Blazin’ saxman Steve Neff recently hipped me to a very cool YouTube video in which a very interesting concept was introduced to me. In the video, it was suggested that you could improve the quality of your tone by pushing in your mouthpiece to the point where your horn is a quarter-step sharp and then [read more…]
This guest post is from saxophone and multi-reed player, composer, recording artist, and educator Sam Sadigursky of SamSadigursky.com It’s a mystery to most people how a musician cobbles together a living, or perhaps just some semblance of one. Often, after telling somebody that you’re a musician, their gut reaction is to reply, “Cool. Is that what you [read more…]
The new JodyJazz DV HR Tenor uses the patented DV secondary window to add mid and low harmonics, resulting in a more authoritative tone than normal tenor sax mouthpieces provide. And the long straight somewhat high baffle gives the mouthpiece it’s fantastic projection and cutting power along with excellent altissimo.
JODYJAZZ.COM
The New DV HR Tenor from JodyJazz
If your aim is to underscore the sound of a cool cat puttin’ on the moves circa 1958, you’re probably going to want to learn to flutter tongue. For those of you who have no idea what I’m talking about, flutter tonguing is basically a sound effect, or dare I say, gimmick used by saxophone [read more…]
I won’t waste all of your time trying to introduce Sonny Rollins to you, since you already more than familiar with the music and the man. And if you aren’t…wow… But seriously, it’s no secret that Sonny’s name belongs in the same sentence with John Coltrane, Lester Young, Coleman Hawkins, and any one of the [read more…]
This week’s podcast is a very special event here at Best. Saxophone. Website. Ever. as we interview saxophone giant David Liebman. A Brief History Having been featured on nearly three hundred and fifty recordings as both a leader and a sideman, living saxophone legend David Liebman is one of the most influential voices on his [read more…]
UPDATE: Since writing this article, my views on the topic of an “open throat” have actually changed quite drastically. So forget about this silly article and hop over here to get the real skinny on this super-important concept. With any wind instrument, the rule is more air you have access to, the more “fuel” you [read more…]
For those of you who haven’t listened to the site’s complete library of podcasts (shame on you!), there is one tip from the Jon Irabagon podcast that really stood out to me. For those of you unfamiliar with Jon’s playing (again, shame on you!), I’ll assure you it’s obvious that the man can play in [read more…]
For any of us who find ourselves frequenting YouTube, Twitter, Facebook or really any social media site, it’s been hard to escape that buzz that surrounds the latest viral video to hit the worldwide. However, for saxfolk such as ourselves, the video I’m talking about was not just any old video, but no less than [read more…]
When it comes to art, unbridled passion is a good thing. Well, maybe not too unbridled – since none of us want to end up in a drunken bar brawl to release agression brought on by a missed chord change. What I’m talking about here is the good kind of unbridled passion. The kind of [read more…]
It’s really quite simple. In the words of legendary saxophone teacher Joe Allard: “To blow is to breathe, there is no difference.” How often we overcomplicate things. We should never twist, contort, and strain ourselves while playing. We (hopefully) don’t struggle and strain when we speak, so why all the painful effort while playing our [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!
