Biography From touring with Christian Scott to working on and producing his own music, Braxton Cook is not your average saxophone player. His high level of execution on the saxophone as well as business-savviness is something many young and experienced musicians should strive for. For those of you who are not already checking out Braxton, [read more…]
This article will deal with various aspects of playing the saxophone in jazz ensemble, concert band, rock bands, and show bands both as the only sax player and within a small horn section. I will discuss tuning, the responsibilities of each member of the section, suggestions for mouthpieces, reeds and ligatures. These are mostly my [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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Biography Melissa Aldana to put it simply is one of the premier young saxophonists who has been hitting the scene and really making a name for herself. For those of you who don’t already know or listen to Melissa (in which case I highly encourage you to do ASAP), here are some key details on [read more…]
As 2019 marked the 60th anniversary of John Coltrane’s initial recording of “Giant Steps” (March, 1959 for the Atlantic record label), it seems hard to believe that it was really that long ago. Along with an additional pair of originals, “Countdown” and “Fifth House”, also recorded that year, these three tunes employed a harmonic device [read more…]
As jazz saxophonists we are always contending with the challenge of “originality.” Like most saxophone students, I started out practicing from method books and transcribed solos, but eventually realized that I was not going to stand out as a player, or feel creatively fulfilled, if I only practiced what everyone else was practicing. I had [read more…]
Introduction For those of you who do not know Baptiste Herbin (especially if you’re an alto player), you’re in for a treat. I have been following Baptiste’s playing for quite some time and have been amazed by his extraordinary command of all aspects of playing, from sound, to technique, to harmony, and rhythm. As [read more…]
Photo By “Lindsey Victoria Photography” Introduction I remember seeing and hearing Don Braden play at my first Jamey Aebersold Summer Jazz Camp. Since then, I have followed Don as a player as well as teacher and this past [read more…]
Introduction I recently had the chance to speak with San Francisco Bay Area sax pro, Tim Lin, and he was nice enough to share some examples of melodic shapes, which I believe could benefit any player, whether they are beginning or advanced. My hope is that the exercises included in this article will be a [read more…]