Why did Charlie Parker play a plastic Grafton saxophone at Massey Hall?

Perhaps the most curious part of “the greatest jazz concert, ever” was Charlie Parker playing a plastic Grafton saxophone, and in truth, nobody knows exactly why.

Designing & manufacturing Charlie Parker’s official merch, we get a lot of questions about the Jazz great. This article helps explain one of the most common Charlie Parker questions: why was he playing a plastic saxophone?

It became known as Jazz at Massey Hall, in Toronto, Canada on May 15th, 1953 and featured the meeting of five all-time Jazz legends, Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, Bud Powell, Charles Mingus and Max Roach playing one of the most celebrated bebop performances ever recorded.

The event was the only time the five jazz masters recorded together.

But why did Charlie Parker show up to such an important performance with such a seemingly unusual instrument?

The Popular Pawnshop Story

Several explanations have been given. The most popular story claims Parker had pawned his regular saxophone, perhaps for drugs they say, and arrived in Toronto without an instrument. A popular legend has a local music store supposedly loaning him the cream-colored plastic alto sax.

Evidence Parker Already Had the Grafton

However, researcher Mark Miller established that Parker had already played what appears to be the same Grafton, serial number 10265, in Montreal during February, 1953 and on several later U.S. engagements several months before Jazz at Massey Hall. So the plastic alto sax could not have logically been picked up in an emergency in Toronto.

The Most Likely Explanation

The most plausible explanation comes from bassist Bill Crow, who remembered Parker at Birdland with the plastic alto saying the Grafton company had given it to him.

Grafton had recently began producing the new instrument as an affordable, lightweight alternative to brass horns, and wanted to popularize it. Parker was one of the world’s most famous saxophonists, so getting him to play the strange new acrylic instrument could have been extremely valuable publicity for the company.

Crow further recalled a debate that night about whether the plastic sax was a toy or a legitimate instrument. But with Charlie Parker behind the saxophone, the new instrument gained considerable validity.

Why Charlie Parker chose that specific night remains undocumented and unknown. It may have just plain been the instrument he brought to Canada.

There is also no solid evidence that Parker preferred the plastic over his normal brass horn(s). Regardless, the recording is still unmistakably Bird, which is partially why the saxophone story became legendary.

Where is the Saxophone Now?

Parker’s horn went up for auction in 1994, selling for £93,500 (about $140,000).

Charlie Parker’s plastic Grafton alto saxophone is now displayed at the American Jazz Museum in Kansas City. If you’re in the area, the Jazz museum is exceptional and entertaining and worth a visit. And you can find Bluescentric Brand official Charlie Parker t-shirt in the gift shop!

It is our great honor at Bluescentric to design and manufacture merchandise for our hometown hero Charlie Parker. Discover official Charlie Parker shirts and merch below.