Oddbands

From Oddwinds

Some musicians and ensembles making notable use of odd winds:

Hazmat Modine's main musicians don't play any winds odder than a sheng, but their web site lists among guest musicians "Scott Robinson -- Bass Saxophone, Contrabass Surusaphone [sic], French Horn, Flute, C-Melody Saxophone, Octaveen [sic], Normaphone, Contrabass Saxophone, Etc."

On Scott Robinson's "Jazz Ambassador" album he plays tenor sax, baritone sax, bass sax, echo cornet, trombonium, c-melody sax, double bell euphonium, f-mezzo soprano sax, and ophicleide.

San Jose Saxophone Christmas is a once-a-year large community saxophone ensemble, which is kind of odd, but even more oddly, players of sarrusophones or tubaxes are welcome too.

Speaking In Tongues is a quartet that plays "original avant garde, SunRa and AACM inspired works" using among other instruments sarrusophone, octavin, heckelphone, and tarogato.

And some odd ensembles of mundane winds:

Bass clarinet quartets: Edmund Welles] plays motets, madrigals, boogie woogie, gospel, heavy metal (including a cover of Spinal Tap's "Big Bottom"), and original "heavy chamber music". Rocco Parisi's Bass Clarinet Quartet has a slightly less eclectic repertoire, though it does include some tangos by Astor Piazzola. (Web site is a bit outdated; maybe they no longer exist?) Toast is a band from Pocatello, Idaho consisting of four bass clarinets (two who double, on [[Contrabass clarinet|contrabass] and eefer) plus vocal/guitar and conga.

There was also the World's Largest Bass Clarinet Choir, but that was a one-shot gig.

Bassoon quartets: You'd think these would be about as odd as bass clarinet quartets, but there are a lot more of them. (Google for them, you'll find a bunch.) Probably due in no small part to the pioneering efforts of the Bubonic (and Buddhist) Bassoon Quartet.