Itchy Fingers and the Origins of the Saxophone Quartet

© Copyright ® Steven Cerra, copyright protected; all rights reserved.

“Formed in 1986 as an offshoot from Mike Mower's 12-piece band Hiatus, ITCHY FINGERS has since achieved an international reputation as one of the world's leading jazz saxophone quartets. Shortly after its formation, ITCHY FINGERS won Britain's only national jazz competition. Since then, the quartet has toured the world, playing in over 40 countries on five continents. Leader Mike-Mower writes for ITCHY FINGERS as if it were a big band, and it is this mixture of compositional complexity, razor-sharp tightness of performance and fiery improvisations which has given the quartet its unique identity. Although the group has had some personnel changes over the years, the spirit has always remained up-beat, drawing inspiration from the “new blood” and thereby ensuring a constantly exuberant spectacle on-stage.

Full English Breakfast is ITCHY FINGERS' fourth album, and marks an important stage in the group's continuing development. After the excitement and frenetic atmosphere of a live gig, so effectively captured on Itchy Fingers Live in Europe (Enja ENJ 6076 2), leader Mike Mower has made use of studio techniques to produce an album that explores new worlds of sound and creativity not possible in a “live” environment, for instance, soloists find the rest of the band accompanying every twist and turn of their improvisation in intricate harmony and counterpoint, as if by some miraculous form of musical telepathy. In fact, of course, it's the result of Mike craftily adding accompaniments to fully exploit the subtleties and nuances of each soloist’s phrasing. The interactive impression always conveyed by the group’s playing becomes, on this album, virtually seamless - the ultimate example of the band playing like one.” - Simon Canney

The following by the German journalist and Jazz author Hans-Jürgen Schaal will provide you with a then and now overview of the evolution of the saxophone quartet from its beginning in the 1850s until the end of the 20th century.

“The idea of four saxophones playing together was born with the saxophone itself. Having invented the horn in the 1840's, Belgian instrumental manufacturer Adolphe Sax (1814-1894) started to produce the new instrument in eight sizes ranging from sopranino to subcontrabass. Following the model of the string quartet with its two violins, viola, and cello. Sax himself suggested and performed pieces for a quartet made up of the soprano, alto, tenor, and baritone sax. Jean-Baptiste Singelee (1812-1875), Sax's compatriot, was one of the first composers to help introduce this format as a vehicle of chamber musical expression. Today Singelee’s opus 53, the first of his three quartets tor saxophones, is acknowledged as a standard work in the classical repertoire for saxophone quartets. Written in 1857, it reflects the styles of four of Singelee's favourite composers, Rossini, Beethoven, Mendelssohn, and Meyerbeer, to whom he dedicated one movement each.

Although several composers of his time praised Sax's invention -among them Berlioz, Bizet, Rossini, and Massenet — the saxophone had a long way to go until being estimated as an instrument of full value. Originally Sax had intended to build a horn able to close the gap between the reed and the brass sections of the military marching hands. While he succeeded in this purpose, his invention seemed to fail in the realm of serious music. The saxophone class at the Paris Conservatory led by Sax himself was dissolved during the war of 1870/71 and not be re-established until the 1940's.  When Adolphe Sax went bankrupt in 1877, the career of the saxophone seemed to have ended before it began.

However, it was the military music that spread Sax's message all over Europe reaching even the Creole marching bands of Louisiana, the former French colony. When the patent protecting Sax's invention ran out at the turn of the century, the interest in his instrument quickly arose. In 1907 respectively 1908 Gustav Bumcke, Germany's very first saxophone teacher, and Belgian Raymond Moulaert wrote remarkable compositions for saxophone quartet carrying on the artistic spirit of the baroque and romantic ages. A totally new chapter in the history of the saxophone was opened when parts of the U.S. Forces were demobilized after World War I, leaving many army instruments to the American market. Only a few years later, these saxophones made their brilliant entrance into jazz music and created a thrilling sound Monsieur Sax would have never dreamed of. With Frankie Trumbauer on C-melody, Benny Carter on alto, and especially Coleman Hawkins who kind of re-invented the tenor sax. Sax's brassy reed instrument unexpectedly became a symbol of swing and syncopation.

As the French were the first to recognize American jazz as a genuine art form, the rise of jazz advanced the development of saxophone playing in their own country. Not incidentally, in 1928 a musician named Marcel Mule formed the first continuously working saxophone quartet in Paris. A member of the French Republican Guard, Mule had become acquainted with the saxophone first within the limits of marching music. His ensemble started out as the Quatour de Saxophones de la Garde Républicaine, changing its name inio Quatuor de Saxophones de Paris when Mule left the guard, and was later known simply as the Quatuor Marcel Mule. It was this ensemble that established the saxophone quartet as a species of chamber music inspiring many standard works for saxophone quartet that were to he written tor Mule's group from the 1930's on. Re-founding the saxophone class at the Paris conservatory in 1942, Mule became Sax's direct successor after an interruption of some 70 years. When he started to arrange classical compositions tor the quartet, he selected popular genre pieces by Albeniz and Debussy as well as contrapuntal works by Bach and Scarlatti, splitting their concerted textures into four independent voices.

