Doesn't sound like he was that devoted to it: he bought it because it was cheap, and later moved to a white-lacquered Selmer that looked similar but played better.
Yeah, too late for me to retract the word "devotee" when "player" would have sufficed.
Rare how? Charlie Parker famously used it on Jazz at Massey Hall
That's two major jazz saxophonists. That's rare, in my book.