What you can do is get along and hear Peter King, I promise it will go a long way to make up for missing Bird.

  • this sound totally brings that bebop era back. great playing!!!

  • well me and my buddy did love the guy . We kind a wonder what did it say on the tag.

  • F@#kn brilliant. go pete. nice one. I saw pete play several times in london. Blew my brains out everytime. Bop lines played this well are timeless. always hip. Bebop vocab and vintage horns are tools, it's what you do with them that make them special. thanks for the clip bary. pedro

  • my lord that guy can play, gorgeous sound. he plays the shit outta loverman, its practically perfect...i gotta go practice.

  • wow, love this guy's playing. Don't care if he's a clone. this thing SWINGS

  • Bird wouldn't have cared about this, just so long as he scored.

    We are projecting a fantasy he wouldn't have beleived.

    He knew he was good, but just blew his horn.

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  • LOL - Love it!

  • It remember me more like Jackie McLean than Bird....but,as said bagoona,still damn good.

  • doesn`t have Birds speed among a few others.....but still damn good

  • I have 2 of this , ___oldhorn__com__ , my site I am acollector , they really play like this , with this sound , Charlie own only a king sterling alto ,

  • I've read that it was actually given to him when he showed up to a gig without his horn because he had "hocked" it for drug money.

  • ha your crazy, sounds nothing like michael brecker, hes got bird vocabulary all over him (like someone said earlier)

  • I never knew Charlie Parker had "a" horn. He had several, some (most...)not his, and often pawned. Perhaps this is simply one of the many that seemed to end up in his hands. Here we've got a Michael brecker type sound coming out of Charlie's horn, methinks.

  • What an idiot you are.

    Pete King has been playing Bird shit for decades and is one of the least Brecker clones you could imagine.

    Nothing against Mike,but you could not be more WRONG!!!

  • man, that fellow really does the horn justice!! I never heard of him before, I have a conn bari that very likely Harry Carney owned for a spell and sold on the road in S.F. in the 40's to a guy who's grandson sold to me...but no way of really knowing, it's a great story though.... horn do retain the vibes of former players, not that I can prove it mind you!

  • Sounds good..I personally could never play Bird's alto for fear of being struck dead by some bolt from a Parker lp playing somewhere..I guess I'll be chastised for saying this.Oh well.I guess Bird would be happy his horn was singing again.

  • Peter King, one of the few remaining iconic British jazz musos from the 60s. The Grafton was an English horn, and what better representative than Pete. Great player and a really nice guy too. All you US guys check out Tubby Hayes on this site too...he was another stormin Brit!!

  • > it sold for £93,500 sterling in 1994, to the mayor of Kansas City

    > the Grafton had a copper neck, so that could be original

    > there's a link on wiki pedia to a dutch page with info, just search Grafton

    > yeh, Peter King is a bad mofo

  • that horn is fuckn gourgous

  • when the Grafton came out Ilooked on it as a joke !!but when I saw Bird playing one in '53 the joke was on me.He would have sounded the same on a cocoa tin saxophone Zoot1a

  • What chops!

    The finest alto player this country has ever produced. Come to that, who else in the world could play that horn so well?

  • aren't grafton those plastic made saxophones?

  • I'm confused I thought parker had pawned all of his horns by the end of his life

  • think thats a grafton standard neck~~~

  • Peter King rocks!!!

  • Yeah !! Bird lives

  • those solid silver yannis are like 3500 pretty sweet

  • Bird was notorious for playing whatever horn he could get his hands on and then selling them to the pawn shop so he could buy drugs. It looks like this is the plastic saxophone that he played at one point, Peter King is all over the bird vocabulary.

  • The guide price on this sax was 30,000-40,000 GBP

  • hes proven that metal mouthpieces really are not that bad for alto, i might get a otto link like that ;) nicccce

  • doesn't really sound that much like bird, apart from straight up quotes, like he clearly has his own style, which is sweet

  • He used to be a complete parker deciple and the best guy in the uk at it but he completly changed his style about 20yrs ago and really got into coltrane and all that pentatonic stuff. Ive only heard him play in his coltrane style but its amazing to hear he still has all the parker chops under his fingers! Respect to the guy!! he's bad! (as in good!)

  • Peter King plays a really old otto link alto mouthpiece with the selmer metal lig. Not sure what opening he uses. He used to use a mark VI alto but switched to one of those solid silver yani's afew years back when yanigasawa gave him one for free!

  • Peter's one of the greatest alto players ever-just ask Phil Woods. In the UK, he's like a deity. That was Birds alto as well-it went back to Kansas City after the sale

  • Looks like a Wall Street-type, but don't kid yourself, someone probobly bought him the suit. All kiddinng aside, the guy really studied Bird and he's somkin'!

  • er... I'd guess it sold for a couple thousand dollars. maybe $2000 - $4000.

  • anyone know what that horn went for? I'm assuming one of those japanese guys bought it?

  • That guy's smoking, he deserves to be playing that horn. imagine seeing that guy on the subway or something. you'd never suspect he's talented.  looks mean nothing.

  • I don't think it's really Bird's sax.... It has a price tag dangling from it. A music company probably made a replica of Parker's sax and is presenting it so ppl will want to buy it

  • dats charlie parker's real sax?

  • i wonder what mouthpiece he is using?

  • iunno but i wish i could afford somethin that has that much bite to it

  • i want that saxophone, the tone is so buff

  • wow he´s got some parker skills

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