Baritonist Frank Basile gets around. And by that I mean shakin’ up the scene with the likes of The Vanguard Jazz Orchestra, The Dizzy Gillespie All Star Big Band, The Jimmy Heath Big Band, The Dave Holland Big Band, The Joe Lovano Nonet, Michael Bublé, The Christian McBride Big Band, Pablo Mayor’s Folklore Urbano, The [read more…]
A Labor of Love I remember being in sixth grade and asking my sax teacher the inevitable question: “Who’s the best saxophone player in the world?” Of course, there can never be a definitive answer to a question like that, but my teacher didn’t miss a beat when he replied, “Michael Brecker.” And he wasn’t [read more…]
Regardless of your horn, mouthpiece, or reed, the truth is, to the outside listener, you sound pretty much like...you. It's not that gear doesn't affect your sound at all, but your biggest and richest sound will only come by developing the skills within both your body and mind to sound great on any setup.
So if you're willing to move beyond having your day ruined by a lousy reed, then sax legend David Liebman's course, Ultimate Guide to Saxophone Sound Production is where you're going to want to go next.
Broken down into bite-sized lessons, this streaming video program covers just about every single aspect of saxophone sound production. It represents his entire life's work teaching the techniques and concepts that were handed down to masters such as Michael Brecker, Bob Berg, and Harvey Pittel (among many others), and then refined over the course of decades teaching countless lessons and masterclasses worldwide. Click below to see for yourself why so many professional saxophonists consider David's thorough, methodical, and practical approach the "real deal" for players at any level.
SAXOPHONETONE.COM
The Ultimate Guide to Saxophone Sound Production
This guest post is from saxophone and multi-reed player, composer, recording artist, and educator Sam Sadigursky of SamSadigursky.com If I could only go back, I think I would play the guitar. Not just to rip those pentatonic scales up and down and play around with effects while my long hair blows in the wind, but [read more…]
Grammy nominated performer, composer and producer Ben Wendel has enjoyed multiple domestic and international tours with such artists as Cuban drumming legend Ignacio Berroa, Thelonious Monk Piano Competition Winner Tigran Hamasyan and even Snoop Dogg. He’s also a founding member of the Grammy nominated group Kneebody. In addition to playing saxophone and bassoon, Ben also doubles [read more…]
After over 20 years of using the “El Cheapo” LaVoz/Rico Reedgard which retails for $4.49 for the tenor version, I decided it was time to store my reeds like a big boy. So I went out to my friendly local music store, Baxter Northup and picked up a shiny new Rico Multi-Instrument Reed Vitalizer Case which retails [read more…]
Touted by Phil Woods as “one of the greatest alto players ever,” it’s no coincidence that Jon Gordon has been steadily building his reputation as one of the baddest of the bad on his axe. And it’s hard to avoid virtuosity when you’re sharing the stage and studio with folks like Kenny Barron, Tony Bennett, Dave [read more…]
This past weekend I got to interview none other than the musical genius swiss army knife known as Bob Mintzer. I know, totally awesome and amazing, right? One thing he said during the interview really stuck out to me was this: To play in a contemporary way, you really must have the depth of having studied the players that [read more…]
How many accomplished professional animators can say that they’ve also played alto with some of jazz’s greatest musicians? That’s right, none – until now. Well, actually, Allen Mezquida has been doing his thing for quite a while. Besides being a masterful alto player, Allen has also animated for Disney, Warner Brothers, and Sony. Heck, he’s even [read more…]
From time to time, I like to feature a company that’s doing something particularly interesting for us saxfolk. In this interview with RS Berkeley founder Les Silver, we take an in-depth look at not only the company’s history and latest products, but also into the subject of working with, and carrying on the legacies of some of [read more…]
There’s a lot to be said for sitting up straight and walking tall. Indeed, there’s something about proper posture that exudes health and confidence. Hell, a good posture will even make you look thinner (not that any of us need to look thinner, of course, just sayin’). For us who play a wind instrument, the [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!
