(amorous saxophone music) - Almost everyone knows this riff, even people who've never heard the full song, and it occupies a weird place culturally.

(amorous saxophone music continues) ♪ Oh, oh ♪ ♪ Oh, oh ♪ - In the late 1980s, the saxophone wasn't just another instrument.

It was its own movie character.

It could signal passion, drama, suspense, or someone trying just a little too hard to be sexy.

(crowd cheering) (lively amorous music) ♪ Let's go ♪ - But somehow, this simple melody became a joke.

- So, where were we?

(explosion booms) (amorous saxophone music) - Throughout the '90s and 2000s, the instrument that once defined cool suddenly became a punchline.

And today, the saxophones are getting louder.

(dramatic saxophone music) But here's the strange part.

The saxophone didn't become a joke because it sounded bad.

Quite the opposite.

It was because it became too successful.

(relaxing saxophone music) (groovy saxophone music) To understand the coolness of the saxophone and its cheesier side, we need to understand how we got here.

(relaxing jazz music) It's the 1840s, and Adolphe Sax noticed that the woodwinds like the clarinet had agility while the brass instruments had power.

There was really no instrument that could do both, so Sax designed the saxophone to bridge that gap.

It uses a single reed like a clarinet, but it's made entirely out of brass.

This results in an instrument that can sound soft and intimate at one moment.

(soft saxophone tune) And powerful the next.

(bassy saxophone tune) The saxophone appeared in a handful of orchestral works, but it never earned a permanent spot alongside the flute or trumpet.

Instead, the saxophone had found a home somewhere more down to Earth, military bands.

And when America got its hands on the sax, it went to a whole new level.

(moody saxophone music) Many Black musicians brought the sax and other instruments home to their local community bands throughout the Southern US, then eventually into the city of New Orleans.

(upbeat saxophone music) New Orleans already had an overflow of musical traditions, such as the blues, church music, marching bands, ragtime, African rhythms.

But unlike many orchestral instruments, the saxophone didn't sound as rigid.

The saxophones bent notes.

(playful saxophone music) It was close in imitation to the human voice in a way very few instruments could.

That expressive quality made the saxophone a perfect fit for jazz.

It's a style that is built around individuality and improvisation.

(upbeat jazz music) Unlike classical music, where musicians are expected to play their parts exactly as they were written, jazz encourages players to get completely off of the page and explore.

So before long, the saxophone wasn't just a part of jazz.

It was the voice of jazz.

(upbeat jazz music continues) Despite the growing popularity and influence of jazz, it wasn't universally accepted.

In the early 20th century, many people dismissed the genre because of its association with nightlife, dance halls, and underground clubs.

And since jazz grew from Black American culture, it faced discrimination for many in the musical establishment.

The saxophone inherited that same identity, becoming an instrument of rebellion, of freedom, of emotion for the several decades following.

(jaunty jazz music) (lively jazz music) (groovy jazz music) (relaxing jazz music) Enter the '80s, (upbeat funk music) the decade on a mission to make music feel much, much bigger.

Bigger drums, bigger hair, bigger guitar solos, and much bigger emotions, and the saxophone fit perfectly into that philosophy.

The melodrama of the '80s ran with the mystique that the saxophone had built up over the previous decades.

I talked with Steve Cole, a legendary smooth jazz sax player to talk about his experience of this era.

- You know, it's funny that we're talking about, like, you know, '80s saxophone solos and '70s saxophone solos, et cetera, because I would practice by playing along with the radio, (laughs) like, you know, (upbeat jazz music) Foreigner, "Urgent," that Junior Walker solo, "Just the Two of Us" from Grover Washington, and "Baker Street," you know, the Gerry Rafferty tune.

So, like, it was everywhere.

Like, the saxophone was, like, you know, as much a part of pop music as like guitar and vocals.

- Since the saxophone mimicked similar attributes to the human voice, it was appealing to producers who began to use the instrument as the emotional climax of songs.

(gentle tinkling piano music) (melodious saxophone music) See how they are the exact same note, but not telling the same story.

The sax naturally bends into the notes.

It has a breath, similar to someone singing.

This is why it works so well during these highly emotional moments.

You can see the sax solo formula, verse, chorus, bridge, emotional sax solo, final chorus.

(energetic jazz music) And depending on the player, it could sound completely different.

Those differences gave producers another color to work with.

Need something intimate?

Choose a tenor.

(romantic saxophone music) Need something that cuts through an entire rock band?

Reach for the alto.

♪ Can you hear me, Doctor?

♪ - The saxophone wasn't just appearing in popular music.

It had become one of the defining sounds of the decade itself.

If you heard a sax solo in the '70s and '80s, there was a good chance it was Michael Brecker, the sax player for the SNL band and credited on over 900 albums.

He was undeniably a driving force behind the sound of the '80s.

- Michael Brecker is the personification of you don't have to play a million notes and you don't have to change Western music as we know it in order to be compelling and profound as a soloist.