Russian composer Alexander Glazounoft (1865-1936) who lived in Paris for reasons of health was the first to create an important work for the Mule quarter. Glozounoff’s opus 109, written in 1932, turns out to be sort of an early post-modern reflection on historic styles, similar to Singelee's quartet trom 1857. The first movement, being an allegro in sonata form, was dedicated to the rather recent spirits then of Dvorak, Wagner, and Brahms. The second movement, based on a Russian choral, presents five variations in the styles of romantic composers such as Schumann and Chopin. The third variation, built as a rondo, is dedicated to J.S. Bach. Being a youngster among classical formats, the saxophone quartet thus virtually started out with re-arrangements and recapitulations of musical history.

It was the much easier two-movement size that helped the saxophone quartet gain popularity. Both Gabriel Pierne’s Introduction et variations sur une ronde populaire (1934) and Eugene Bozza's Andante et Scherzo (1939) consist of a slow and soulful first movement and an effectively gay second one only. Jean Rivier's Grave et Presto that was composed in 1938 but had its first night not until the 1960's, follows the same model. A highlight of the literature however is Jean Francaix's Petit Quatuor pour Saxophones, a humorous musical portrait of the city of Paris, written in 1935 hut not performed before 1947. Fifty years after composing this work, 73-year old Francaix was to write his second saxophone quartet. La Suite, which is dedicated to a juvenile French ensemble called Quatuor de Saxophones de Versailles. Besides, several other composers wrote pieces for the Mule quartet, among them Florent Schmitt, Pierre Vellones, and Georges Migot.

When Mule's ensemble was in vogue in the late 30's, jazz saxophone pioneers Benny Carter and Coleman Hawkins were touring Europe extensively. Having developed the saxophone section into a highly agile and inventive 'reed organ' within his big band. Carter decided to emancipate the four-sax unit as an independent group just when staying in Paris in April 1937. Probably impressed by the Mule sound. Carter, Hawkins, and the French saxophone players Alix Combelle and Andre Ekyan, known for their work with Django Reinhardt, installed the saxophone quartet in jazz history. 

Accompanied by a rhythm section including guitarist Django Reinhardt and Stephane Grappelli on piano, their versions of Honeysuckle Rose and Crazy Rhythm became jazz classics. Together with Combelle, Fletcher Allen, and Bertie King, Carter arranged and recorded further tunes for four saxes when starring in London the following year. Over the decades. Carter and Hawkins kept to the tradition of saxophone quartets and quintets accompanied by a rhythm section. In the late 50's, the Hawk initiated records such as Very Saxy and The Big Sax Section featuring some of his pupils on this instrument, Eddie Davis, Arnett Cobb, and Frank Foster among them. In 1961 and 1965, Carter added his Further Definitions to this kind of ensemble playing, arranging (among other tunes) Hawk's legendary solo on Body And Soul from 1939. Even in 1988, half a century after his stay in Paris, Carter arranged the complete music for a CD of an All-Star Saxophone Ensemble, including Frank Wess, Jimmy Heath, and himself. Meanwhile in Paris, Claude Tissendier's group Saxomania entered the scene resuming Benny Carter's initial work of the 30's.

Interrupted by World War II, the tradition of the classical saxophone quartet was continued in the 50's and 60's when Pierre-Max Dubois (born in 1930) and Alfred Desenclos (1912-1971) wrote their well-known compositions commissioned still for the Mule Quartet. Following Mule's example, some important quartet groups were formed from the 60's on. In 1969, one of them was founded by saxophone virtuoso Sigurd Rascher whose artistry had inspired more than 160 works by composers such as Gladzonoff, Hindemith, Ibert, and Milhaud. Now led by his daughter Carina, the Rascher quartet still devotes its activities exclusively to contemporary works of the avantgarde. In Paris, the Quatuor Deffayet and a new Quatuor de Saxophones de Paris carried Mule's spirit through the 70’s. In Britain, Paul Harvey's London Saxophone Quartet, also founded in 1969, excelled in arrangements of historical works from the 17th to the 20th century.

In the late 50's, an American producer became interested in the work of Marcel Mule and suggested to try some of this repertoire with American musicians. As no true tradition in classical saxophone playing existed in the U.S., the players of the New York Saxophone Quartet came out of the cool and west coast jazz that had seen many inventive saxophone ensembles. Following the Four Brothers section of the Woody Herman band, varied saxophone formations had been founded in the 50's by players as Stan Getz, Al Cohn, Zoot Sims, or Jimmy GiufFre.

