Oh now I remember Dave Friesen. Ben asked me if I did, and at the time, the bell it rang was too faint. But it vaguely comes back to me now. I think he's also a singer?

I don't know if he sings... my guess is he doesn't, but the only evidence I have is I haven't seen him do it. He did not sing during the one performance I went to.

I ordered a new gold-plated alto saxophone from this guy in New York I've done business with before named Phil Barone. He imports saxophones from Taiwan and puts his logo on them. The horns have been well received but they are inexpensive.

Well-made saxophones that have good reputations and get used by more musicians have historically been manufactured in places like the U.S., France, and Germany. Recently, these horns have become outrageously expensive due to the number of hobbyists like me out there who might have some more money than starving musicians, and might also be more willing to use the internet to acquire them. On this one board I read, there are more than a few people with like six horns or more just because they want them. Often, these are the expensive ones.

Historically, Chinese and Taiwanese made saxophones have been shoddy and cheap. They are still cheap, but Taiwan at least has figured out how to make good ones. There was an NPR article recently about the people who make saxophones in Taiwan: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=19234329

Anyway, I'm getting an alto to provide an alternate voice to my tenor saxophone, and possibly even use both on a gig. The most recent combo I've entered into is with another tenor player (we rehearse tonight for the first time), so I thought it might be good to play something else. We also both can play clarinet. Long story short, this pushed me over the edge... I've been wanting another voice of saxophone for quite some time.

Here's some links to pictures of the model I'm getting (it's shiny!):

http://pbsaxgallery.alexthegeek.com/v/WPBAS/
http://www.mouthpiecemuseum.com/Misc/Barone_sax/