Coltrane’s Saxophone and Other Items for Auction

The chance to buy John Coltrane’s (pictured) saxophone or Benny Goodman’s clarinet doesn’t come along every day, but on Feb. 20, these items and many more will be put on auction by New York’s Guernsey’s Auction House at the Frederick P. Rose Hall, home to Jazz at the Lincoln Center.

In addition to Coltrane’s tenor saxophone and Goodman’s clarinet, the auction will also feature the saxophones of Charlie Parker and Gerry Mulligan, Dizzy Gillespie’s and Clark Terry’s trumpets and J.J. Johnson’s trombones. The original music to Coltrane’s A Love Supreme, a 27-page handwritten letter from Louis Armstrong and a gown that Peggy Lee wore are other items among the hundreds that will be auctioned off.

Public preview days will be on Feb. 18 and 19 at Rose Hall and a catalog featuring the objects for sale, along with historic jazz photos, is available through Guernsey for $36. Absentee bidding will be available by phone and through eBay Live Auctions. Some of the proceeds from the auctioned items will be given to jazz-related organizations. More information can be found at www.guernseys.com.

Originally Published January 22, 2005