Here’s another transcription I am excited about sharing with everyone. I found the video on Facebook this morning and proceeded to play it over and over until my wife got annoyed at me and said “Steve, it is 6:30 in the morning! What are you doing?” “Sorry, honey.” I replied. That was how my day started………. […]
tenor sax
Joe Graziosi’s Soul Station in all 12 Keys Project
Every once in a while I happen upon something extraordinary that bewilderingly gets little to no attention from the jazz saxophone world. A number of months ago, Joe Graziosi started a thread on SOTW (Sax on the Web) letting people know about a new project that he had been working on over the last three years […]
Phil-tone JZ Series Tenor Saxophone Mouthpiece Review
Today, I am reviewing another great mouthpiece by Phil Engleman at Phil-Tone mouthpieces. Phil Engleman is the founder of Phil-Tone mouthpieces and I have reviewed a number of his excellent mouthpieces in the past. The Equinox, the Eclipse, the Solstice, the Tribute, the Sapphire, the Mosaic, the Rift etc…………… Phil has even more models that […]
Wes Montgomery’s Round Midnight Transcription for Tenor Sax
A friend of mine emailed me a link to the youtube video below and I have been listening to it all week long. I love the way Wes Montgomery plays the melody on Round Midnight by Thelonious Monk. It’s got a great bluesy feel to it that I don’t hear with any of the sax […]
Saxquest “The Bridge” Tenor Saxophone Mouthpiece Review
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 […]
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 […]
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: […]
Bob Mintzer Tenor Saxophone Solo Transcription-My Romance
Here’s another great solo transcription from John Blevins. John has graciously sent me a number of his transcriptions and given me permission to share them with the sax world on my site here. This is another great sax solo by Bob Mintzer. The tune is My Romance from the 1988 album “Spectrum”. My Romance […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
Benjamin Allen 10E .135 Tenor Saxophone Mouthpiece
Today, I am reviewing another hard rubber tenor saxophone mouthpiece from Benjamin Allen. It is another 10E model but this one is at a huge .135 tip opening. I have to admit that I have never played a .135 tip opening before. I usually start complaining that a tip opening is too wide when I hit […]
Viking M58 and M60 Valkyrie Cognac Tenor Saxophone Review
Today, I am reviewing the Viking M58 and M60 tenor saxophones. This is another great saxophone that is manufactured in Taiwan. I had been hearing about the Viking tenor saxophones for a few years now and have been very curious to try them out. Rich Maraday is the owner of Viking instruments and he was happy to […]
Great George Garzone Masterclass
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 […]
Great Joshua Redman Interview
Here’s a great Joshua Redman interview that someone shared on facebook. I was blown away by the honesty and sincerity of Joshua Redman. You don’t get any sense that he is trying to act or pretend like he is something he is not. He’s just being honest and sincere to who he is. Joshua Redman […]
Silverstein Saxophone Ligature Review
Today, I am reviewing a new ligature made by Silverstein Works. For years I have heard about the amazing results that musicians would get from string ligatures. These whispers and rumors were usually heard on different clarinet boards and forums that I would visit. These posts were so compelling and convincing that I had […]
Drake “Jerry Bergonzi” Tenor Saxophone Mouthpiece
Today, I am reviewing a mouthpiece made by Aaron Drake of Drake Mouthpieces. This new mouthpiece is the Jerry Bergonzi model. I have been a fan of Jerry Bergonzi’s since my first days at Berklee College of Music in Boston (1986). Up until that time, I had only been an alto sax player. I had […]
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