Ah, those two infamous words “Woodwind Doubler”. As I’m sitting down to write this article, I realize how funny it is that requests for woodwind doublers are so common, yet requests for say, string doublers, are so rare. But, we’re not trying to reinvent the wheel here… A pit gig is a pit gig. Without [read more…]
Saxophone giant, Jerry Bergonzi is known not only as a highly-influential saxophonist, referred to by Michael Brecker as “the best tenor player in the world”, but also as one of the great saxophone and jazz educators of our time, currently teaching at the New England Conservatory of Music. Establishing himself early in his career with [read more…]
Flashy technique and altissimo are all fine and good, but a rich, powerful, and distinctive saxophone sound that truly grabs your listeners is the hallmark of any great player. Thing is, without the correct methods, you're likely to waste time, looking for the perfect setup and trying to make sense of vague and conflicting instruction from books, videos, and private teachers.
Luckily, sax legend David Liebman, one of the world's foremost experts on saxophone sound production, takes you on a step-by-step journey through the method used by legends such as Michael Brecker, Bob Berg, and other masters. Starting from your mental concept of sound, to the breath, to the throat and the oral cavity (lots of cool overtone exercises here!), to the embouchure, and then on to expressive effects and working on reeds - Dave covers everything you need to develop the sort of sound that turns heads - from the first note.
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Ready to go Deep Into the Art of Building a Massive Saxophone Sound?
Introduction I have been fortunate enough to speak with many great saxophonists over the years, and recently had the chance to sit down (virtually) and speak with Dayna Stephens. While many saxophonists focus on one or two members of the saxophone family, Dayna’s instrumental arsenal includes soprano, alto, tenor, and his favorite of all the [read more…]
This past March, on Bach’s 336th birthday, I put out a collection of jazz etudes called Bach Shapes: The Etudes. The book collects etudes from my Bach Shapes books, which isolate the beautiful melodic shapes of Bach’s music so you can apply them to tunes or technical practice. There are short analyses for each etude in the book but [read more…]
Introduction I remember when JodyJazz first came out with his HR* line of mouthpieces for alto and tenor and since then, Jody has expanded his product line to include 9 different models that are offered for soprano, alto, tenor, and baritone. In this article, I will be reviewing Jody’s newest addition to the JodyJazz lineup, [read more…]
So you’re a talented saxophone player who’s not quite making ends meet… No, this isn’t the beginning of a cheesy commercial, please hear me out. :) Today I’m going to share with you an alternative way to make a living as a saxophonist. As the post goes on I’ll show you the kind of money [read more…]
Introduction As we come out of the first year of a historic global pandemic, I am glad to say that many musicians have adjusted and come out with creative ways to release and promote their existing and new music, as well as simply survive. One such musician is renowned saxophonist, Tim Garland. I am very [read more…]
There seems to a be a common idea that improvising in odd time signatures is hard. When I come across a new time signature, I remind myself that it isn’t difficult – it’s unfamiliar. If you think 4/4 is easy, that’s likely because you’ve spent significantly more time playing songs in four, making it familiar [read more…]