For jazz saxophonists, transcriptions play a vital role in our musical development. Many of us have bought transcriptions books featuring solos by various players such as Charlie Parker, Cannonball Adderley, Bob Mintzer, Hank Mobley, John Coltrane, and Sonny Rollins to name just a few. Since transcribing is one of the best ways to improve one’s playing, [read more…]
The days where saxophone lessons could only be done in person or through whatever books we could procure have come to an end. While there’s really no substitute for in-person lessons, there are many great resources out there for those looking to learn the saxophone for the first time, or those who want to break [read more…]
Recording artist and master class clinician, Adam Larson shares his proven system for building technique in a way that not only uncovers and removes your technical "blind spots", but also opens you up to a whole new world of jazz improv vocabulary. Even if you don't have a ton of time to practice each week, if you're ready to move out of your comfort zone in a fun and inspiring way, then click the picture below and check the program out for yourself!
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Lightning-Fast and Crystal-Clean Saxophone Technique
Any sax player who plays the saxophone (yes, I meant to say that) is well familiar with the brilliance that is the legacy of the great, late Joe Henderson. I figured I’d leave the bio to Wikipedia and instead offer you some virtual sax lessons from the master himself. Years ago Joe gave a performance [read more…]
This guest post is from Sam Sadigursky of SamSadigursky.com Here’s a list of my favorite records that feature multiple saxophonists locking horn-to-horn. By my definition, a blowing session tends to be a minimally written affair, usually featuring the horn players playing over standards and generally minimally rehearsed. As far as I know, most of these [read more…]
Although folks like Joe Henderson feel that the best way to learn the language of jazz is to learn a solo by ear and memorize it, there’s definitely a place for reading transcribed solos, and possibly committing them to memory off the manuscript. Some of us might be as ambitious enough to transpose transcribed solos into [read more…]
UPDATE: This article is from 2011, so apologies in advance for any ridiculously outdated information. That said, most of the information here is quite general and should apply to playing gigs with DJs. Also, please feel free to leave a comment or reach out via the contact page if there are any broken (ancient) video links. [read more…]
As a sax player coming up, it was strongly engrained in my subconscious that no woodwind doubling equals no music career. I remember going to my strict but highly effective sax teacher Vince Trombetta (who also taught this other sax player named Michael Baker – or Brecker or something like that) and the accompanying displeasure of [read more…]
Those of us familiar with Mike DiRubbo’s fiery brand of no-nonsense improvised flights of fancy can attest to the fact that he’s a major player in the jazz saxophone game. With shades of Kenny Garret, Jackie McLean, and John Coltrane, DiRubbo’s alto speaks in a distinctly powerful voice that’s at the same time modern and timeless. [read more…]
In the hands of New York City’s Patrick Cornelius, the saxophone is mere putty. His latest solo outing titled Maybe Steps features Cornelius soaring through a melodic collection of original tunes as well as a couple of standards accompanied by an intense, yet subtle backdrop supplied by his top-notch rhythm section. Starting off on the [read more…]
When putting these interview articles together, sometimes I get an artist whose accomplishments are so impressive and numerous that it makes putting everything into a few paragraphs, well, kind of a pain in the tush. That said, thanks a lot Grace Kelly. I’ll go ahead and list just a few of the bullet points here: [read more…]