Classic Saxophone Solos – Christmas and Bari Sax

Why are there so many Bari Sax Solos in Christmas Songs?

The other night I was putting up the Christmas tree with my 7-year-old daughter. So of course, we had to put some Christmas music on. So, I chose this Apple music holiday playlist and there were three songs in a row with saxophone solos and two of those were bari sax solos.

And that’s how the idea for this video came about.

You’ve all heard these perhaps hundreds of times. Besides the baritone saxophone, these Christmas saxophone solos have a few very important things in common.

I’m going to play and breakdown four classic solos for you, the sheet music is available in the BetterSax Shed, along with tons of other free downloads. So head over there, sign up, and knock yourself out, Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays.

Oh, and if you want Santa to come down your chimney, he’s making a list of people that are subscribed to the BetterSax channel… really.

The first solo is from the Kelly Clarkson song, “Under the Christmas Tree,” and the fact that it has a baritone saxophone solo in it is probably not a random decision.

It’s played by David Ralicke, who’s not only a saxophonist, but he’s composed for major films and video games. He also plays and records on several brass instruments.

The next song feels like it was the inspiration for the Kelly Clarkson tune – “Christmas, Baby Please Come Home,” which was originally recorded by Darlene Love. Of course, it has a bari sax solo in it again, but check this out, Maria Carey covered the song, and her version has the same solo in it. What’s up with bari sax and Christmas songs right?

The next sax solo is from the song “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree,” recorded by Brenda Lee. The saxophone solo was played by Boots Randolph.

Last one I got for you today is Santa Claus is Coming to Town by Bruce Springsteen. The soloist is, of course, the great Clarence Clemons.

You can hear all of these solos and their breakdowns in the video above.

Now if you like classic saxophone solo breakdowns like these, you gotta watch this video next, where I walk you through some totally mint sax solos from the 80s.