Besides, cool jazz had given birth to the duets improvised by Lee Konitz  and Warne Marsh and to diverse saxophone ensembles with Phil Woods as a leader. In later years, California saw the rise of Med Flory's Supersax and Ira Schulman's Four Winds.

The founding members at the New York Saxophone Quartet whose activities introduced pure saxophone playing to the U.S., were Stan Getz, Danny Bank, Al Cohn, and Hal McKusick. Soon McKusick was replaced by Ray Beckenstein who became the band's leader for many years. In the same way as the Mule Quartet had inspired French composers to write for this format, the New York Saxophone Quartet called forth a series of works by American third-stream composers like Johnny Carisi and Eddie Sauter. Phil Woods' rather jazzy Three Improvisations written tor this group in 1962, have now become a standard work among classical-oriented saxophone quartets despite Phil's warning: "If you can't play the last movement fast... and I mean really fast, don't play it". Thanks to the New York Saxophone Quartet, the Chicago Saxophone Quartet (founded in 1968), the San Francisco Saxophone Quartet (founded in 1977), and many others, classical saxophone works are familiar to American audiences today.

Influences from the French tradition and the section playing of cool jazz bands put aside, saxophone quartets in jazz have certain roots in the horn battles of late-night jam sessions. Out of the custom of coping with one another hornwise, various saxophone summits emerged over the years until unaccompanied quartet playing actually found its entrance into jazz. The revolution of free jazz was necessary to establish jazz bands that work continuously without a rhythm section. In 1974, avantgarde player Anthony Braxton recorded the first pure saxophone quartet in the history of jazz. His partners on this occasion, Hamiet Bluiett, Julius Hemphill, and Oliver Lake, later teamed up with youngster David Murray to form the World Saxophone Quartet in 1976. Out of the spirit of free jazz, this group has been developing techniques of collective improvisation and backed-up soloing never heard in jazz before. When in 1980 the quartet's members stated that the saxophone quartet was to become America's answer to Europe's string quartet, it sounded quite improbable. But within a few years, saxophone quartets sprang up all over the jazz world of all continents.

Connecting contemporary composing techniques with avant-garde jazz, the Rova Saxophone Quartet has become the other leading ensemble of this kind in today's jazz. Founded in 1977 and having repeatedly performed with Anthony Braxton, Rova now disposes of a large fund of commissioned works by artists Fred Frith, Henry Threadgill, and the late John Carter. In contrast to Rova' seriousness, the 29th Street Saxophone Quartet rather tends to the funny side at saxophone playing. According to its name, this group featuring alto virtuoso Bobby Watson, started out with street performances for New York's pedestrians. Other American quartets who contribute music of importance and strongly develop their own styles, are Your Neighborhood Saxophone Quartet, the Microscopic Septet (including a three-piece rhythm), and Tony Dagradi's New Orleans Saxophone Quartet, featuring Roger Lewis on baritone sax, the Dirty Dozen Brass Band's anchorman. 

On the other side of the Atlantic, remarkable saxophone groups arose alike. In Scandinavia, the Swedish Position Alpha (a quintet) and Norwegian Lille Froen were among the first to pick up the message. Germany saw the rise of the Kolner Saxophone Mafia, a saxophone sextet now reduced to a quintet, and is getting to know the Munich Saxophone Family. In the U.K., the Hornweh Saxophone Quartet and Mike Mower's highly spirited Itchy Fingers are the prominent groups. Mention must also he made ot the saxophone sextet Six Winds, a cooperation of European and American musicians, featuring John Tchicai.

Obviously, the saxophone quartets' success in jazz called attention to the French quartet tradition again, calling forth a lot of young classical ensembles in the 80's. Among them are Harald Bergersen's quartet from Norway, the New Danish Saxophone Quartet, the Dutch Aurelia, the Swedish all-woman quartet Rollin' Phones, the Berliner Saxophon Quartett, Swiss Quatuor de Saxophones de Genève, Italian Quartette de Sassofoni Accademia, French Quatuor de Saxophones de Versailles, and the young Prism Quartet from the midwest of the U.S., to name just a few. There is also a growing number of ensembles stepping across the borderlines between jazz and so-called classical music, such as the French Quatuor de Saxophones Gabriel Pierne, the Dutch Rijnmond (now: Selmer) Saxophone Quartet, Britain-based all-female The Fairer Sax, and the Canadian Saxophone Quintet inspired by Ralph Gari's band Clancy's Clowns...

The history of the saxophone quartet  has only just begun. Look forward to its future adventures!”

 —Hans-Jürgen Schaal