I play tenor sax mainley and I also am considering switching to baritone. I`m gonna have to agree with the bari supporters cause they just have the best sound I`ve ever heard. Tenor sounds awsome too, but you can do solos with a baritone just the same. Hey, why not play them both?

I am a bari. sax player and an alto player. The baritone saxophone has THE coolest sound in the world. Yes, it is true, the bari. sax does get a lot of bass line parts, but its only fun if you make it fun. Without bass lines, the band would just have melody sounds. And also, a lot of people play tenor, but not baritone. So i say, go with the baritone!

play the soprano. I have all the saxes, soprano alto tenor and bari. the soprano is fun to play, and is piched the same as a clarinet. HOWEVER the sop sax is NOT a concert instrument, it is a jazz instrument.

What are altissimo fingerings?

I play the soprano-my soprano`s an old 60`s century, pretty beat up, but it still can sound great with a good mouthpiece and reed. I think the bflat instruments are the best-soprano, tenor, and bass sax (not bari...bass!) Oh, and altissimo fingerings deal with overtones and harmonics; it`s basically dealing with the highest notes of the sax. Cool if you can do it...

I`ve played bari for six years now, and it rocks. I originally switched over so I could play in jazz band, and I`ve stuck with it. Sure, it`s a little bulky and hard to move around, but it`s so much fun. You get all kinds of cool bass parts, and you also get to double with the altos and tenors during solis. We played a song in jazz called "Cruisin` for a Bluesin`", by Maynard Ferguson. In the middle of it, everything, including piano, bass, and drums, drop out, leaving only the saxes. Bari starts it all off with a bass line, then tenors embellish it, and altos play a crazy hard melody. I suggest checking it out. It rocks.

Also, there`s plenty of good bari players. Mulligan, Harry Carney (played for Duke Ellington), Gary Smulyan, Nick Brignola, Glen Kostur, Pepper Adams, and Ronnie Cuber. Cuber took over for Adams in the Mingus Big Band and recorded with them on the "Live in Time" album. Check out Moanin` Mambo. People buy the CD just for that song. Cuber is all over that solo, playing the bari almost like a tenor with his skills. Amazing.

Guess I should have mentioned this earlier. Aebersold books are the best. Almost every Friday or Saturday night, some friends and I get together and play from the Aebersold books. I credit those to my improvement in soloing. Soloing on a bari is so much fun. You can get out a Low G# if you have a low A key, something the other saxes can`t. It gives you a wider range to play in, even if it`s only by 1 note. My friend plays alto, and we have the same length of range. I can get lower, he gets higher.

To hit the Low G#, or Low A if you don`t have a Low A key, cover the bell of the horn with something. It lowers the pitch a half step.

i would recomend a bari i paly alto and bari, the bari cn produce so many different tones if you geta decent one i play a yanigasawa 901 and i can play it so so softly if i want to but it also makes the coolsest fat deep sounds imaginable, and if you want a solo you just play one where normally you would have something stupid like a trombone

well, i play tenor sax and im 15 yrs old. i guess everyone kinda wants their instrument to be regarded as the best simply because, well ive found anyway, that you become attached to it after playing it and claiming it as `yours`. But personally i think that Soprano sax has the most magical sound and if you like that sorta thing. go that. catch.

my favorite is the tenor and bari sax.it just depenst on who is playing it and how good they are

hey man get a bari, and to all you out there that say that tenor is better your wrong! the bari sax has the best range, the best sound and omg! who says that the bari isnt featured in jazz bands! Concert is all bassline but the bari owns the Jazz Band!

it depends on what style of music u want to play. i've found when i play bari, funk/big band/rock are kool coz u get the bass lines. when i play tenor i dig the same sorta thing but i like it coz you can solo easier with a cleanier and funky sound. but with alto, i like more ballad/classical, but i still love funk and all that jazz.

tenors got an awesome middle range, bari a phat lower middle and lower range and alto has a great mid to higher range. i;ve got all three so depends on what i am fealin i can switch.

stick clear of soprano's till you become more advanced and have a better understanding and feel for sax coz they can be tricky to keep in tune.

good luck

listen up kids,

u want some good jazz bari sax players, check this site out

http://www.geocities.com/BourbonStreet/Delta/8586/
or this

http://www.barisax.com/index.shtml

thats for that dude who said noone good plays bari! bari is the heart of big band, the other saxs are wat moves the heart around