Introduction Besides being one of the nicest people you will ever meet, Joel has a real passion for music and it clearly shows in his playing. I had the opportunity to meet Joel probably 8 or 9 years ago when he was based in Brooklyn to chat about music as well as gear. Joel had [read more…]
Introduction While attending TCNJ (The College of New Jersey), a music major named John Ketts told me that if I wanted to really get my jazz chops together, then I should study with one of his friends who just graduated from William Paterson University named Dave Pollack. I had never heard of Dave before, but [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
I this article, I’d like to share some specifics on two regular fixtures from my practice routine – warm ups and creating lines. Warm Ups #1: Body Wake Up I first try to ‘wake up’ my body with this exercise. I put almost-exaggerated air and body support on the notes marked with articulation, which makes [read more…]
Introduction As a fan of the SNAP Saxophone Quartet, thus far, I have been fortunate enough to speak with three members of the group (Sam Dillon, Andrew Gould, and Nick Biello). In this interview, I complete the circle by speaking with Paul Jones, the remaining member of the quartet who, up until now, I hadn’t [read more…]
To keep it interesting for myself, one of the things I did while writing The Jazz Saxophone Book, was to create what I called “Short Asides.” When something I was writing about sparked an idea that deserved a bit of a detour, I’d go ahead and write about it, and the Short Aside format helped [read more…]
Introduction I have always been a big fan of the WDR Big Band and recently was checking out the WDR Big Band playing Chick Corea’s tune Matrix featuring saxophonist Jon Beshay (see video below). After listening to the band (always great) and hearing Jon play this amazing solo, I knew I had to get in [read more…]
Introduction Since reviewing saxophone gear for quite some time, I have had the opportunity to play test quite a few vintage Meyers, Links, Dukoff’s, Brilhart’s, Guardala’s as well as the “new” vintage copies or close replicas of these sought after mouthpieces. Now, for many of us the idea of spending between $500-$2,000+ on a vintage [read more…]
Introduction I recently took a trip down to San Diego to visit family and was able to meet up with Chris G (IG: @chrisgsax) who has created some great content under his YouTube Channel Positively Progressing. During our hang, Chris shared with me one of his fairly recent II-V- Tuesday videos and this one was [read more…]
My experience with recording various woodwinds at home during the pandemic was full of trial and error. Check out these 6 tips and tricks I learned to help your woodwind recordings sound more professional! 1. Have a Couple of ‘Perfect’ Reeds As always, make sure you have a few reeds that are perfectly worn-in, like [read more…]
Learning to play an instrument is the dream for many students. Music connects people from across the world in ways that modern machinations, like the internet, simply cannot. But music lessons and affording an instrument can be stressful for the families of budding musical talent. This is true for all instruments, including students who wish [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!
