When it comes to practicing written music, it’s easy for us saxophonists to stick to repertoire that was artfully composed to sound good on the sax. And although that saxophone repertoire can be extremely challenging, if you really want to take things to the next level, try practicing music that was written without giving even [read more…]
Introduction I have received emails from various sax players asking me about the Viking line of saxophones and how they play. When I checked out the Viking saxophones website, the various models were based on the Balanced Action, Super Balanced Action, Mark VI, and most recently the King Super 20 Silversonic. Rich Maraday, owner of [read more…]
OK, I admit it, I’m not perfect. Yes, I know that it comes as a major shock to those of you who have come to know me through this utterly flawless website, but lo and behold…I kinda messed up. A Rude Awakening A few months back, I put out an article titled 8 Tips for [read more…]
My 7-Minute Jazz Micro-Documentary with Mintzer, Liebman, and Sheppard I’m PUMPED! I’ve got a very exciting announcement I want to share with you guys. It’s a bit of self-promotion, but I’m also going to be giving away some cool free stuff for you guys, so this is a good thing. :) Those of you who [read more…]
Bobby Stern Bio Bobby Stern got his professional start in music playing at various US military clubs, and then went on to tour Spain with the Thad Jones Septet. After attending the Berklee College of Music, Bobby played with a wide variety of groups in addition to playing with guitarist Joe Perry of Aerosmith. Bobby [read more…]
10,000 Hours to Mastery….Really? I’d like to begin by stating that I disagree with a couple of famous old sayings. The first one, “It takes 10,000 hours to master a skill,” in my opinion, is incorrect because I feel that it takes a lifetime of continued learning if you are in serious pursuit of mastery [read more…]
After demoing the Eastman 52nd Street tenor saxophone at the 2013 NAMM show, I knew I had to take a second look at this horn to see how it compared some of the other tenor saxophones I tried out at the NAMM show, along with my Mark VI. Ralph Torres, saxophone product specialist at Andreas [read more…]
Introduction I had never heard of the Lupifaro line of saxophones until I attended the 2013 NAMM show and ran into a gentleman by the name of Tatsuro Miyatake. Tatsuro gave me a sample pack of Lupifaro Classic strength 3 tenor reeds to test out. Once I returned home from the NAMM show, I tested [read more…]
Official Bio Chad grew up in Horseheads, a small town in up state New York. His father was a music teacher whose love for jazz naturally flowed into the heart of his young son. With his father as a mentor, Chad had his first saxophone lesson when he was nine years old and so began [read more…]
Since playing in concert band and jazz band throughout middle school, high school, and college, I have always seen many musicians using Rovner ligatures on both saxophone and clarinet. In one of my first reviews, I reviewed a group of ligatures which included the Rovner Eddie Daniels Edition ligature (which I currently use on alto). [read more…]
Tips and Techniques from the pros PLUS free access to the Sax Lessons with the Stars archive - 10 years worth of interviews and exercises featuring the likes of David Liebman, Bob Mintzer, Ben Wendel, Bob Reynolds, and many more!
