The prevailing taste then catered for may have been at its lowest when a much-advertised Turkish (or Arab) artist was imported to perform solos–clad in gorgeous attire–on a weird-looking instrument. But we knew that the illustrious Oriental was none other than a member of a well-known British family of wind-instrumentalists and a familiar figure in our orchestras. Whether his instrument was an early specimen of that fearful wildfowl, the saxophone, or a disguised bass clarinet, matters little. The present popularity of the former is undeniable, albeit inexplicable.