Sax players: I’m taking a trip to the Rico Reeds factory today (9/19/12). Any questions you’d like me to ask them? Leave a comment here before 1pm EST (10am Pacific) and I’ll do my best to get it answered. I’ll record some of my visit and send the recap to the players list.
sax
Everything I Want in a Pop Sax Solo
It’s not so much a solo as a beautiful texture. That’s what I always strive to add in pop settings. It’s not about leather pants, walking the bar, dark sunglasses or cool-cat-hats. It’s about pure tone, texture, emotion and beauty. (To me, anyway.) No cheesy vibrato or cheap parlor tricks. Since the moment I discovered […]
Playing All the Time
I just had a great phone conversation with my old high school friend and saxophone mentor. We reminisced about how much playing we did back then: practicing early before school, listening–critically–to music during the 30 minute commute to school, scribbling out licks during history class to test out when we got to jazz band in […]
Practicing Sax in the Car
I learned this trick from one of my students. He lives in France and says he’s taken to practicing sax in the car while stuck in traffic on his daily commute! Last night I played a gig with some LA-based musicians and the music was demanding (of the funk, fusion, church type…in fact, the hardest […]
How Not to Get a Record Deal
It’s been 7 years since I recorded my last studio album. Now that I have a new one in the can, I find myself back at a place I don’t love: hunting for a record deal. Years ago, when I made Can’t Wait for Perfect, my friend and mentor Joshua Redman was so excited about […]
Vintage Selmer or P. Mauriat?
I received the following email from Dave: I keep seeing you in these new adds for P. Mauriat tenors. Did you make the switch for good or do you go back and forth to a Mark VI. I’ve been thinking about getting a new tenor and I would love to get a Mark VI, but […]