Today, I am reviewing the new “The Bridge” hard rubber tenor saxophone mouthpiece from Saxquest. Mark Overton over at Saxquest came out with two new hard rubber tenor sax mouthpieces a few months ago called “The Bridge” and “The Core”. Mark said that the purpose behind making these two mouthpieces was to try to recapture the sound and […]
A Blast from the Past-Chromazone by Mike Stern Cover
This weekend, I was going through my vast computer files and trying to clean out the gigabytes of junk I had on my computer when I discovered this old clip. This is from a recording session I did way back in the early 90’s. I think I was about 25 at the time and in […]
Chris Potter Transcription of Cherokee in 10 Keys
So check this out! About 10 days ago, I was on SOTW (Sax on the Web) looking through various posts about saxophone stuff when I ran across a post by a recent member from Spain I didn’t know named”ffjay” that read: Hi all! Guess you’d listen one of the stunning Chris Potter’s solo playing Cherokee in […]
Tenor Madness New EBII Tenor Mouthpiece Review
Today, I am reviewing the new Tenor Madness EBII hard rubber tenor mouthpiece. Randy Jones over at Tenor Madness caused quite a stir in the saxophone world when he came out with a “new” EB (Early Babbitt) version of the Otto Link tenor mouthpiece a number of years ago which I reviewed here. At the time, […]
Body and Soul: The Evolution of a Tenor Saxophone Standard Review
For the last couple of weeks, I have been diligently working through a great new book by Eric Allen entitled Body and Soul — The Evolution of a Tenor Saxophone Standard: Transcriptions and analysis of solos by: Coleman Hawkins, Lester Young, Stan Getz, Sonny … Brecker, Chris Potter, Spiral-Bound Book Body and Soul — The […]
Chris Potter Masterclass 12-04-2015 Akron, Ohio
Here’s another great Chris Potter masterclass from 12-4-15 in Akron, Ohio that someone posted on Youtube. This is just an audio of the masterclass. Chris Potter’s opening solo on Cherokee is amazing as usual. I can’t get enough of these solos and masterclasses! Check it out!
Forestone Hinoki Synthetic Reeds Review
Today, I am reviewing a product that I never ever thought I would review. The product is a synthetic reed. (*Before you read further, I need to state in all honesty, that I have always hated, detested and scorned every synthetic reed I have ever tried. Over the last 20 years I have at times tried […]
Liu Shizhao Studio Prototype Alto Saxophone Mouthpiece Review
About a month ago, I was on Facebook just browsing through peoples posts when I came upon some beautiful pictures of some mouthpieces I had never seen before. These were posted by Liu Shizhao who lives in Beijing, China and who makes mouthpieces. Judging from the pictures I saw, these were masterfully made mouthpieces! […]
Seamus Blake “Billie’s Bounce” Tenor Saxophone Solo Transcription
Here’s another great blues solo transcription from one of my favorite players, Seamus Blake. This is a fast blues called “Billie’s Bounce” and is from an obscure CD entitled “Sax Summit”. I say obscure because I am probably one of the biggest fans and followers of jazz saxophone recordings and I had never heard of it […]
The Dick Oatts Solo Collection Review
Today I am reviewing an awesome new transcription book of solos by alto saxophonist Dick Oatts. Dan Bayliss wrote the transcriptions and did the work of putting this ebook together. It includes 9 solos from 3 albums and is 68 pages long. The CD’s the solos are from are Dick Oatts “Standard Issue Volume […]
Johannes Gerber Solo LC Soprano Mouthpiece Review
Today, I am reviewing another great mouthpiece by Johannes Gerber in South Africa. Mr. Gerber has been making mouthpieces for many years and I reviewed a tenor mouthpiece of his a few years ago. The Gerber Slant model. Johannes Gerber has a great reputation amongst sax players as well as craftsman for his excellent work […]
Liu Shizhao MB Prototype Tenor Saxophone Mouthpiece Review
In todays modern world, you see new products popping up on the internet almost everyday. About a month ago, I was on Facebook just browsing through friend’s posts when I came upon some beautiful pictures of some mouthpieces I had never seen before. These were posted by Liu Shizhao who lives in Beijing, China and apparently […]
Great Lesson Package Deals on Mastering the Blues Scale Vol. 1 Lessons
I created two more great lesson package deals that compliment my book Mastering the Blues Scale-Vol. 1 One is a 3 lesson deal for alto sax in a smooth jazz style and the other is a 5 lesson deal for tenor sax in the same smooth jazz style. Here are the details and links to check them out: […]
2015 Aebersold Jazz Workshop with Chris Potter
Here’s another great workshop with Chris Potter that I came across just now on Facebook. Chris Potter is one of the top tenor saxophone players in the world. There is a great duo performance in the beginning of “Out of Nowhere” . Chris then answers questions from the students and faculty afterwards. Great stuff. Check it out!
The New Ultimate II-V-I Primer Lesson Series Deal only 14.99
Hi Everyone, I’m running a big sale on lessons I made that get you started with working with the New Ultimate II-V-I Primer. I made 5 lessons that are usually 49.95 for all 5 but I’m running a sale so you can get all 5 for 14.99 at this link. The New Ultimate II-V-I Lesson […]
This Guy Blows My Mind…….Derek Brown
Derek Brown has a Youtube channel called “Beatbox Sax”. While most of us mere mortals are just trying to figure out how to play the sax the normal way (or should I say the way that is most “common”), Derek is one of those rare individuals that is breaking new ground with the saxophone. Check out the two […]
Danny Walsh Transcription of Solo on “One for Rich”
Here’s another great solo transcription from a Youtube video that I started working on a few days ago. My tenor was getting overhauled so I thought I would take a stab at an alto solo while it was in the shop. This is from the great sax player, Danny Walsh and is a solo he played with the Ball State […]
The #1 Thing You Need to Do To Become a Great Improviser
I’m seeing a trend in adult students that I have taught over the last 10 years and wanted to write about it. The #1 thing that most students young and old want to improve is their ability to improvise well. Many times, I ask the students what their practice routine is like and I get answers […]
Mark Russo-Saxophone Overtones, Altissimo and Growling
This is a great video of Mark Russo demonstrating different concepts on a Cannonball alto and tenor saxophone. Mark was one of the first professional saxophone players I ever heard in concert. I was in high school and went to the Syracuse Jazz Festival and a group called the Yellowjackets started playing. I had […]
Michael Brecker Solo Transcription-Recorda Me
For this week’s new transcription, I am posting the first 5 choruses of a transcription that Igor Tomanoski sent me this week. This is Michael Brecker soloing over Recorda Me with Steps Ahead in the 80’s. This is from a Youtube video that I first heard a few years ago. This is just classic “tearing it up” Brecker!! […]
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