Editor’s Note: Below is a powerful exercise shared by renowned sax professional Kenny Brooks. Thanks to the great saxophonist, David Valdez for putting us in touch with Kenny to get Kenny’s permission to include it here on the site. As a means of using amazing improvisational material to improve my ability to move around the horn swiftly [read more…]
Introduction With the influx of more saxophone brands entering the market, it has gotten more difficult for the consumer to figure out which brand and model is worth checking out. Due to the rising prices for saxophones across some of the most popular brands today: Yamaha, Selmer, Keilwerth, and Yanagisawa, other brands have entered the [read more…]
(Left: Tim Price, Middle: Roberto Romeo, Right: Joe Lovano) Introduction Since reviewing the Sax Dakota Straight tenor and alto saxophones (Sax Dakota Straights) about a year ago, I recently read a press release that Joe Lovano, after 10 years of playing his L.A. Sax straight tenor and alto met up with Peter LaPlaca (Owner of [read more…]
Introduction With the demand increasing for vintage mouthpieces, ligatures, saxophones, neck’s, and other accessories, many manufacturers have decided to make a copy or produce their own version of these highly sought after pieces of equipment. Most recently, I had the chance to try two ligatures: One, is offered by Echobrass and is a re-creation of [read more…]
If you’re like me, you’re always looking for ways to vary your practice routine, improve sense of rhythm and expand your language as an improviser. Here are a few exercises that incorporate groups of five notes (quintuplets) into some very simple triadic exercises that you can practice over the entire range of the saxophone. Some [read more…]
Introduction Légère Reeds LTD, has become one of the most popular synthetic reeds on the market today. More and more saxophonists have made the switch to Légère due to the many common problems and inconsistencies they have faced while dealing with traditional cane reeds. I have tried various Forestone, Bravo, FiberReed and a few other [read more…]
I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard educators and musicians refer to learning about jazz improvisation as “learning the jazz language.” Believe it or not, the more I learn about jazz improvisation, the more I agree that this analogy is spot on. The biggest issue that many folks run into, however, is turning [read more…]
Introduction JodyJazz has continued to expand upon it’s line of saxophone mouthpieces over the years and most recently has introduced a new model called the SUPER JET. Today, I will be discussing the SUPER JET as well as the new JodyJazz POWER RING ligature. I will be reviewing the SUPER JET alto metal mouthpiece based [read more…]
Introduction Morgan mouthpieces have been around for over 30+ years and have been quite sough after as a viable alternative to the highly desirable and expensive vintage Meyer and Otto Link hard rubber mouthpieces. I have heard great things about the Morgan line of mouthpieces from many saxophone students, professionals, and teachers who say they [read more…]
The music of Johann Sebastian Bach has long been admired by jazz musicians. John Lewis, Jacques Loussier, Ethan Iverson and many more have all interpreted his music in some way. This may be because there is so much structure and logic that can be applied to the way we improvise. Many know that the baroque [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!
