Today, I am reviewing my second hard rubber alto saxophone mouthpiece from Ken Okutsu in Japan. It is the Focus Core model and has a 6 tip opening which is .075. (In the sound clip below I mistakenly say it is a Focus Tone but that was a mistake on my part…….sorry Ted Klum…….) I already reviewed […]
Ken Okutsu Traditional Alto Saxophone Mouthpiece Review
Today, I am reviewing my first hard rubber alto saxophone mouthpiece from Ken Okutsu in Japan. It is the Traditional model and has a 6 tip opening which is .075. I already reviewed four Okutsu tenor mouthpieces which were all excellent so I have been very curious to review these alto mouthpieces also. Four New Ken Okutsu Traditional Alto Sax […]
Bob Mintzer Solo Transcription – You and the Night and the Music
Here’s a solo transcription I started working on this week. This is another solo from one of my favorite tenor sax players, Bob Mintzer. I love Bob’s playing because it is so melodic and thematic. He always plays ideas that you can grasp on to and that are catchy, yet he mixes in some pretty hip and […]
Joel Frahm “All the Things You Are” Tenor Sax Transcription
Here’s another solo by another great tenor saxophone player and incredibly nice guy, Joel Frahm. Joel has commented on neffmusic.com quite a few times over the years and his passion for everything to do with the saxophone is very obvious. (I imagine we could spend a few hours in a bar talking about mouthpieces very easily……..) […]
Chad Lefkowitz-Brown transcription of Tenor Sax Dexterity Solo
Today I am sharing a transposed part to a solo transcription done by Joey Lieber (pianist). Joey shared this tenor saxophone transcription on Facebook in C last week and I wanted to transpose it to Bb for tenor saxophone ASAP as this was a very cool solo…….. This transcription is of a solo that Chad Lefkowitz-Brown […]
Jesse Davis Transcription-Cherokee Solo
Here’s another great bop solo by one of my favorite alto players “Jesse Davis”. Jesse has one of the best alto sounds I have heard and I love how he can incorporate killer bebop lines and phrases with a bluesy feel and sound. (Another master of this technique was without a doubt Cannonball) Here’s a […]
Free Video Lesson on Approach Note Velocity Book
I decided to offer a free video lesson on my book “Approach Note Velocity Volume 1 & 2” for everyone. I have sold many of these books over the years and really want to make sure that everyone is getting the most out of them that they can. You can consider this an “overview” lesson on […]
Ken Okutsu Traditional Tenor Saxophone Mouthpiece Review
Today, I am reviewing my third hard rubber tenor saxophone mouthpiece from Ken Okutsu in Japan. It is the Traditional model and has a 7 tip opening which is .104. ( I call it a 7* tip in the recordings below because .104 is close to the traditional 7* size). I already reviewed my first two Okutsu mouthpiece […]
Ken Okutsu Traditional II Tenor Saxophone Mouthpiece Review
Today, I am reviewing my second hard rubber tenor saxophone mouthpiece from Ken Okutsu in Japan. It is the Traditional II model and has a 7 tip opening which is .104. ( I call it a 7* tip in the recordings below because .104 is close to the traditional 7* size). I hadn’t heard of Ken Okutsu before but […]
RS Berkeley Chris Potter Legends Series Tenor Sax Mouthpiece
Today, I am reviewing another RS Berkeley Legends Series tenor saxophone mouthpiece that was sent to me by Les Silver at RS Berkeley. RS Berkeley has come up with the revolutionary idea of trying to find mouthpieces that were played and loved by jazz legends (deceased and still living)………and then copying them exactly so that […]
10mFan Robusto Tenor Saxophone Mouthpiece Review
Mark Sepinuck, 10mFan as he is known in the saxophone world, has been selling high end vintage saxophone mouthpieces on Ebay for years. Whether it be vintage New York Meyers, Double Ring Otto Links or handmade Guardala mouthpieces…………Mark has had them all and sold them all. I met Mark years ago on ebay when I […]
AM Mouthpieces “The Aras” Tenor Saxophone Mouthpiece Review
Today, I am reviewing a new tenor saxophone mouthpiece made by Arnold Montgomery of AM Mouthpieces. It is “The Aras” model and has an 8 tip opening. I hadn’t heard of Arnold Montgomery before but he emailed me asking if I would be willing to review his “The Aras” mouthpiece. He hinted that there was something unique about it that he was getting […]
Three Michael Brecker Transcriptions on Four Chords by Steps Ahead
We are in for a treat today! I contacted Rick Margitza (a great tenor saxophone player) on facebook the other day and asked if I could share his two transcriptions of Michael Brecker’s solos from two Steps Ahead bootlegs of Four Chords. I came up with the idea of placing these two transcriptions along side my […]
Michael Brecker Tenor Sax Solo Transcription-Four Chords
Here’s another new transcription I have been working on. This is Michael Brecker’s 5 chorus solo over the tune “Four Chords” from the album Paradox by Steps Ahead. This is young Michael Brecker tearing it up with some high energy classic “Brecker” lines. The Paradox album is one of the many Steps Ahead albums that I purchased back […]
Vandoren V16 T7 Large Metal Tenor Mouthpiece Review
Today, I am reviewing a new metal tenor saxophone mouthpieces made by Vandoren. This mouthpiece is the Vandoren V16 T7 Large Chamber V16 model. This is similar to the T7 medium chamber I reviewed a few days ago but this mouthpiece has a larger chamber. Vandoren V16 T7 Large Metal Tenor Saxophone Mouthpiece Here are some quotes from the Vandoren […]
Vandoren V16 T7 Medium Metal Tenor Saxophone Mouthpiece
Today, I am reviewing a new metal tenor saxophone mouthpieces made by Vandoren. This mouthpiece is the Vandoren V16 T7 Medium Chamber model. I have been dying to try this mouthpiece since first hearing about it a few years ago. I used to play a Vandoren V16 T75 back about 12 years ago but was always curious how […]
Seamus Blake “Blues Up and Down” Saxophone Solo Transcription
Here’s a great solo transcription from one of my favorite players, Seamus Blake. This is a fast blues called “Blues Up and Down” 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 before […]
Bejamin Allen Dagradi Model Tenor Mouthpiece Review
Today, I am reviewing two more hard rubber tenor saxophone mouthpieces from Benjamin Allen. These are the 20TD model (also known as the Dagradi model after the great sax player Tony Dagradi). Benjamin Allen was nice enough to send me 3 Dagradi mouthpieces to try and today I am reviewing two of those for you. (The 3rd one […]
Transcriptions of Chris Potter On Rhythm Changes
Here are two short transcriptions of solos Chris Potter did on a March 8, 2008 Masterclass. The bootleg was floating around the internet (www.dimeadozen.org) and I was lucky enough to grab it. In these two examples Chris is showing the differences in his playing style from when he was younger to now. The first solo […]
Donny McCaslin Blues Solo in 6ths Tenor Sax Transcription
Here’s another solo transcriptions I started working on yesterday. This is from a clinic recording of Donny McCaslin demonstrating using sixth intervals while improvising over a standard blues on the tenor saxophone. I have no idea what this is from or even where I got it but it must have been on the internet somewhere. I tried […]
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