Here’s a recently posted masterclass by the great jazz teacher and tenor saxophone player George Garzone. I studied with George for a semester or two while at Berklee back in the mid 80’s. I remember him messing up my whole musical worldview by telling me to not tongue and stop playing licks. ( I had just spent 2 semesters studying all these bebop licks with Bill Pierce and getting my bebop articulation mastered and now George was telling me to stop all that……….WHAT!!!) Although I still tongue much more than I think Mr. Garzone would like, the lessons with him were an important stage in my development. I learned the importance of being able to let go and to start exploring more outside ideas while improvising. He also taught me a lot about playing with confidence which was huge.
Besides being a great teacher, I remember going to see George play down at the Copley Mall in Boston. I forgot the name of the restaurant/bar but I remember sitting there while George blew my mind as he wailed on standard after standard. I’d go back to Berklee that night and lock myself in the practice room trying to imitate what I had just heard! He is not only a great teacher but a true inspiration and master of a player!
Check out this masterclass if you have an hour or so to dedicate to it. There is a lot of wisdom and sage advice here. Pick out what you can understand and use. Don’t worry if some concepts are too heavy or hard to understand you can always come back to them later……………
Also, do yourself a favor and check out some of George Garzone’s recordings. I’ve always thought he has one of the most beautiful tenor sounds out there…………..
Nice post Steve. I learned something today! I just discovered Mr Garzone… seems like a cool guy and a very good teacher.
cheers
Johnny
Hi Steve. Thank you for posting this workshop. I studied with George Garzone in 1995 and he helped me get my sound from being restrictive to huge in a short time. He taught me how to say “hawww” on the exhalation and told me to pull out my lower lip out. It felt out of control at first but I slowly got it under control. Oh yes, and the tongue thing. I am sure he wanted to cut mine out. We worked on mostly ballads the entire year and spent a great deal of time doing long tones. With all the information out there these days that can truly be too much and I am sure rather overwhelming for a beginner, I feel fortunate to have studied with Garzone.