Introduction The first time I heard Danny Janklow play was some years ago at one of Vandoren’s “Vandojam” concerts, which take place as part of the NAMM show in Anaheim, California each year. I was blown away by his level of skill given his age. I recently got to see Danny play at the Black [read more…]
Introduction Steve Kortyka and newcomer on the scene, Ryan Devlin are two heavy players navigating the scene today at different points in their musical careers. Between the two of them, they’ve recorded multiple albums – Ryan with Thoughts on the Matter and The Shape of Light, and Steve with Steps Forward, Wedding Song, and Looking [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
I’m going to go out on a limb and guess that unless you a super-advanced and possibly professional improvising musician, you sometimes struggle to come up with new stuff to play in your solos. Next, I’m going to go out a bit farther out on that limb and guess that many of you look to resources [read more…]
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…]
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 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…]
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!
