Bell Notes - The Selmer Mark VI, Bombs & Church Bells

Jazz, Period. - Bell Notes
The Selmer Mark VI, Bombs & Church Bells

Filmed & Directed by Randy Cole
Al McLean - Narration & Saxophones
Filmed on April 8, 2011 in Montreal

In this installment of Jazz, Period. Montreal Jazz saxophonist Al McLean takes up a trio of vintage Selmer saxophones in a haunting, impromptu performance. McLean reflects on the rumor and mystique surrounding the celebrated instrument, and shares its compelling story. The film culminates in an unplanned duet.

Manufactured in the heyday of Jazz, the Selmer Mark VI is arguably the finest and most loved woodwind ever made. The 'Stradivarius' of saxes, it represent the perfect overlap between old-world craftsmanship and modern design.

Beyond the tangible, however, the Mark VI strikes an even deeper emotional chord, with romantic notions still swirling unabated about it. Played by legendary Jazz artists - Sonny Rollins, John Coltrane, Stan Getz - the origin of this horn is still a topic of hot debate.

Some say the French brass of the Mark VI is made from high grade armament casings, recuperated after WWII. Some of those casings, in turn, would have been made from the over 9,000 Church bells confiscated and smelted by the Nazi Wirtschaftsministerium (Ministry of Economics) during the war, to feed Germany's drive for armament production.

Thus, we have the enchanting allure of church bells' improbable legacy living on within a celebrated Jazz saxophone; a mournful, yet soulful metaphor of destruction and rebirth, which somehow seems to echo the experience of Jazz's progenitors.

Can we hear the peal of church bells in a cascading Al McLean solo? Listen closely, and you can decide.

Click here for a relevant article from the Canadian Journal of History, 2008:
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3686/is_3_43/ai_n31483956/?tag=mantle...

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Selmer
• Paris
• Nazi
• WWII
• Jazz
• Bomb Shells
• Mark VI
• Super Balanced Action
• Al McLean
• John Coltrane
• Sonny Rollins

[wideangleman]

From Wikipedia:

Bronze is a metal alloy consisting primarily of copper, usually with tin as the main additive... ...However, since "bronze" is a somewhat imprecise term, and historical pieces have variable compositions, in particular with an unclear boundary with brass, modern museum and scholarly descriptions of older objects increasingly use the more cautious and inclusive term "copper alloy" instead.

[stevierayDOM18]

@wideangleman I hava a question. I am a student who hopes to get a selmer for high school and I wanted to know if they still make the selmer mark 6. Is only a vintage instrument?

[wideangleman]

@stevierayDOM18

Hi, yes, it's a vintage instrument. Luckily, there are many out there, Selmer made them well into the 1970's. The later ones are more realistically priced in comparison to the general market for pro horns. They made the Mark VI soprano for quite a few more years as well. Good luck,

Randy

[wideangleman]

Nope.

[bajsmannensparty]

beautiful video bro.



[MarcusForschner]

Which mouthpiece he played at the beginning of the video? It sounds amazing.

[MrJeanPhilippe007]

@TenorSax123

I now play a Mauriat and it sounds much closer to my Chu Berry Conn then a VI. My problem with the VI is that the only one I like are over 10000$ in the states. I got my Mauriat for much cheaper, it got the sound of a vintage horn with the technic of a modern one.

[altrane40]

@gcrav

Yeah, this is what you might call 'historical fiction'. And I agree that the 10M defines Dexter at his best. I also heard from Harold Ashby that Ben Webster didn't like the Mark VI the Selmer company gave him, and he stuck with his old BA. Dexter Gordon's "Homecoming" album, recorded in 77; In 1990 I got the double CD for $9. It was the first Dexter recording I owned, and I first identified his sound with the Mark VI he played, and Woody Shaw is no slouch neither!

[gcrav]

Bronze is not brass.

[gcrav]

@TenorSax123 That's impossible to say because there's so much variability in MkVIs. Walstein (Chinese) is based on Yanagisawa. The others probably match the sound of some MkVIs, . The Barones and Mauriats are similar to each other and are often compared favorably to the MkVI.