Steve Neff Music Blog » Live Recordings

Let’s Get It On Lamberson 7DD Tenor Mouthpiece

steve — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 03:11:29 +0000

Here’s a video clip that has been on my site since it started years ago. I made this video back in 2006 when I was part of a great Boston function band “Soho”. This is a cover of “Let’s Get It On” by Marvin Gaye. I take a small solo towards the end of the video (until that pint I’m doing my best to try to look cool……….).

I’m using a white Lamberson 7DD tenor mouthpiece on this clip. This is a great example of how recording in a studio can change the sound of your sax. I had just gotten the Lamberson a few weeks before this recording and wasn’t sure how it would perform in the studio. I had a fear that it would be too bright sounding. I was very pleased with how it came out. I don’t think it is bright at all but nice and fat sounding. It actually sounds rather dark to my ears which really surprised me!

This solo was done on the first take. It was one of those deals where the guy in charge said “Steve, why don’t you doodle a bit on the end”. We recorded it once and when it finished I was about to say “Ok, can we do that again?” . Before I could, I heard “That was perfect……Let’s move on”. The perfectionist part of me thought I could do it better but it is what it is. I hope you like it. You can check out some more clips of the Lamberson 7DD elsewhere on this blog if you do a search for it in the top right corner of the site. Thanks, Steve

“Live” Approach Note Patterns on R&B

steve — Sat, 30 Oct 2010 04:04:19 +0000

Back about 10 years ago, I decided to work on my approach note patterns. I had been taught a few of these patterns in lessons with Jerry Bergonzi and wanted to really get them down. As I started to really work on the approaches in every key I found myself finding others to add to my list. I also discovered some great ways to link all these approaches together.

This is a clip I found the other day on my hard drive where I am playing a sax solo on “This Love” by Maroon 5. This isn’t normally a clip I would post but for some reason that day I was into using a bunch of approaches on that solo. These lines sound killer on R&B when you want to morph into some fast runs during your solo. On this clip I’m using my Lamberson J7 tenor mouthpiece.

In the Approach Note Velocity books I outline all the approaches and the different combinations that I practiced them in. Besides that, I have included them in all 12 keys for your benefit.

Approach Note Velocity-Major-PDF

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Approach Note Velocity-Minor-PDF

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Approach Note Velocity (Printed)

If you wish to purchase the book you can get them here in either print form or downloadable.

Live Guardala Laser Trimmed Michael Brecker II Saxophone Mouthpiece

steve — Tue, 04 May 2010 04:08:09 +0000

Here’s another live clip I dug out of my computer. This is a more mellow clip of a solo on the tune “Come Away With Me” by Norah Jones. To be honest, I’m one for staying in the mood of the tune when I solo. I can’t stand it when I hear a slow ballad like tune and then the sax player takes a solo and goes nuts. They play all these fast licks and go into the altissimo and it seems like they aren’t even listening to the tune. Here I’m just trying to play a simple melody based solo. Nothing fancy, just simple yet melodic but still with a little bit of soul and feeling to it.

I’m playing on the Guardala laser trimmed Michael Brecker II tenor mouthpiece from WWBW (Woodwind and Brasswind). I have to say that this was my favorite Guardala that I played back then. I owned a couple of handmade studios but I liked the laser trimmed Michael Brecker II much more. It had that same power and punch to it but a fatter and thicker sound than the studio models I had played before this. It still seemed a little thin up top to me but nothing a little reverb in the mix wouldn’t cure…………….Let me know what you think. Steve

Live Clip of a Yamaha WX-5 Harmonica Solo

steve — Fri, 30 Apr 2010 14:48:41 +0000

I didn’t think I would ever do this but…………about once a month I get an email from someone asking if I can put up some sound clips and lessons on the Yamaha WX-5 wind controller. A Yamaha WX-5 is what is known as a wind controller. You blow air into and finger it just like a saxophone. The air and finger movement trigger sensors in the electronics of the instrument and then signals are sent to a sound module to trigger specific sounds. You can trigger any sound that a synthesizer can make. There are no limits to the number of sounds you can make with this instrument. The cool advantage this has over a synthesizer is that you can shape the dynamics and other characteristics of the sound with your airstream. You can’t do that with a keyboard. These are really cool instruments that a saxophone player can use to be even more useful in todays music as the saxophone isn’t as common as it was 20-30 years ago.

Here’s a sound clip of me using it on a gig. Typically when I the WX-5 I would play mostly harmonica, muted trumpet,jazz flute and various string sounds. Once in awhile i would get bored and do some bari sax funk lines on it (I know, I know it’s sacrilege). Sometimes, I would even play some distorted guitar that would totally upset the guitar player.(I still smile about that) Here I am playing a solo on “Have I Told You Lately” using a harmonica sound. Now I will admit to you here and now, I almost never practiced the WX-5. To me it played just like a saxophone so I would just bring it to the gigs and pick it up and play it like my sax. I even set it up so it was in the same key as my tenor saxophone. I had to keep things pretty simple because of this and I could have really improved stylistically with bending and shaping notes by practicing on it more but I was always too focused on the saxophone to give it much time. In this clip I’m using a Roland XV-5080 with the Patchman sounds added as a sound module.

