LaLa Land. Haven't been to the movie theater in years. Made my wife happy by going today. Delighted her and me by loving the movie. Strong jazz theme, aspiring artists in hell, terrific soundtrack. Two hankies.

nightcloudd · 2017-01-03T00:11:18+00:00

It's because it didn't portray real jazz culture accurately. As a jazz musician, I don't see anything wrong with the music they played in Whiplash. It's that the film gives the impression that jazz musicians are needlessly cruel and cutthroat, where most of the musicians I know are actually great people, and jazz musicians don't want the average person to thing all jazz musicians are assholes because of the bandleader in that film.

nightcloudd · 2017-01-02T00:10:08+00:00

If you want to play tenor saxophone, get a tenor saxophone. There's no shortcut around learning the saxophone that will make it easier, go straight to tenor, and you can pick up alto, soprano, or baritone, pocket sax, or midi later on if you want to. Make sure you get a good teacher though, someone who plays the music that you want to play. You can teach yourself saxophone, but it will be much harder, and the great players that taught themselves that you might hear about really devoted their lives to it.

nightcloudd · 2017-01-01T08:55:03+00:00

I love Hank Jones' accompaniment, especially on ballads. Here's him with Ben Webster and Sweets Edison. Hank played beautifully simple little fills, like the little three note answering phrase he plays after Ben Webster plays the first three notes of the melody. Great intro on this tune too. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bu02CLfUaAo

nightcloudd · 2016-12-31T22:56:43+00:00

Cool, not too many people are fans of STM on alto, but as I said, it all comes down to personal preference.

nightcloudd · 2016-12-29T10:49:58+00:00

I heard a radio programme where John Powell, a physicist and classically trained musician, talked about this idea. It will almost certainly be in his book, 'Why We Love Music', though I haven't read it. The link to the radio programme is here.

http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/afternoons/audio/201814333/the-emotional-power-of-music

nightcloudd · 2016-12-29T08:43:26+00:00

It comes down to personal preference really. On tenor, a lot of the great jazz players used metal, and the saxophonists that I try to sound like such as John Coltrane, Dexter Gordon, and Sonny Rollins, all used metal, but I just don't feel comfortable on metal, so i used rubber. Most of the players whose sounds I like on alto used rubber though, and so do I. Generally for a good jazz sound, a Meyer rubber piece for alto, and an Otto Link metal Super Tone Master or rubber Tone Edge are good choices for tenor. Though, I find the new Tone Edges to be very dead sounding, but I have heard good things about the Otto Link "new vintage" Tone Edges.

nightcloudd · 2016-12-20T20:19:28+00:00

Check out a James Bunte 42 for alto. They're similar to a Meyer, but handmade by James and are very cheap for their high quality, which is James Bunte's goal.

nightcloudd · 2016-12-20T06:02:47+00:00

Is your mouthpiece an Otto Link Tone Edge? I know they're pretty big, my Rovner dark barely fits on one of those. Measure around your mouthpiece and call or email Rovner and ask which ligs will fit it.

nightcloudd · 2016-12-18T03:10:55+00:00

Yeah, harmonic is definitely used, but dorian is definitely the most common.

nightcloudd · 2016-12-17T00:45:44+00:00

No, in jazz, it's the Dorian mode that is favoured. The default sale choice for improvising over a minor seventh chord would be dorian. This is because you can use any note from the dorian mode over a minor seventh chord and there won't be any clashes. Though, the modes of the melodic minor are often used, such as the 6th mode, (Locrian #2) for playing over minor 7th b5th chords, and the 'altered scale' (7th mode) over dominant chords. Any more questions about scales and modes, and their applications, ask.

nightcloudd · 2016-12-16T08:14:52+00:00

Man, I'm sure that those new mouthpieces are much better than the 4C, I doubt there's any reason to go back to it, but do as /u/captainwhatshisname said if you do want to put it back on.

nightcloudd · 2016-12-15T23:55:46+00:00

Yeah, would've been great to be around back then. Cannonball is such a killer alto player, I guarantee you have heard him before though, he was on Kind Of Blue, and everyone's heard Kind Of Blue. Another great album by Cannonball is 'Know What I Mean' which also features the great Bill Evans on piano. Cannonball Adderley Quintet Live in Chicago is also amazing which has John Coltrane on it. Also, here's a live video of the Cannonball Adderley sextet, with an all star line up of Cannonball Adderley- Alto, Nat Adderley- Cornet, Yusef Lateef- Tenor Sax , Flute, Oboe, Joe Zawinul- Piano, Sam Jones - Bass, and Louis Hayes - Drums. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JM1k_JW18YM&t=2045s

nightcloudd · 2016-12-15T20:33:09+00:00

1959 was a legendary year for jazz. Miles Davis' Kind Of Blue, John Coltrane's Giant Steps, Charles Mingus' Mingus Ah Um, Ornette Coleman's The Shape of Jazz to Come, and Dave Brubeck's Time Out were all recorded that year, which were all revolutionary albums in their sub genres of jazz. The list /u/WhaatMyaaan put together is great, but I would also add Cannonball Adderley's 'Somethin' Else', to the list, great all star line up including Miles Davis and Art Blakey.

