Lisa's Saxophone Solo List

2. Who performs Lisa's solos and other sax music?
According to Alf Clausen, since episode 7F04 (Alf's first episode, though one with no solo), this has been Terry Harrington. (He is also mentioned here and there on The Simpsons Archive, e.g. in the LISA.) Some modern episodes actually give Terry credit for in-episode sax performances. However, on July 20, 2022, the legendary musician died just shy of his 84th birthday, and the July 31 third Fox airing of episode UABF09 featured a standard dedication to him with a Simpsons-style caricature of Terry and a saxophone.
Before Terry Harrington's tenure, under Richard Gibbs, this was apparently Kim Richmond. Bonus tip: Bleeding Gums Murphy's sax was played by Dan Higgins starting in season 2.

3. Who wrote the solos? Are there any official names for them?
Again according to Alf Clausen, though he composes (composed) the in-episode pieces, the main title solos are (were) improvised by Terry Harrington to give Lisa's performance a more spontaneous feel. I don't know who performs the non-sax ones. There are no official English names for the solos, so you'll have to make do with the catchy ones we came up with.

4. These descriptions are worthless! Can I download them or get the music?
We're certainly not going to be hosting mp3s of the solos, sorry. If you have the first three seasons on DVD, you also have #1-13; #14-21 are on the season 10 and 11 DVDs; and #22-36 are scattered throughout seasons 16, 19, and 20 (#23 may be better on season 18), which is as far as DVD releases have gotten. I'm behind on US syndication comparisons, but most recent episodes seem to retain their openings, so #37 and up are probably intact on your local station. Of course, with almost every episode in rotation on FXX and streaming platforms, and the online-clip-friendly world we're now in, you have other options too.
Once upon a time, MIDI versions were in progress and may eventually surface; note-by-note transcriptions of many solos, apparently done by Alan J. Rosenthal (flaps@dgp.toronto.edu), can be seen in some of the episode capsules. If you have transcriptions to share, please volunteer your expertise and send them to me. You will be credited.

5. How has the balance of episodes with solos in the opening shifted over the years?
I'm glad you asked! (What do you mean this Q isn't AF?) I was curious for a simple visual representation of this, though. In fact, I made a graph! (I make a lot of graphs. In fact, there's a second one there now!)

6. Are you sure solos 2, 3, and 5 are different? Why are there at least five versions of the main theme?
They're definitely different, and the answer to the second question helps explain why. The key is in the openings. You should already be aware that season 1's opening was reanimated quite a bit for seasons 2+, but the music changed as well. In fact, the music changed again in season 3. Not only that, but the different opening lengths (at the time, full, condensed, and short) each use different recordings, with a basic main theme solo where applicable. (The cut-and-condensed opening, introduced in season 5, has its own signature sound as well.) That makes 8 variations; listen carefully and maybe you'll spot the differences. I imagine that the differences between lengths are due to the recording processes of the time; it became easier to tweak openings in later years.
Anyway, each main theme solo corresponds exactly* to one type of opening. #1 is season 1, #2 and #3 are season 2's full and condensed, and none of them were used again. Season 3 found the addition of 8 non-theme solos, but all its full-length openings with a main theme solo use #8 (and #8 is only found in full-length intros through the SD era). Lonely #5 is only in three episodes, but two are condensed openings in season 3, and the third is 2F13 for some reason, which is also condensed. It's so easy! (*Actually, of the two season-2 holdovers, 7F23's solo follows season 2's full opening, and 7F24 uses season 3's condensed. The rest of the music matches those alignments, even though 7F24 aired first, so I guess 7F23 was still treated as part of season 2. Go figure. It's so complicated!)
In fact, through season 9, even non-theme solos tended to stay with one type of opening or the other. Through #13, I've marked their alignments, and they hold up to the 5Fs (conveniently, the end of 4-character codes), with the sole exceptions of 1F07 and 5F13. Their debuts were orderly, too, shortened premieres aside: in season 3, when the first 8 non-theme variations were rolled out, a streak of condensed openings began with the theme and then 4 variations in a row, followed shortly by the same pattern in full openings, all in the span of 15 episodes. See also footnote ^[1].

7. What about the solo for the movie?
The solo for the movie is not in the movie, so do shut up. It's only on the soundtrack CD, and I'm not putting it in the list. (I don't even know if Terry Harrington played it.) If you must include it, it starts off sounding like "Jingle Bells" before going all over the place, and the CD was released in the US on 7/24/07, so you can stick it between #24 and #25.

When she plays a different instrument, that is shown instead (and often, but not always, on her bike in the driveway scene later on); that instrument, like the sax, is often simplified and may not match the exact version heard (e.g., we see a tuba but might really hear a sousaphone).

In later seasons, entire new opening sequences are reanimated for one-off or holiday themes, and in two early examples we just don't see Lisa at all.