That Moaning Saxophone: The Six Brown Brothers and the Dawning of the Saxophone Craze

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Summary: The sad story of the decline and death of vaudeville
Review: > Why should anyone want to read a book about a once popular vaudeville act that almost no one today remembers? My question exactly when I saw a copy of Bruce Vermazen's "That Moaning Saxophone: the Six Brown Brothers and the Dawning of a Musical Craze" (Oxford, 2004). I gave it a try and found it fascinating reading.


Of course, I am most interested in the history of American music. And while the actual story of a certain Saxophone sextet act is not in itself totally engrossing, their story is the story of all vaudeville acts that had their glory days and finally were squeezed out of existence by something called the motion picture. Indeed, the final chapters almost brought a tear to the eye as the Brown Brothers (well, not exactly the original six by any means but the act that went under that name) found the market for their incredible talents become more and more restricted as they had to share billing with films because so many of the old vaudeville houses had converted to movie theaters.The summary of the book on this website provides you with many details covered by the author, so let that suffice.


The 214 pages of text are followed by many more of notes, discography, and two indexes. A must read for anyone interested in the never really Good Old Days of live performers who could not survive the march of science in its most commercial aspects.