Tag Archives: saxophone

October 04

Correct Saxophone Intonation (Overcoming the Natural Intonation Spectrum)

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Those of you who know me are probably bored of hearing me talk about intonation and the need for a comprehensive system because i’m always banging on about it, but I believe it’s important. I firmly believe that in order to play the saxophone in tune, you have to have a comprehensive system in place […]

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April 28

New Recording — Atencioso — Pixinguinha

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Please take a minute to listen to this new recording i’ve made of the tune ‘Atencioso’ by the Brazilian composer Pixinguinha. I’d love to hear your feedback about the track. I’m currently putting together a concert of music that will have me performing on a variety of woodwinds and this is the first demo track […]

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February 13

Woodwind doubling — Practical Advice

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Here are 6 extremely practical habits that can help to improve your doubles dramatically. These are habits that I’ve acquired from years of experience doubling on multiple woodwinds. While these tips won’t help you improve your technical abilities on your instruments, I believe they are invaluable when it comes to the mechanics of actually switching […]

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October 21

Flutter tonguing — A super easy method.

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I was talking to a trombone playing friend of mine last night about flutter tonguing and he told me that he doesn’t really know how to do it properly so I thought that I would post an article on the subject. Flutter tonguing is called for pretty rarely so it’s no surprise that most people […]

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September 11

Rhythm & Blues Hall of Fame Photos

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Here are some photos from the Rhythm and Blues Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony gig a couple of weeks ago at the Canton Palace Theater with Robert T and Papa’s New Bag.   All photos by Vince Robinson.

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September 04

Cirque Excerpts

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I’ve been working on some excerpts from a few different Cirque du Soleil shows lately. They’re available on their website  with backing tracks and the music is really interesting…and challenging! A lot of it definitely sounds like French circus music but there are many tunes with interesting world music sounds. It’s all very colorful stuff. […]

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Recent gig photos

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Here are some photos from recent sets… These days we’re basically doing 3 types of gigs. Jazz sets. 7 piece big band arrangements. Motown. This is a show that we do with singers and dancers…though the best choreography comes from the horn section. Thanks to Lia Morgan, who I stole these photos from without asking!

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January 21

Henry Cowell ‘Air and Scherzo’

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Does anyone know where to get the piano reduction for Henry Cowell’s ‘Air and Scherzo’ for alto saxophone and small orchestra? I played this piece for a competition years ago but seem to have lost my piano reduction. It also seems that it is not available anywhere on the internet. Henry Cowell was a true […]

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August 10

Intonation

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Controlling the intonation of the saxophone and indeed of most instruments is a difficult affair. Each instrument has individual tendencies and general trends resulting from bore design, tone hole placement, and key opening discrepancies. Despite these difficulties it is extremely important that all saxophonists learn to control the intonation to an extreme degree.   I […]

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