Conn 10M Tenor Saxophone Played by Big Jay McNeely

Although manufactured in the late 1930s, this Conn 10M tenor saxophone was used mostly in the late 1940s and 1950s by R&B and Rock’n’Roll saxophonist Big Jay McNeely (Cecil James McNeely). With this saxophone he opened for Bill Haley & His Comets, Little Richard, and Nat King Cole, as well as for his own showstopping performances. McNeely favored the saxophone’s large bell and bright sound because it best carried the sharp “shouting” and “honking” style that was popular among saxophone players of the era, a style of which he was a master. It was a versatile instrument too, and with the addition of a smaller reed, he also performed subtler tones for more tender and sultry songs.   

After McNeely bought another saxophone—a Selmer Balanced Action—the new sax became his standard while the Conn became his “showpiece.” Initially he painted it in transparent, phosphorescent paint so that during his finales its body would shimmer chartreuse, and the inside of the bell would glow red. For an added effect he would wear white gloves, so that when the lights were turned down, the audience would see only two white hands playing a floating, “supernatural” horn. The orange color that it sports today is from 1983, when McNeely repainted it in these bright colors for a British television show appearance. 

McNeely (1927-2018) was key in placing the saxophone as the featured instrument of Rock’n’Roll, before the electric guitar became popular. He had his first hit in 1949, “The Deacon's Hop,” which topped the charts at the time. In 1959 he paired with Blues and Doo-Wop singer, Little Sonny Warner for the ballad hit “There Is Something on Your Mind.”