How can you improve the essential elements of your improvisation? Follow the advice in Sy Oliver & Trummy Young’s song: “It Ain’t What You Do (It’s the Way That You Do It).” Great soloists play interestingly and confidently. As listeners, we perceive that as charisma. In jazz education, there’s a lot of focus on what [read more…]
Lately I’ve been asked by other saxophonists how I am able to play notes below the normal range of the saxophone, which, as just about anyone reading this would know, is the low Bb, below the staff – especially since there don’t seem to be any keys on the instrument which would appear able to [read more…]
The saxophone can be a very rewarding instrument to learn how to play. You’ll be able to use it in dozens of genres from jazz and blues to pop and rock. However, picking your first saxophone can be very intimidating. You want to make sure that you get something that will be able to last [read more…]
Introduction As many people know, becoming a full-time musician, is no easy feat (with or without a global pandemic). It has become increasingly difficult for even somewhat-established artists to maintain a steady stream of income due to fewer jazz clubs and heightened competition from other musicians vying for a smaller pool of gigs. Although jazz [read more…]
Photo by Norm Johnstone Introduction I remember first meeting Anibal at Rafael Navarro’s booth at the NAMM 2014 Show but had been checking out Anibal’s playing for quite some time beforehand. If you have not checked out his Altissimo Fingerings & Body & Soul video as well as his SAXREX Session Videos (Learning Jazz Standards [read more…]
We have two lives: the one we learn with and the one we live after that. — Bernard Malamud Part 1 A few years ago I walked into a saxophone shop and asked the owner if he had heard a certain recording by legendary avant garde composer and saxophonist John Zorn. I was making musical [read more…]