This guest post is from saxophone and multi-reed player, composer, recording artist, and educator Sam Sadigursky of SamSadigursky.com If I could only go back, I think I would play the guitar. Not just to rip those pentatonic scales up and down and play around with effects while my long hair blows in the wind, but [read more…]
Grammy nominated performer, composer and producer Ben Wendel has enjoyed multiple domestic and international tours with such artists as Cuban drumming legend Ignacio Berroa, Thelonious Monk Piano Competition Winner Tigran Hamasyan and even Snoop Dogg. He’s also a founding member of the Grammy nominated group Kneebody. In addition to playing saxophone and bassoon, Ben also doubles [read more…]
After over 20 years of using the “El Cheapo” LaVoz/Rico Reedgard which retails for $4.49 for the tenor version, I decided it was time to store my reeds like a big boy. So I went out to my friendly local music store, Baxter Northup and picked up a shiny new Rico Multi-Instrument Reed Vitalizer Case which retails [read more…]
Touted by Phil Woods as “one of the greatest alto players ever,” it’s no coincidence that Jon Gordon has been steadily building his reputation as one of the baddest of the bad on his axe. And it’s hard to avoid virtuosity when you’re sharing the stage and studio with folks like Kenny Barron, Tony Bennett, Dave [read more…]
This past weekend I got to interview none other than the musical genius swiss army knife known as Bob Mintzer. I know, totally awesome and amazing, right? One thing he said during the interview really stuck out to me was this: To play in a contemporary way, you really must have the depth of having studied the players that [read more…]
How many accomplished professional animators can say that they’ve also played alto with some of jazz’s greatest musicians? That’s right, none – until now. Well, actually, Allen Mezquida has been doing his thing for quite a while. Besides being a masterful alto player, Allen has also animated for Disney, Warner Brothers, and Sony. Heck, he’s even [read more…]
From time to time, I like to feature a company that’s doing something particularly interesting for us saxfolk. In this interview with RS Berkeley founder Les Silver, we take an in-depth look at not only the company’s history and latest products, but also into the subject of working with, and carrying on the legacies of some of [read more…]
There’s a lot to be said for sitting up straight and walking tall. Indeed, there’s something about proper posture that exudes health and confidence. Hell, a good posture will even make you look thinner (not that any of us need to look thinner, of course, just sayin’). For us who play a wind instrument, the [read more…]
Blazin’ saxman Steve Neff recently hipped me to a very cool YouTube video in which a very interesting concept was introduced to me. In the video, it was suggested that you could improve the quality of your tone by pushing in your mouthpiece to the point where your horn is a quarter-step sharp and then [read more…]
This guest post is from saxophone and multi-reed player, composer, recording artist, and educator Sam Sadigursky of SamSadigursky.com It’s a mystery to most people how a musician cobbles together a living, or perhaps just some semblance of one. Often, after telling somebody that you’re a musician, their gut reaction is to reply, “Cool. Is that what you [read more…]
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