As saxophone players, we need to be able to use both hands when we play our instruments. If something were to happen, say if we were to lose our right hand in an accident, or have a left-sided stroke, then we would no longer be able to play our horns.<\/p>\n
That’s exactly what happened to professional sax player Charlie Borzillire, from Silver Creek, NY. In 2004 Borzillire suffered a stroke, which left him unable to use his right hand. The result: Borzillire’s career as a rockin’ tenor player came to a screeching halt, and it would be 2 years before he would pick up a horn again.<\/p>\n
By 2011, Borzillire’s family had secured enough money to have a saxophone specially customized for him. The work was done by Brian Russell, of Russell Winds<\/a> in Winneconne, Wisconsin.<\/p>\n Earlier this month Russell posted a video to YouTube, in which he gave a mini-tour of his shop, and talked about the creation of Borzillire’s left-handed tenor saxophone. The customized-Selmer is quite remarkable\u2014and remarkably simple actually. (Compared to the right-handed Yamaha<\/a> that I wrote about in April 2011.)<\/p>\n