Here is another great solo transcription of a player I never heard of before that popped up on my Facebook feed the other day. I listened for a few seconds and thought “Wow! Who is this guy! He’s really good!” Well, his name is Dan Hitchcock. I didn’t really find much about Dan online except this bio from East Tennessee State University where he is on the guest faculty:
Originally from Columbus, Ohio, Dan Hitchcock is a saxophonist, multi-instrumentalist, and educator with a deep love for swinging jazz music. As a performer, Dan is currently a member of the Camel City Jazz orchestra, Envision, Aaron Matson Nonet, his own jazz quartet, and has performed with numerous groups including the Glenn Miller Orchestra, Columbus Jazz Orchestra Sweet Megg and the Wayfairers, Piedmont Triad Jazz Orchestra, Brandon Lee/Aaron Matson Quintet, Steve Haines Quintet, North Carolina Symphony Pops, Roanoke Symphony Pops, as well as studio work with various artists in and around central North Carolina. In the summer of 2019, Dan was selected as one of 8 semi-finalists worldwide to compete in the Michael Brecker International Saxophone Competition at the Red Sea Jazz Festival in Eilat, Israel. As an educator, Dan teaches private lessons in central North Carolina, as well as doing masterclasses and clinics at various colleges and high schools. Dan also graduated from UNC Greensboro in 2016.
I love Dan’s tenor solo on I’ll Remember April. He uses bits and pieces of the bebop language but he also mixes in a healthy portion of chromaticism that keeps you guessing where he is going to go next in his lines. There were many times while I was transcribing this solo that I thought I knew what the next note was going to be only to be surprised when I heard where Dan took the line.
One of the coolest concepts to hear is the rhythmic concept and line he uses in measures 5-7. I love the unexpected rhythm as well as the play in the line between the major 6th and minor 6th. Really cool line!
Keep an eye out for Dan Hitchcock in the future. Hopefully he will release some more recordings so we can hear more of his great playing. You can also find him on Facebook. Thanks Dan for the great solo!
Dan Hitchcock “I’ll Remember April” Tenor Sax Solo
I’ll Remember April-Dan Hitchcock-Concert Key PDF
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If you love these type of solo lines, be sure to check out my PDF books Mastering the Dominant Bebop Scale and Mastering the Dominant Bebop Scale-Book 2, which both include a ton of jazz vocabulary that I have written out in all 12 keys. These lines are the foundation to building a great jazz vocabulary!!
Mastering the Dominant Bebop Scale
Hey Steve, thanks so much for the transcription! I’ve been checking out your site for probably 10+ years and I really appreciate what you do. I must admit I check regularly to see if any new mouthpiece reviews are up (I’m a recovering mouthpiece addict myself).
Dan, Great to hear from you and thanks for the great tenor solo. As you are a recovering mouthpiece addict I have to ask…..What are you playing on now and how long have you been playing on it? Steve
Current mouthpiece is a new Otto Link STM 9*, I played a modern 7* STM NY refaced by Erik G for a long time… Most of the mouthpieces I have tested have been around at 7/7* but I got this 9* just as an experiment to see how I would like a bigger tip opening. I didn’t expect great results from a stock link, but it ended up just being super fun to play! I want to get it over to the mouthpiece guys at some point.
I liked that a lot. Very much in a Tristano vein the way the lines spread out.