Itâs true, he did use that saxophone at that Canadian show. He was âcontractually boundâ to use another manufacturerâs horn that he was sponsored by, but outside of the US he was free to use other horns. He used this in Canada and there are several recordings with it.
Ornette Coleman was also famous for using this horn. Itâs a very intriguing saxophone, and itâs interesting that the material that the horn is made of is really not essential for the sound.
Bonnie can belt it out
Not sure lonson, but anyway the mouth piece is much more essential. Ornette Coleman isnât famous for a certain great tone anyway nor is a somehow good tone essential part of his music or expression Iâd say 
Would have been interesting how Rollins or Webster or Hawkins sounded with that plastic horn
Well Iâll beg to differ about Ornetteâs sound and tone. Itâs distinctive and original and easily identifiable. That means a lot to many jazz listeners.
I was pretty fascinated by the Grafton horn at one point early in the century and did a lot of research and then read about horns and wind instruments made of different materials and it seems scientifically suggested that as long as size and volume and shape of tubing and horn body etc. are congruent it matters little if one has a plastic, bamboo, brass etc. material. Of course brass is far more enduring and damage resistant. I find that as much as one can tell from recordings that Bird and Ornette both sound pretty much the same no matter playing a Grafton or any other more conventional horn.
Yes easily identifiable he definitely isâŠI guess we just differ about the question if a nice tone is essential part of his expression then 
Regarding difference of material I just know that different brands sound very different with the same mouth piece. This might be a question of other construction criterias mainly then, not sureâŠbut the fact that horns also change in tone with age speaks at least for a certain influence of the material.
As it was interesting to me (playing sax myself) I made a short google search with different results. The first article, a Grafton review mentions quite strong sound differences by the material saying itâs not âunplayableâ within a group of other saxes and never meant for professional use.
The second one by a large UK dealer also mentions material depending sound differences, mainly in resonance characteristics (well a dealer you might say )
The third pulls pro and con arguments like the one with Parker having had the same sound on metal and plastic sax and assumes inbetween that sound differences have more to do with the material dependent production differences than with resonances of the material.
All this can be summarized as âdifferent opinions with some big players at least having an own style that overruled probably quite every other influenceâ
http://www.shwoodwind.co.uk/Reviews/Saxes/Alto/Grafton_alto.htm
https://tamingthesaxophone.com/saxophone-material
https://www.sax.co.uk/blog/beginners/does-it-make-a-difference-part-1-saxophone-material/
