Paul Cohen

When saxophonists come here, it's like a saxophone painting zoo because they're allowed to play all these instruments if they bring their mouthpieces.

How many saxophones do you have?

I stopped counting a while ago, but it's around 250.

Some people say that it's the largest private collection in the world.

It's so light and the sound is so transparent.

I feel like I'm playing on a cloud.

And I feel that if I play too hard, I'm going to fall through the cloud.

That is a lovely metaphor.

It was marketed as a great social tool.

More than likely they'd have two.

Home music making was a big deal.

And we have many pictures in catalogs and articles that show the family surrounding the piano and the saxophone player looking over the shoulder, playing off the piano part, participating in the musical merriment.

When we got to the late 1920s, jazz in a big band form was starting to become the happening music and music ensemble.

I feel that I'm playing something that is so connected to me internally and physically that it feels like it's an extension of my inner soul.