--- title: Adolphe Sax and Why the Saxophone Wasn't Taken Seriously description: The inventor of the saxophone was born on Nov. 6, 1814 canonical: https://time.com/4101405/adolphe-sax-saxophone-history/ author: Lily Rothman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-11-05T18:05:33.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:57:14.119Z article:section: History og:title: Why the Saxophone Wasn't Taken Seriously og:description: The inventor of the saxophone was born on Nov. 6, 1814 og:url: https://time.com/4101405/adolphe-sax-saxophone-history/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta04c55629e1808e8/69886fc1a988ca5caa6b5263/sax.jpeg?branch=production&width=550&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 550 og:image:height: 309 og:image:alt: Adolphe Sax og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Why the Saxophone Wasn't Taken Seriously twitter:description: The inventor of the saxophone was born on Nov. 6, 1814 twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta04c55629e1808e8/69886fc1a988ca5caa6b5263/sax.jpeg?branch=production&width=550&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Why Adolphe Sax's Musical Invention Wasn't Taken Seriously > Sponsored content. 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Subscriptions are at time.com/subscribe-agent. #### What is included in a TIME print and digital subscription? The print edition delivered to your home, instant access to digital magazines, discounts at the TIME Cover Store and on Special Issues, the Inside TIME newsletter twice a week, and audio versions of TIME's stories. It is from $29 for one year or $49 for two years at time.com/subscribe-agent. #### What is the difference between TIME's digital and print plans? Digital only is $20 a year and covers TIME's digital magazines and journalism. Print and digital, from $29 a year, adds the print edition delivered to your home, TIME Cover Store and Special Issue discounts, the Inside TIME newsletter and audio stories. #### Is TIME a reliable news source? TIME is a general-interest news organization founded in 1923. Its journalism is reported and edited by a professional newsroom led by Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs, with named correspondents on politics, climate, health, technology and culture. It reaches 1 million US print subscribers and 1.15 million globally, plus more than 1.1 million newsletter readers. #### How do I subscribe to TIME magazine? Subscriptions are at time.com/subscribe-agent. Choose digital only at $20 a year, or print and digital from $29 a year or $49 for two years. TIME also publishes seven free email newsletters at time.com/newsletters, which do not require a subscription. #### Can I cancel a TIME subscription? Yes. TIME states that subscriptions can be cancelled at any time. #### Does TIME have free newsletters? Yes. TIME publishes seven free email newsletters reaching more than 1.1 million readers, covering daily news, Washington politics, health, AI, climate and energy, culture, and the newsroom itself. They are at time.com/newsletters and are separate from a paid subscription. ## Video: Louis Armstrong's New Orleans [Watch (HLS stream): Louis Armstrong's New Orleans](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/xEokSleZ.m3u8) (2:33)  _Published 2015-05-08. The acclaimed trumpet player on one of his biggest influences—and an influence to all who play the instrument_  by [Lily Rothman](https://time.com/author/lily-rothman/)  ## Lily Rothman Rothman is managing editor at TIME. Nov 5, 2015 6:05 PM UTC  Adolphe Sax, pictured ca. 1842 Adolphe Sax, pictured ca. 1842 ullstein bild / Getty Images  by [Lily Rothman](https://time.com/author/lily-rothman/)  ## Lily Rothman Rothman is managing editor at TIME. Nov 5, 2015 6:05 PM UTC It took decades—a century even, depending how you count—for Adolphe Sax’s invention to take its place in history. The Belgian instrument maker, born 201 years ago, on Nov. 6, 1814, patented the saxophone in the 1840s. The new instrument, with a woodwind reed and a brass body, was a good fit for a military band, but it didn’t get much respect from the musical establishment. As TIME later [explained](http://time.com/vault/issue/1972-09-11/page/63/): --- > “” --- After Sax’s death, the saxophone finally found an established place in the world of music when it came to the United States and made its mark in the world of jazz—and, eventually, rock and roll. Its success in those popular genres, however, actually hurt its reputation in the world of classical music. By the 1920s, it was so closely associated with jazz that many classical purists dismissed it altogether. Even so, at least one musician did not give up hope that the saxophone could become a well-respected classical instrument: in the 1950s, saxophonist Marcel Mule [helped](http://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,868264,00.html) show that, in TIME’s words, the instrument could produce “an open, evenly controlled sound that could sing with a clean vibrato or a finely trimmed staccato, swell robustly and solidly with no trace of the breathy ‘air sound.'” Mule’s challenges were many—including the fact that, even when he formed a classical saxophone quartet, there wasn’t any music out there for them to play—but he remained driven to change the instrument’s reputation. “I have one mission in life,” he told TIME. “That is to make people take the saxophone seriously. It’s time they discovered the nobility of this spoiled instrument.” ## Transcript [ MUSIC ] One of the things about New Orleans is that it's hard to leave. Almost like a foreign city in the midst of America is New Orleans. On another world are its Mardi Gras, its river levees. [ MUSIC ] We had churches with, with all kinds of high level music from the neighborhood church, storefront churches To what they call holy roller churches. And then you had the whole marching band tradition for John Phillips Sousa and that was the most popular music in America at that time. [ MUSIC ] Out of tradition, you get someone like Louis Armstrong Who comes up in the bosom of New Orleans music. He sings church music plays marching band music Hear they play slap spank that bass hear the music and I mean this is where the blues is born In New Orleans [ MUSIC ] His spirit permeated New Orleans [ MUSIC ] not only did bring this sound of jazz he was a person who was a conservative of all of the New Orleans traditions [ MUSIC ] with this level of genius he was learning everything from blowing the tincan to singing in the quartet on the corner, to all the things he had to do to hustle to survive [ MUSIC ] He was able to synthesize all of the musicians he heard, and when that touched the world, people went crazy. Did I do something wrong? Something extraordinary. You were playing notes between flat and natural. It's like discovering, secret scales just made for this type of music. Horn, did you hear what the gentleman said? [ MUSIC ] Anybody who can play considers Louis Armstrong an influence. He's the foundation of our grammar, the syntax of our way of playing. He, he set the stage for a long line of trumpet players and a long line of musicians It [ UNKNOWN ] even now on to the Davies. There's a lot of trumpet players in New Orleans. 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