The saxophones they had been making were all flat in the palm keys so I suggested making the tone holes larger to raise the pitch. We redesigned the saxophone they had been making for Conn /Armstrong by moving tone holes and designing a new neck. I then approached Keilwerth, which was still a small family company to see if they would be interested in my ideas. After realizing that Buffet was never going to change and being frustrated that my ideas were not being utilized, I left in 1985. I saw a lot of potential in these horns and B&H had Keilwerth make 100 horns with the Buffet logo and engraving.
My prototypes were never realized and B&H sent me to Keilwerth, which was in the same German village as B&H Germany, to see what I thought of the Keilwerth horns. There was a problem in that B&H wanted a saxophone for the jazz market and Buffet saw the saxophone world as classical. During an extended 1981 stay in Europe, on a grant from the German government, I began to work on prototypes at the factory in Mantes. They invited me to come to the factory after the show and try some of their saxophones which I did.Īfter returning to NYC, I became involved with the US part of the company in an effort to make a Buffet for the jazz market. There I met the people from Buffet (which had just been purchased by Boosey & Hawkes). I believe that it was 1980 that I demonstrated the Lyricon at the Frankfurt Music Fair. I was a consultant for the Lyricon in the late 70’s, while living as a jazz and studio player in NYC. A lot of this information is in a Saxophone Journal interview from late 1992 or 1993. PP: I will try and answer your questions without going into my life story. PH: How did you get involved with Keilwerth? What was your position and "mission" there?