Episode 038 · Out Nov 6, 2026

The saxophone was invented by a kid called "the ghost"

Born November 6, 1814 in Dinant: Adolphe Sax. As a kid he survived so many accidents – a fall from three floors, a glass of acid, a swallowed pin, gunpowder burns, a near drowning, at least as his first biographer tells it – that locals called him "le petit Sax, le revenant": the ghost. In 1846 he patented the saxophone: a clarinet-style reed on a brass body. The twist: even though it's made of brass, it counts as a woodwind – because of the reed. Rivals fought his patents in court for over 20 years, he beat lip cancer, went bankrupt in 1852, 1873 and 1877, and died poor in Paris in 1894 – before jazz existed. In 1995 his face went on Belgium's 200 franc note.

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