A few weeks ago I saw a brief instructional video by monster sax player and educator, George Garzone. In the video, he takes on a plethora of topics, but one thing he said really stood out to me. George says that the first thing he does when a new student comes to him is have [read more…]
Now repeat the title of this article 27 times in a row at 300 bpm. But seriously ladies and gents, with this article I’d like to stress the importance of practicing your instruments at all different levels of volume, from pianissimo all the way up to fortissimo. From the Back to the Middle and Around Again [read more…]
Saxophonist, composer and author Walt Weiskopf has worked with legendary acts such as Buddy Rich, Frank Sinatra, Toshiko Akiyoshi, The Vanguard Jazz Orchestra, and Steely Dan to name just a few. As a solo artist, he’s recorded fourteen critically acclaimed albums bringing onboard heavyweights such as Brad Mehldau, John Patitucci, Billy Drummond, Joe Locke, and [read more…]
Dexter Gordon, Marcel Mule, David Sanborn – what do these legendary musicians all have in common? The answer, of course, is a big, beautiful, and distinctive tone. If you’re like me, for years and years, the only thing I ever heard about improving my sound was to practice long tones and support the air from [read more…]
Your weekly sampling of some of this past week’s saxophone-related news: Charles Lloyd continues his musical search Paquito D’Rivera: Jazz at the Heart Saxophone Summit with Joe Lovano, Dave Liebman and Ravi Coltrane Songs With Sexy Sax P. Mauriat Donates Saxophone to Panamanian Jazz Student The Moon Hotel Lounge Project: Former critic turns to music-makinge [Sorry(!), [read more…]
New York saxophonist Will Vinson is a force to be reckoned with. Hailing from London, Will made the move to New York in 1999 and hasn’t looked back since. The roster of jazz heavyweights that Will’s played with includes Gonzalo Rubalcaba, Kurt Rosenwinkle, Mark Turner, Chris Potter, Geoff Keezer, and many, many more. Not one [read more…]
Yes, yes, I know, I’ve been droning on and on about overtones lately. But I’ve really been having a good time practicing the exercises from part 3 of the Intro to Overtones series and isolating some of the muscles that haven’t really developed to the extent I’d like to develop them. One thing I discovered [read more…]
Your weekly sampling of some of this past week’s saxophone-related news: The David Liebman Trio – Lieb Plays the Blues a la Trane – Daybreak/ Challenge Records [Sorry(!), but this web page has disappeared since the original publication of this article] Know him or not, Dave Liebman is a Jazz Master [Sorry(!), but this web page has [read more…]
UPDATE: Adam is no longer 21, as you might imagine being that this article is a few years old, but it’s a nice snapshot in time of his development. Incidentally, since this article came out, I had the privilege of publishing Adam’s game-changing streaming video course focused 100% on sax technique, so head over to [read more…]
If you haven’t heard of Tim Willcox yet, then you’ll be hearing of this brilliant sax man soon enough. Based in Portland, Oregon, Tim has been honored with multiple awards. Besides being awarded in Downbeat magazine as a high school student, Tim was named a Presidential Scholar of the Arts, with the honor being bestowed [read more…]
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