Many thanks to Loren Schoenberg for posting the following star-studded advertisement for Conn saxophones from the November 1936 issue of DownBeat magazine and further gratitude to my friend Michael Steinman for sharing it with me.
This writer tries not to nerd out on nostalgia too often, but look at that shot of Larry Binyon!
Compared with smiling Benny Carter, modest Adrian Rollini or downright beaming Eddie Miller, Binyon looks more like a man at work than a cat at a gig, and nothing like an artist probing the depths of their soul.
That look could be an autobiography: his career was a nonstop job, playing for the likes of Benny Goodman, Red Nichols, Ben Pollack and Fats Waller as well as many studio groups and pickup bands. He was a multi-instrumentalist, sideman with the stars and studio warhorse who kept some impressive company back in the day, enough to earn him a place alongside the legends-in-the-making shown here. Conn wasn’t just trying to pad their copy with endorsements; Binyon was simply that well-respected (even if he never seems to have improvised a full chorus on record).
You can read more about Larry Binyon’s career here. While you’re at it, and on the subject of studio players, check out the above-pictured Hank Ross with one of the many recording bands lucky enough to have him on board:
Just another day at work for these guys…
The Pop of Yestercentury 
What a wonderful relic of fleeting fame. A couple others who made that list — Ross and Johnson totally, and Rus[s]in and Williams to large extent — were likewise not to stand the test of time among those writing Official History.
It’s also intriguing to see that the selections apparently were those of a French author known for mercurial hyperbole. I doubt that Larry Binyon made the cut in subsequent Panassie works. Does “Hot Jazz” say that Eddie Miller played bass clarinet?
I’ll confess I am very curious about which, if any, recordings have Eddie Miller playing the bass clarinet!