COURTESY THE WHITE HOUSE VIA THE MET
Just to give all of you an update on Bill Clinton’s saxophone, the former president’s Presidential Model tenor saxophone (number one in an edition of 150) is currently on view at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York as part of the Met’s “Celebrating Sax” exhibition. The show will run until January 3, 2016, so there is still plenty of time to see Bill Clinton’s saxophone. On being presented the saxophone in 1994 in the Oval Office, Bill Clinton reportedly told South Dakota State Representative Tim Johnson, “This is funky. I never thought I’d see a patriotic saxophone.” To South Dakota Senator Larry Pressler, he remarked, “This is the most beautiful saxophone I have ever seen.”
The Met describes the saxophone this way:
The saxophone features lacquer on the brass keys and the interior of the instrument’s bell. The exterior touts a baked-epoxy finish in metallic fire red, diamond metallic white, and reflex blue, artistically blended with a field of brilliant white stars throughout the bell flare. Touches are accented with mother-of-pearl inlays.
Smooth.
As of this writing, there were no plans to exhibit the bongos that Bill Clinton’s successor George W. Bush played that one time on the White House lawn. We will update accordingly if there are any developments on this, or on any other matters regarding the status of Bill Clinton’s saxophone.