It just seems to me that the nature of music is to be all over the place these days. I think that when it comes to the larger commercial money making ensembles, no one is safe these days. It used to be just the reed players. You were expected to double. "Man, bring your alto, tenor, bari, sop, flute, pic, alto flute, clarinet, bass clarinet, bassoon, and oboe, and everything should be cool." And for all that, you got $10 extra per show! But today, seems like everybody doubles. I have a drummer friend who used to work the broadway pits and he was complaining about the plight of today's pit drummer. According to him, drummers are expected to be able to program electronic drum equipment and deal with that plus play the conventional drum kit.
Musicians are over a barrel these days. There is a fight on in the Broadway pit scene to eventually replace the live musicians with tapes. The companies have been sucessful in reducing the number of musicians required to be in the pit for the shows. So today, it's easy to make more demands on the musicians who are fortunate to be working regularly.
As for as the low G saxophone is concerned, I feel that right now, ignorance is bliss. The minute someone runs down to SA and brings back a low G horn and plays it in the presence of a big time arranger, orchestrator, or contractor, then our geese will be cooked. They'll be writing low G's into everything and you'll be required to bring a low G horn to the gig. Of course you'll be compensated for the extra expense and cartage. You'll get an extra $2.50 per show!
Julian