It's completely in alignment with the style of music that he's playing.

(energetic saxophone music) (rhythmic saxophone music) (jaunty saxophone music) - But just as quickly as the saxophone grew in popularity and took over pop music, it seemed to have disappeared almost overnight.

So, what happened?

Eventually, those emotional moments stopped feeling unique.

They were expected.

What once felt exciting slowly became cliche.

And by the 1990s, the saxophone had earned a reputation it had never really had before.

It became cringe.

(audience applauding) (comical saxophone music) The image of a saxophone player changed, too.

Instead of representing rebellion or cool, the sax player became a stereotype.

The overly confident guy in sunglasses, the shirtless beach musician, the smooth-talking romantic, or simply the punchline.

Around the same time, another genre helped cement the saxophone's new reputation.

Smooth jazz had become incredibly successful throughout the late 1980s.

- I mean, smooth jazz was a name that was invented by the radio industry.

They needed to call what we were doing something.

When I realized that there was a kind of instrumental music that was an offshoot of jazz and bebop, but also really steeped in blues and soul music, that was it.

I was like, "I found my home."

- But by the 1990s, many people associated the sound less with innovation and more with waiting rooms, hotel elevators, shopping malls, or the background music playing during the Weather Channel forecast.

For an instrument that once symbolized artistic freedom, that was quite a transformation.

What are your thoughts on the concept of easy listening music?

- I think that, you know, you can look at easy listening from a perspective of something pejorative, like elevator music.

Non-obtrusive, almost-to-be-ignored music.

So, I don't like that term and I don't like being associated with that term, but you know, I think there's music that's more challenging to listen to and there's music that's a little bit easier to listen to, so if I'm gonna listen to later John Coltrane, (energetic jazz music) it's a challenging listening experience because there's so much to hear that you want to take it all in.

Whereas, you know, some of David Sanborn's, you know, music, (relaxing R&B music) still marvelously complex, but in a more subtle way.

(slow saxophone music) - Even the White House couldn't escape the saxophone's reputation.

When presidential candidate Bill Clinton appeared on "The Arsenio Hall Show" in 1992 and played the saxophone, it instantly became one of the defining television moments of the campaign.

For many Americans, it made Clinton seem younger, approachable, and culturally connected, but it also reinforced something else.

By this point, everyone already recognized the saxophone as a cultural symbol, not just an instrument, an identity.

At the same time, music production itself was changing.

Throughout the '80s, recording a saxophone meant hiring a professional musician, booking studio time, setting up microphones, and recording multiple takes.

But by the mid-1990s, technology offered producers another option.

Instead of recording a real saxophone, you could simply trigger one with a keyboard.

(upbeat pop rap music) Back in 2021, when I was touring with Pitbull, I realized that the song "Hotel Room" has an impossible saxophone line.

It's impossible to play it live because it's so repetitive, there's nowhere to breathe.

I assumed that they recorded it to the computer either with a sampled saxophone or a MIDI saxophone that they could just repeat over and over.

So, when I had to play it live, the only way to get through it was for me to take one note off.

(rhythmic saxophone music) For a while, it looked like the saxophone's time in mainstream music had come to an end, but as it turns out, its story wasn't even close to over.

As rock music moved away from saxophone solos, other genres continued embracing the instrument.

Neo-soul artists used it to create warmth and intimacy.

(groovy neo-soul music) R&B musicians brought back its emotional qualities.

Hip-hop producers began sampling classic jazz recordings, introducing the sound of the saxophone to an entirely new generation.

♪ Gotta make a stop, take a leak ♪ ♪ And get some tops 'cause, um... ♪ ♪ We got the jazz, we got the jazz ♪ ♪ We got the jazz ♪ - Unlike the oversized arena solos of the 1980s, these parts were often quieter, more intentional.

Sometimes you barely notice them, but you feel them.

When audiences heard a saxophone, they immediately thought of another era.

The instrument had become nostalgic.

(relaxing jazz music) Artists like Kamasi Washington have introduced a younger generation to expansive, ambitious jazz records.

Instead of treating jazz like museum music, they have presented it as something alive, political, spiritual, contemporary.

(melodious jazz music) (ambient jazz music) Across the world, younger musicians have continued blending jazz with hip-hop, soul, electronic music, and even global sounds.

(crowd cheering) (melodious saxophone music) Even artists who aren't considered jazz musicians are bringing live horns back into popular music.

Raye has embraced (fan cheers) live instrumentation throughout her performances.

It's another reminder, real instruments never completely disappear.

They just evolve.

(crowd cheering) (lively saxophone music) Maybe that's what makes the saxophone so fascinating.

For almost two centuries, it has constantly changed identities.

It started as an orchestral experiment, became the voice of jazz, defined the sound of the 1980s, turned into a punchline, and somehow found its way back again.

The saxophone never really disappeared.

Just keep listening for it.

(jaunty saxophone tune)