Name of the instrument in this song

[tmp1388]

What is the name of the instrument heard at 1:08 in this video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?vLljZcD07URI

Sade - Is It A Crime

[saxy_jag]

Well, leading up to that you're hearing an alto saxophone playing solo over a brass/horn section. Then you hear a brass section. Then a moment's silence and when the singer begins she's accompanied by a keyboard. That could either be a modern synthesiser type keyboard or a more 'traditional' jazz organ.

[saxy_jag]

I tell a lie. I think that sax is a tenor saxophone, and since the sax player you see earlier in the clip is playing tenor, that would be more likely.

[tmp1388]

Ok, I'll try to be more specific. There is a short period of silence between 1:09 and 1:10 (before she starts singing). There is an instrument heard in that short period. I don't know what it is. I've heard it in some other occasions but this is the only song i remember to put as an example.
It makes a sound like 'mmm' or something. Is it some sort of percussion or what?

[saxy_jag]

OK - I'm only listening on a laptop here but, sticking the headphones on, I can just about hear it. Very brief, isn't it? Difficult to pin down to a particular instrument and I rather suspect it could be some sort of synthesiser.

[tmp1388]

Well, i've heard the exact same sound in some other songs and i thought it was some acoustic instrument but I can't recall any other specific song than this. I'll try to remember some other examples.

[Narolines]

Well, three possibilities strike me:
1. It's a synthesised sound, or
2. It's a bass flute (sometimes known as a "gloom tube") faded in so that the initial attack breath sound is lost, or
3. It's pre-echo on the bass that comes in on top of it.

Whichever, it is, as saxy_jag says, very brief and mixed fairly well down.