{"id":24296,"date":"2015-02-13T13:36:18","date_gmt":"2015-02-13T18:36:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.neffmusic.com\/blog\/?p=24296"},"modified":"2021-11-23T14:04:56","modified_gmt":"2021-11-23T19:04:56","slug":"seamus-blake-blues-up-and-down-saxophone-solo-transcription","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.neffmusic.com\/blog\/2015\/02\/seamus-blake-blues-up-and-down-saxophone-solo-transcription\/","title":{"rendered":"Seamus Blake “Blues Up and Down” Saxophone Solo Transcription"},"content":{"rendered":"

Here’s a great\u00a0solo transcription\u00a0from one of my favorite players, Seamus Blake. \u00a0This is a fast blues called “Blues Up and\u00a0Down” and is from an obscure\u00a0CD entitled “Sax Summit”. \u00a0 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 stumbling upon it while browsing through iTunes a few months ago……….<\/p>\n

Sax Summit was released Oct 22, 2002 on the CBC label. Personnel: Phil Dwyer , Mike Murley (soprano saxophone, tenor saxophone); P.J. Perry, Campbell Ryga (alto saxophone); Seamus Blake, Yannick Rieu (tenor saxophone); Perry White (baritone saxophone); Mark Eisenman (piano); Neil Swainson (double bass); Terry Clarke (drums).<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Seamus Blake<\/strong><\/p>\n

This is a transcription I completed this week of 8 choruses of Seamus Blake’s solo. \u00a0He plays a few more choruses at the end with the big band playing behind him but the lines I wanted to figure out were in the first 8 choruses so I didn’t bother transcribing the last couple of choruses.<\/p>\n

The funny thing that sometimes happens to me while transcribing is that I slow the solo down with transcription software and start transcribing. \u00a0I get to the end of the solo and I think “this isn’t too difficult……” as I play it all the way through with Seamus. \u00a0Then I remembered that I had the speed set to 60% \u00a0on the transcribing program. “Ok, let me try it on 100% speed……..” \u00a0 I tried it but man was it rough going. \u00a0I could not keep up with sight reading this solo at this speed! \u00a0I believe this recording is at 250-260 bpm speed range. \u00a0Pretty burnin’…………..<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0Sax Summit (CBC Label 2002)<\/strong><\/p>\n

This solo is 8\u00a0choruses of a ripping \u00a0fast blues. \u00a0When you first look at the PDF you might be fooled into thinking this is an easy solo to play but try playing some of these lines with the recording and you quickly realize how awesome\u00a0Seamus Blake is………..<\/p>\n

Blues Up and Down-Seamus Blake Solo Bb<\/a>
\nBlues Up and Down-Seamus Blake Solo Concert Key<\/a><\/p>\n

*If you would like to support me here at neffmusic.com, you can do so\u00a0on the support page of my store<\/a> by debit or credit card. \u00a0 Any support is appreciated and will go towards keeping this site running, saxophone reeds, mouthpiece patches, coffee, and towards justifying the many hours I spend on providing free transcriptions to the saxophone community!\u00a0 Thanks,\u00a0 \u00a0Steve<\/em><\/div>\n

If you dig this solo make sure you pick up the whole CD of “Sax Summit<\/a>“. \u00a0\u00a0There is some great playing by everyone on this CD and all sax players will love it! (You can also find it on iTunes………..) Also, make sure you check out Seamus Blake’s<\/a> other recordings that he has done as a leader.<\/p>\n

If you like these types of blues\u00a0lines like I do, be sure to check out my jazz video lessons and books for some great resources! \u00a0Here are just a few on a\u00a0variety of blues\u00a0improvisation topics<\/a>. \u00a0I have 11 jazz improvisation books out now and over 500 30 minute+ video and audio lessons to choose from…….. \u00a0 Thanks, \u00a0 Steve<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Here’s a great\u00a0solo transcription\u00a0from one of my favorite players, Seamus Blake. \u00a0This is a fast blues called “Blues Up and\u00a0Down” and is from an obscure\u00a0CD entitled “Sax Summit”. \u00a0 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 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":63,"featured_media":24297,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[53,1322,1204,265],"class_list":{"0":"post-24296","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-transcriptions","8":"tag-blues","9":"tag-jazz-improvisation","10":"tag-solo-transcription","11":"tag-tenor-saxophone","12":"entry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.neffmusic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24296","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.neffmusic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.neffmusic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.neffmusic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/63"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.neffmusic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24296"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.neffmusic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24296\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.neffmusic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/24297"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.neffmusic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24296"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.neffmusic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24296"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.neffmusic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24296"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}