From the beginning of jazz, the trumpet was the king. The trumpet players were often the leaders, and in any case they played the leading role in the music. It was trumpet players like Bolden, Oliver, Armstrong, and Beiderbecke who got the glory. But by the early years of the 1930"s, a relatively new instrument was beginning to push the trumpet aside. This was the saxophone.
The saxophone was invented by a Belgian, Adolph Sax, in 1840. Sax was trying to create an instrument which combined the carrying power of a brass instrument with the speed and facility of a clarinet. What he got was something quite different, an instrument that indeed could be played with speed, but which had a rather muted sound. It has never been much used in symphony orchestras, and during the early days of jazz was rarely used. But by 1910 dance orchestras were beginning to use the saxophone as a novelty instrument. It looked funny, especially when the saxophonist had several different sizes of them lined up in front of him. And by about 1920 jazz musicians were beginning to take an interest in the instrument. For the most part, they played it very badly. Early jazz saxophone playing is sometimes quite painful to hear. But very quickly some players began to master the instrument. Three who did so were Bud Freeman, tenor saxophonist, who was part of gang around Beiderbecke"s sidekick, Frankie Trumbauer. But it was yet another player who was to really demonstrate the possibilities of the instrument. This was Coleman Hawkins. According to the passage, which instrument was the most important in early jazz