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Here’s an early peek at Sunday’s column — and, if you go to the bottom, you’ll see the start of my list of the greatest sax solos in rock ‘n’ roll history. Feel free to add your favorites or to take issue with mine.

The column starts now:

There is great good news to report: According to reliable sources, the saxophone solo is staging a comeback in popular music.

Now, granted, this probably doesn’t rank up there with, say, a deal to repay the federal deficit or a

peace pact in

the Middle East, but these are days when we need to take our good news where we find it. And to hear sax solos suddenly erupt back onto the radio is an unexpected delight.

As noted in a recent article in the online magazine Slate, the latest singles by both Lady Gaga and Katy Perry feature surprising star turns by sax veterans.

Gaga’s new single, “The Edge of Glory,” features a solo by Clarence Clemons, the sax player in Bruce Springsteen’s E Street Band and the man behind arguably the greatest sax solo in rock ‘n’ roll history, in The Boss’ “Born to Run.”

Perry’s single, “Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F),” has a turn from sax man Lenny Pickett, at one time a member of the great horn band Tower of Power (seen not too long ago at River Rhythms in Albany) and now the leader of the “Saturday Night Live” house band.

Both Gaga and Perry have said they meant to re-create the sound of the 1980s in their new singles, and so they turned to veterans of that era.

Frankly, that’s kind of a lame reason, but for those of us who love our popular music with a dose of saxophone, any reason will do. While the last decade has seen some terrific jazz recordings by young turks and old masters alike, it’s been a lonely stretch for the sax in

popular music. Tracks driven by computerized, overpowering rhythms and autotuned singers dominate the airwaves.

So when hitmakers as reliable as Gaga and Perry swing back to the sax, it’s worth noting – and maybe a sign that pop listeners are ready to embrace something that sounds a little more, well, human.

It’s certainly a sign of hope for me: I’ve been taking sax lessons now for nearly a decade. The fact that I’m still not any good is more an indictment of my inability to find adequate practice time than it is of my skillful and long-suffering teachers.

Nevertheless, last week I took the stage at Corvallis High School to sit in alongside my daughter, who plays in the school’s jazz band, at the school’s end-of-year concert. We played about a minute of “Birdland,” the great Weather Report chart. I butchered it.

But, you know, all the other players in the band sounded great. Marshall Price, the band director at Corvallis High School, has done great work with his young charges. (Price is retiring at the end of this year, and he leaves thousands of young musicians in his wake, a wonderful legacy.)

Maybe one day one of these students or another of the great crop of youthful mid-valley musicians will show up on my car radio, whipping through a sax solo.

I’ll react the same way everyone should: I’ll reach down and crank it up.

 

THE SHORT LIST: A starter list of great sax solos in rock ‘n’ roll. Add your own!

– Clarence Clemons on Bruce Springsteen’s “Born to Run”

– Michael Brecker on Paul Simon’s “Still Crazy After all These Years”

– Pete Christlieb on Steely Dan’s “Deacon Blues” (yes, the song with the line “I’ll learn to play the saxophone”). I also would accept Wayne Shorter’s solo on “Aja” from the same album.

– Sonny Rollins on The Rolling Stones’ “Waiting on a Friend”

– David Sanborn on David Bowie’s “Young Americans”

– Junior Walker on “Shotgun,” by Junior Walker and the All-Stars

– Raphael Ravenscroft on Gerry Rafferty’s “Baker Street”

There’s one thing all of these solos have in common: They’re at least 30 years old. Two conclusions: One, it really has been a dry spell for saxes in popular music. Second, I’m old.

 

 

 

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