The biggest benefit for me to using a wind controller is the string lines. There are string lines all over todays pop music and many times the keyboard player can’t play all the parts. It really fills up the sound just to add a few string lines here or there in a tune. I know some of you will email me and ask what I think of the EWI and why did I pick the Yamaha over it. The answer is that I wanted something that I could learn and pick up relatively fast that I wouldn’t have to practice on too much. I had an EWI back in the early 90′s and I had a really hard time adjusting to the touch sensitive keys and the octave rollers. I remember trying to master the EWI for months and I still had glitches with the octave rollers. The Yamaha took me about a week to get down as I remember…………….Let me know what you think. Steve

Live Solo on “What’s Going On”-Lamberson L7

steve — Fri, 30 Apr 2010 14:17:06 +0000

Here’s another live clip I dug out of my computer. I have hundreds of these and every once in awhile I’ll go through and see what I can find. This is a clip of my saxophone solo on “What’s Going On” by Marvin Gaye at some event in Boston. As with most of these clips the balance is horrible. It’s done with a portable recorder so don’t expect it to be studio quality. These are live, not mixed or edited and the sound quality is what it is. On this clip I’m playing on a Lamberson L7 that I had for a short time. Lamberson mouthpieces are made by Fred Lamberson. This was a great mouthpiece for the R@B and pop stuff. I could really wail with it but I found that when I was in the practice room playing, it was too bright for me. The Lamberson L7 is a bit brighter than my preferred J7 but not as bright as a Lamberson SB or DD. I’ve heard conflicting reports about whether Fred Lamberson is still making his mouthpieces. His website is still up at www.lambersonmouthpieces.com but if you do get lucky enough to order one I am told that the wait time is really really long. I believe it’s worth it though. Some of the best tenor mouthpieces I have played have been Lambersons. ……………Let me know what you think. Steve

Live solo on “Jump Jive and Wail”

steve — Wed, 14 Apr 2010 16:59:31 +0000

This is a live clip from a gig I did 5-6 years ago. It’s on the tune “Jump Jive and Wail”. I have no idea what mouthpiece I’m using on this. This is a bit of a different style of music than I usually post clips of so I thought some of you might like it. There are some players out there that play this style almost 100% of the time and sound great on it. Many times when playing in this style I use mostly the blues scales and throw some growl into the sound. I wasn’t growling on this clip but on many other solos in this style I am. You want to try to keep things simple. If you get to complex with your playing on this stuff it totally misses the style and groove of the music. Anyways, enjoy…………..Let me know what you think. Steve

“Live” For The Love of You Solo-Lamberson DD7

steve — Tue, 30 Mar 2010 15:02:25 +0000

This is a live clip from a gig I did 5-6 years ago. I play a tenor saxophone solo using the Fred Lamberson DD7 tenor mouthpiece I had back then. The mouthpiece is made of white aacetal with a high long baffle in it that drops down into the chamber after about a half inch or so. This is Lambersons brightest mouthpiece but I still found it fat sounding. It can be brighter and wailin’ or you can lay back on it and get a great jazz tone. The tune is “For the Love of You”. Since then I have sold this mouthpiece because I found it too bright but as I listen to this clip I really like the tone of it. This is the same mouthpiece I use on the “Let’s Get it On” video on the Sights & Sounds page of my site. It’s also the same mouthpiece that I’m playing in this clip.

“Live” Freddie Gregory Mark IV 7** Tenor Mouthpiece

steve — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 18:34:52 +0000

This is a live clip from a gig I did a number of years ago. I play a tenor solo using the Freddie Gregory Mark IV 7** piece I had. The mouthpiece is made of hard rubber with a medium high long baffle in it that slopes down into the chamber. This mouthpiece gets my vote for being one of the more versatile pieces I’ve played. It can be brighter and wailin’ or you can lay back on it and get a great jazz tone. The tune is a funky rendition of “Use Me”.

“Live” Lamberson 7DD Tenor Mouthpiece

steve — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 23:23:43 +0000

Here’s a “live” clip of my white acetal Lamberson 7DD tenor mouthpiece. This is the same piece that I play on the “Let’s Get it On” video on my website. I’ve always said that Fred Lamberson makes amazing mouthpieces. This 7DD mouthpiece is no exception. It’s on the brighter side of the spectrum but still has a big fat core sound to it. It’s not this at all. This clip is of a wedding introduction. We announced the Bride and Groom and then went into this SNL type groove. The cool thing is that many times we had no idea what we were going to play. The bass player would just yell out a key and we would go………….

“Live” Jon Van Wie Otto Link 8

steve — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 23:15:43 +0000

My Jon Van Wie refaced Super Tone Master Link is the Mouthpiece that I have played on the most over the last 10 years. Jon Van Wie was an incredible mouthpiece refacer (sad to say that he died a number of years ago). I had the good fortune to have him work on a few of my mouthpiece before he died. I actually had him work on a metal link 7* that turned out to be too bright for me. I saw this 8 metal link on ebay and snatched it up as fast as I could. This 8 plays with the perfect balance of highs and lows. Jon would reface the mouthpiece but then put this magical baffle into it that made a dull dead link come alive. To this day I haven’t met anyone that can make a baffle like Jon did. The magical thing about this piece is that you can play a jazz standard on it and sound great and immediately go into a “Respect” solo and sound equally as great. Here’s a sax solo on “Respect”and “I’m Coming Out” . It’s a little rough and not the best recording but you get an idea how the JVW metal link handles in those type of “live” situations. This is my go to gig piece when I have to play a multitude of styles.

Respect Solo

I’m Coming Out Solo