A glitteringly inventive saxophonist and composer, Brooklyn’s own Loren Stillman spins sonic worlds of wonder. With impressionistic shades of traditional jazz punctuating his utterly modern playing and compositional sensibilities, his multiple recordings have garnered rave reviews from publications such as The New York Times, Cadence, Jazz Times, Jazziz Magazines and Downbeat. Stillman comes armed with [read more…]
This article is the first part of a series on challenging saxophone intervals. To see the other articles which comprise this series to date, please click here. While it’s great to improve our technique using scales, arpeggios, written etudes, and memorized patterns, it’s also important to get down to the nitty-gritty of what it is that’s tripping [read more…]
Here's a new alternative to the uninspiring tunes often found in the average beginning sax book. This collection of 25 tunes, each with backing and demonstration tracks plus a video tutorial, is the product one of my most significant discoveries in over two decades of working with beginning saxophonists. That is, beginners learn fundamentals much faster by playing the kind of music that attracted them to the horn in the first place.
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🎷 Sax Fundamentals Faster
This is a guest post from Bill Harrison, the man behind the innovative jazz play-along series of MP3s and sheet music, Play Jazz Now. Lately I’ve been thinking about some of the great jazz music that has been made without a chording instrument in the ensemble. Traditionally, the jazz rhythm section has included at least [read more…]
Taking on the tenor, alto & soprano saxophones, flute, alto flute & ethnic flutes as well as spoken word, Katisse Buckingham is one of Los Angeles’ most seasoned and versatile musicians. Not surprisingly to anyone who’s heard him play, Katisse’s musical resume includes associations with names such as The Yellowjackets, Prince, Dr. Dre, Airto & [read more…]
A few months ago I put out a post titled Viral Saxophone Videos You Can’t Afford to Miss. In a nutshell, the post was basically a roll-call of the funniest saxophone-related online videos I had found to date. One of the videos I featured was the promo for a series of videos entitled Extreme Sax [read more…]
Over the course of his storied career as a sideman, Adam Kolker has worked with the likes of The Village Vanguard Orchestra, the Maria Schneider Big Band, Bruce Barth, Judi Silvano, Kenny Wheeler’s Large Ensemble, Ben Sher, Bobby Previte, Gunther Schuller, and others. On the solo front, his latest album, Reflections has the Grammy-nominated sax [read more…]
1. The differences between the brands is not as big as you might think. One of the first things to consider when purchasing a saxophone reed is which brand to buy. Every saxophone player has their personal favorite, but in terms of sound quality, the differences between the brands are minimal. Personally, I started with Vandoren reeds and [read more…]
So, are you interested in learning how to play the saxophone? Perhaps you’ve been playing for a few years on your own and you’ve decided now is the time to take it to the next level. Or maybe your child is interested in the instrument, but needs more one on one time with an expert [read more…]
One listen to masterful altoist and Selmer Artist Rob Wilkerson’s deeply expressive, original, and enchanting album, “Nest” will make it abundantly clear that Rob is not just another beboppin’ alto man. Although his original work favors subtlety over flash and flair, when it comes time to burn, Wilkerson can cut heads with the best of [read more…]
I’m always on the lookout for exercises that develop tone, technique and articulation. While I use material that is familiar to saxophonists (e.g. The Universal Method, Oliver Nelson’s Patterns for Saxophone), I also draw from methods developed for other instruments. Having started as a classical flute player (until a Charlie Parker record changed my life), [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!
