Culture of Belgium
Adolphe Sax, the inventor of the saxophone, was born in Belgium. The country has also a very active jazz scene that is achieving international recognition with bands like Aka Moon, Maak's Spirit and Octurn. Harmonicist Toots Thielemans, guitarist Philip Catherine and Django Reinhardt are probably the best known Belgian jazz musicians.
Tenor saxophone
The tenor saxophone is one of a family of fourteen
instruments designed and constructed in 1846 by Adolphe Sax, a Belgian-born instrument maker, flautist and clarinetist. Based on an amalgam of ideas drawn from the clarinet, flute, oboe and ophicleide, the saxophone was intended to form a tonal link between the woodwinds and brass instruments found in military bands, an area that Sax considered sorely lacking. Sax's patent, granted on 28 June 1846, divided the family into two groups of seven instruments, each ranging from alto down to contrabass. One family, pitched alternatively in B and E, was designed specifically to integrate with the other instruments then common in military bands. The tenor saxophone, pitched in B, is the fourth member of this family.