Today, I am reviewing a hard rubber tenor saxophone mouthpiece from Benjamin Allen. It is called the 10E model and if that sounds familiar it is because I reviewed a 10E years ago that was crafted by Paul “Doc” Tenney. Benjamin Allen mentored under “Doc” Tenney and after Doc’s death decided to carry on his […]
Danny Walsh Chameleon Tenor Saxophone Solo Transcription
Here’s another great solo transcription from a Youtube video that I started working on a few days ago. This is from another terrific tenor sax player, Danny Walsh. I believe Danny went to Berklee College of Music and left shorty before I got there in the mid 80’s. I’m not sure I have ever heard him live although the […]
Great Lenny Pickett Clinic
I just found these videos on Youtube a few minutes ago and started watching them. Lenny Pickett is a tenor sax player known to almost all saxophone players. If you have ever watched Saturday Night Live, you have heard Lenny Pickett. He’s the sax player in the middle of the TV screen playing notes so […]
New Lesson Series: Playing Outside-Approach Note Matrix
I started a new lesson series this last week based off of my books “Approach Note Velocity Vol. 1 & 2“. This is a cool series and might even lead to another book on the subject! Last week I started working on using some of the approaches in my book to approach the upper structures […]
Liam Byrne Tenor Saxophone Blues Solo Transcription
Here’s a nice swingin’ blues solo transcription I started working on a few days ago. This is from a young tenor sax player, Liam Byrne. The group is called BBQ and stands for Brownfield/Byrne Quintet. Here’s a short Bio about Liam Byrne from his website: ‘…Saxophonist Liam Byrne, from North Wales (UK), studied at Leeds College […]
Great Chris Potter Performance and Interview
Here’s a great interview with Chris Potter that I came across just now on Facebook. Chris Potter is one of the top tenor saxophone players in the world. There is an unbelievable solo performance in the beginning of the video and this is a very insightful interview. Chris talks about practicing and different aspect of […]
Donny McCaslin Blues Solo in 4ths Transcriptions
Here are 2 more solo transcriptions I started working on yesterday. This is from a clinic recording of Donny McCaslin demonstrating using fourth 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 […]
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 […]
Bob Mintzer Blues Solo Transcription in 12 Keys
Here’s another solo transcription I just finished this week. This is another solo from one of my favorite tenor sax players, Bob Mintzer and is from a youtube clip of Bob soloing on a blues in all 12 keys. I love Bob’s playing because it is so melodic and thematic. He always plays ideas that […]
Bob Mintzer’s Solo Transcription on Invitation
Here’s another solo transcription I started working on a few weeks ago. This is 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 […]
Bob Malach Solo Transcription from Ishimori Demo Video
Here’s another transcription that I worked on this week. This is from a video that Bob Malach put out on Youtube about Ishimori products. Bob talks for the first part of the video about his Ishimori ligature, neck, screws and thumbrest. On the second half of the video he plays a nice funky solo over […]
Bob Mintzer Solo on “I Love You”
Here’s a solo transcription I started working on a few weeks ago. This is 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 […]
The Real Jazz Solos Book Review
Today, I am reviewing a new transcription book titled “The Real Jazz Solos Book”. This is another great book by Hal Leonard that is filled with great jazz solo transcriptions. Unlike many other transcription books, The Real Jazz Solos Book has transcription from a variety of different musicians including as far back as Louis Armstrong […]
Saxophone Microphone Review and Audio Shootout Part 2
Walter Ruckdeschel wrote a great in-depth review of 8 different stand mounted microphones that can be used for live gigs a number of months ago. I was so fascinated that I asked him if I could post his finding here for everyone to see. Walt emailed me today and said that he had just completed […]
Recent Comments