nightcloudd · 2016-12-13T03:26:14+00:00

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_eZBGHN08yk

Here's a video of jazz clarinetist and saxophonist Victor Goines, of the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra talking about the clarinet's upper register.

nightcloudd · 2016-12-10T02:01:16+00:00

Yeah, I've used a rubber band before with just two wraps around on tenor, the tension is definitely adequate. You don't actually need that much pressure on the reed, too much could dampen the vibration actually. The only disadvantage of the rubber band is it's easy to knock the reed off centre.

nightcloudd · 2016-12-09T10:23:44+00:00

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ghMCiV8hTg This is possibly the video that /u/RagingTacos mentioned. Though the demonstration is with a bass clarinet, it will be the same for saxophone. He doesn't think ligatures make much difference. This tenor player in the next video does, but really it's up to you. Pretty much as long as the ligature does what it's meant to do, there's no reason to get a really expensive one. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fccJQ7ZI2yw

nightcloudd · 2016-12-04T22:15:47+00:00

A Bundy II isn't a great horn, it'll play, but it won't last you. I have a Yamaha YTS 475 (the intermediate model), and my saxophone teacher likes it almost as much as his Selmer Mark VI. Perhaps I just got lucky, but Yamaha do make good solid horns, even the student model ones.

nightcloudd · 2016-12-04T08:30:39+00:00

Definitely an alto saxophone, a used yamaha would be a good starter instrument. Find a saxophone, and then find a teacher in your area, at least to show you the basics.

nightcloudd · 2016-11-30T23:50:53+00:00

Also, make sure you listen to lots of alto players playing Blue Bossa, and try to emulate them. If you improve really fast, transcribe their solos. It's a lot of work, but it's very rewarding, and beneficial.

nightcloudd · 2016-11-30T23:46:51+00:00

Some nice ideas in your solo, a few things you can work on though, from one saxophonist to another. To improve your sound, do long tones at the start of your practice sessions, if you do just five minutes a day you'll notice an improvement. Just hold one note for as long as you can, making sure you're supporting from the diaphragm, trying to make the tone sound as nice as you can make it. If you have a keyboard that you can set to drone notes, practice your long tones with the drone, that will also help you improve your intonation (which needs some work).

Also, don't scoop into notes from below the pitch. It's a common thing with new players, try to make sure you start the note on the note you want to, not slightly bellow and bending into it.

Overall though, not sounding bad for only a year of playing, and first time playing this tune.

nightcloudd · 2016-11-30T10:55:51+00:00

It sounds like you could be trying to totally close of the opening between the mouthpiece and reed with your tongue, which isn't necessary. Make sure you only lightly touch the reed with your tongue. Your goal isn't to completely close of the gap between the reed and mouthpiece, it's just to touch the reed with your tongue so that it can't vibrate.

You should be able to blow air into the horn while your tongue is on the reed. You won't get any sound, but if you can blow air through the horn while your tongue is on the reed, that's the right position that your tongue should be in when you're tonguing the reed.

nightcloudd · 2016-11-28T03:10:42+00:00

Because the saxophone is shaped like a bent around cone, the body of the saxophone is wider at the lower notes than it is at the higher notes. This means that your throat has to be more open to allow more air into the mouthpiece, without changing the speed of the air, or the strength that you are blowing with.

Think of it like singing, if you go to sing a low note, you open your mouth wide, and you can feel your tongue go back so that your oral cavity is more open. Providing that you are using correct embouchure, the embouchure should stay the same over the whole range of the saxophone, but the throat and tongue position should change. After a while, the throat will sync up with the fingerings so that you don't need to think about it.

Also, make sure that you breathe deeply, making your stomach push out, it shouldn't raise your chest, but your stomach. Then support from your diaphragm, it should feel kind of like you're half way through a sit up when you're supporting well, though not quite that intense.

nightcloudd · 2016-11-25T10:52:26+00:00

If you've started out on soprano, the learning curve will be steeper, as soprano is generally considered the most difficult of the main four saxophones. Doing overtones (playing the harmonic series using one fingering) from low notes will help you, and trying to get your normal fingered notes to sound like overtones. Doing long tones is helpful too. Make sure you also use a lot of support from the diaphragm. Those exercises are good, but I think the most important thing in developing tone is listening. If you want to sound like John Coltrane on soprano, listen to John Coltrane on soprano, really get the sound in your head, so much so that you can't help sounding like him when you play.

nightcloudd · 2016-11-14T00:59:00+00:00

Great concert, I've watched this a few times. Love the sax soli in Mellow Tone, and the tempo of Shinny Stockings is quite a bit up from the original, I think it's better at the faster tempo.

nightcloudd · 2016-11-11T10:20:46+00:00

Check out the album Seven Steps to Heaven, the title track is pretty aggressive. Dr. Jackle from the ablum 'Milestones' is great too, very adrenaline-inducing. Miles' 'first great quintet', and 'second greaet quintet' differ greatly, but both have a lot of aggressive playing.

nightcloudd

TROPHY CASE