Whiz Kid: Joe Sax, Saxophonist Extraordinaire

Name: Joe Sax

Grade: Senior

School: Brookline High

Accomplishments: At just 17, Joe Sax has already had an illustrious musical career, playing classical and jazz saxophone with at least five different ensembles each year he’s been at Brookline High. Mostly recently, he’s played with the New England Conservatory’s Massachusetts Youth Wind Ensemble and the nationally auditioned Longy School of Music Advanced Saxophone Quintet, and spent last summer performing at Tanglewood, the warm-weather home of the Boston Symphony Orchestra. He’s also passionate about international relations and helped found a model U.N. program at the Devotion School, his old elementary, along with several other high school volunteers. He’s already been accepted to Tufts University, where he plans to study international relations and, of course, music.

Key to awesomeness: First off, yes, Sax is his real last name. His mom, Carolyn Sax, says her son’s strangely appropriate surname may have had something with his choice of instrument, but she insists the saxophone is also a popular choice for budding musicians in the Brookline schools who make it through a few years of recorder and clarinet. Joe picked up the sax in fourth grade and never looked back, racking up an impressive resume of performance groups and starting several of his own, including a saxophone quartet at Brookline High. “There’s some performance almost every weekend,” says his mom. “What’s been really wonderful about it is it’s been totally his thing. We’ve never hand to ask him to practice because it’s his passion. He’s found it, he loves it.” Carolyn says her son has an unusual gift for hearing and remembering music as well. One of his favorite games, she says, is to turn on the classical jazz station on satellite radio in the car and see who can name the piece first. “He’s absolutely passionate about classical music, and he has an uncanny ability to remember and be able to recreate any piece of classical music he hears,” she says. “If he’s heard it and you ask it, he can whistle back pretty much anything.”

Joe Sax was nominated by Pamela Roberts, a member of the Brookline Moms Council. Know another Brookline teen or child who deserves recognition for doing something great. Email us with their name, age and a photo to nominate our next Whiz Kid.