Charlie Parker's plastic sax, a Kansas City treasure, is revived — and never sounded better

After a former mayor spent $144,000 of public money on the synthetic saxophone, it became the centerpiece of a Kansas City institution. A reissued recording of the instrument, played by our greatest bebopper, was released last month.
U.S. Rep. Emanuel Cleaver says the morning he secured a piece of jazz history for Kansas City wasn’t an enjoyable one.

“It was a weird morning that I don’t ever want to experience again,” Cleaver still remembers.

As mayor of Kansas City, Missouri, in 1994, Cleaver was huddled in a church basement with city officials and civic leaders nervously monitoring the auction of Charlie Parker memorabilia held by Christie’s in London.

Among the items was a plastic Grafton saxophone that Parker used at a famous concert at Massey Hall in Toronto, Canada, on May 15, 1953.

“The opening bid was $5,000,” Cleaver says. “I remember clearly, because I thought the saxophone probably cost $199, but we got some historic value here so $5,000 is nothing. And before I knew it, we were up to $75,000.”