Not that they were all generic sounding, oh no, just that there were no duds in the whole bunch, at least not to my ears. There was a consistency to the product I didn't hear before. Well, these two horns did make me go "WOW!" and then some, and when I tried all the other saxes that day, I was impressed with all of them. Excellent saxophones, but they just didn't make me go "Wow!". In a previous review I had played a dozen Reference 54's and had the same feeling about them. Of course, it usually is that way, but what I mean is that the saxophone showed that it was capable of a wide range of expression. At the same time, other players trying the same sax sounded different from me according to their styles. The other thing was that it played exactly the way I like to sound, the way I always hear myself. It was as if they almost were playing themselves and all I needed to do was put my hands on the keys, my lips on the mouthpiece, and just breathe naturally. I have tried out many Selmers over the years, including over 200 Mark VI's, and none of them compared to these two in terms of tone and ease of blowing, intonation and responsive keywork. I played both the standard deep gold lacquered one and the Dragonbird, and they were awesome. Anyway, that day I played a Reference 54, two actually, that I had to honestly say were the best horns I ever played. Sorry for the fuzziness of the picture, the photographer forgot to use the flash which would have made the image sharper. Anyway, the last edition would be with the "Dragonbird" engraving. Ten years later, and Selmer is unveiling the final editions of the Reference 54 "Bird" series, of which there were 7 in all, one for every continent and in tribute to Charlie Parker, though the only Selmer I ever saw a photo of him playing was a Jimmy Dorsey model, and I believe according to legend, that Jimmy Dorsey actually gave it to him himself after seeing him play a battered old sax with keys held together with rubber bands and saying "you need this more than I do". He was very warm and cordial, a classy gentleman, and I never forgot that. He said if I was ever in Paris to please stop by the factory and I could see and play all the saxophones I wanted. He smiled then handed me his card and it turned out to be Jerome Selmer himself. I had played a matte lacquer finish horn before that I really didn't care for, but the one I was playing with a deep gold lacquer I liked very much. I was playing a Reference 54 alto, and this tall man with a French accent walked up to me smiling, said he was listening to me play and asked how I liked the horn.
SELMER REF 54 SERIAL NUMBER PHOTO SERIES
The first time was in 2001 when the Reference Series was unveiled at the Marriot Marquis Hotel in New York City. I had the pleasure of meeting the President of Selmer, Jerome Selmer on two occasions. Mauriat are producing saxophones that compete well with Selmer, but they, like all modern saxophones, are based on the Selmer model. Today, companies like Keilwerth, Yamaha, Yanigasawa and P. Compared with some other manufacturers like Buffet, Conn, Buescher, Martin and the French manufacturer Cuesnon, Selmer appeared rather late in the game, but over the years, due to constant refinement and innovation, managed to outrun the field, until the aforementioned companies with the exception of Buffet stopped all saxophone production. I think it almost goes without saying that whenever you mention the saxophone, at some point if not right away, the name Selmer will be the one most associated with it.
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