Saxophonists to Gather for Christmas Blowout : Reeds: The instrument is still trying to find respect in classical circles. In the meantime, more than 100 saxes will raise their voices at Knott’s Berry Farm.

It was 150 years ago when musical instrument innovator Adolphe Sax introduced the saxophone, an event that was greeted with vicious press attacks, a suspicious fire at Sax’s factory, a flurry of litigation and physical attacks upon Sax’s person. The resistence that Sax and his namesake instrument met from the more staid instrument-makers of his day seems to have hung on in classical circles. Whatever inroads the sax may have made in popular and martial music, it remains an orphan child in the orchestral world, only rarely featured on the symphonic stage.

So, no, there couldn’t possibly be a sense of revenge involved in organizing a band of more than 100 saxes, could there? A band with no trumpets, no flutes, no nothing but row upon row of gleaming saxophones, saxophones, saxophones!

There may be just a bit of competitive spirit involved, admitted Paul Kardos, who originated and leads the 148-reed “Saxophone Christmas,” which performs at Knott’s Berry Farm on Saturday.

While the sax ensemble began as a “just a kind of wild idea” that he and a student kicked around six years ago, it was also spurred by the existence of a “Tuba Christmas” held every year at Los Angeles’ Dorothy Chandler Pavilion.

“It seemed like a joke--the tuba is just so limited,” Kardos said, “while with saxophones you can cover the full range of orchestral sound. So we were just sitting around saying, ‘Wouldn’t it be neat to get 20 or 30 saxophones together?’ So we sent letters out to high schools and we ended up with 103 saxes that first year. We were just staggered, and since then it’s grown.”

Kardos, 43, is professor of music at San Bernardino Valley College, teaches saxophone at Cal State San Bernardino and also works as a clinician and solo artist, playing everything from swing to rock engagements.

In the past six years his massed saxes have made Yuletide appearances at Knott’s, Disneyland and the Queen Mary. Two years ago the aggregation grew to 240 players, with 215 of those turning up for that year’s Knott’s performance. (The park has since suggested that that’s a few more saxes than they can handle.)

Employing an instrumentation ranging from the rare bass sax to the diminutive sopranino sax, the group plays custom-made arrangements of traditional Christmas carols and pop themes such as “Jingle Bell Rock.”

The participating musicians are drawn from 28 high schools and 12 colleges along with a number of adult players. Some have come from Nevada and Utah.

Their motivation, Kardos said, is that “a lot of them love to play the saxophone and love to perform in public with it. And then to be in a unique, one-of-a-kind event like this is thrilling. We have a lot of people returning year after year, even people from six years ago are still coming back.”

As to his own motivation, Kardos said, “you’re talking to a crusader. I have been pushing saxophone all my life, ever since I have been playing it. It’s not from an inferiority complex (about the instrument), it’s just trying to get acceptance for it. It’s been around for a long time. This is the 151st year of the saxophone. It’s slowly, slowly gaining in orchestral literature, where they’re writing parts for saxophone. But I’m a working professional, and I’ve only worked with one professional symphony here in 13 years as a saxophone artist.”

Kardos isn’t sitting still while waiting for the classical world to come around: “I can’t talk about it now, but we may have something really big in the works for next year. It would be nationwide .”

The “Saxophone Christmas” will be held Saturday at 5 p.m. in Old West Ghost Town, Knott’s Berry Farm, 8039 Beach Blvd., Buena Park, as part of the fifth annual Ghost Town Christmas Crafts Festival. Admission: $2. Children under 12 are free. Information: (714) 220-5200.