I guess I've just led a sheltered life. I knew that both the contrabass and the "sopranino" clarinet had been invented, but I never got the chance to meet one, and maybe didn't pay enough attention to the jazz world to hear about what they were playing. With my current decrepit hearing, I probably couldn't hear either one if they came along now. Can't you use that Eefer for a dog whistle??????

In my gang in high school, the soprano sax was very popular, it's just that nobody actually had one. I always thought it would make a nice addition to the rack, but my musical career sort of wound down when I began to see how hard it was to make a living that way.

I'm told the "C-melody" sax was actually quite popular in the 20s - and I saw quite a few thru early to mid 40s, especially in the local "western swing" bands where they refused to play everything in Bb for the convenience of the oddball horn player. There were also a number of "town bands" around my vicinity that had one or two. (I think they came mail order from Sears.) That's pretty close to a standard soprano, although I'd have gone for the "real" Bb Soprano.

John