In 1916, following the groundbreaking success of the Six Brown Brothers on Victor Records and on Broadway, Harry Yerkes organized a saxophone sextet to record for rival Columbia Records. Between 1916 & 1921, the Columbia Saxophone Sextette recorded several dozen sides. Although the group featured several of the best saxophonists of the day (Rudy Wiedoeft, Ross Gorman, Benny Krueger and others), the individual members never received publicity through Columbia’s advertising. Tracking down who actually performed on these sides has been very tricky. The purpose of this site is to share the wonderful music this group created and discuss the info that has been gathered about the group to date.
How I Discovered The Columbia Saxophone Sextette
On a rainy Saturday in 1975 I visited a local flea market. I was in sixth grade and had just started playing the saxophone that year. The only saxophone record I owned at that point was Boots Randolph’s Yakety Sax. Among the stacks of old records was a blue label...