There is a great new resource out there for aspiring and developing jazz saxophonists called The Jazz Saxophone Book. It's pretty epic in scope, and addresses a lot of less treated subjects, which is great, including techniques for creating variations, playing out via melody, and developing mastery of your creative art.
Tim and I had a really interesting conversation about the book and lots of different aspects of improvisation and saxophone playing. Check it out below:
Hey, I've recently discovered some great music I wanted to share.
I listened to Michael Brecker back in high school but only sporadically since then. Recently, I rediscovered why he is so awesome. I found two albums where I think his sound and improvising are just soooo good. Here's a song from each of them:
A player you likely haven't heard of before, Pernille Bévort is a fantastic sounding saxophonist and one of the great saxophone voices from Scandanavia's jazz scene. She recently released a live album with a chordless group - Bévort 3. It was actually recorded in front of a live audience during covid, at Jazzhus Montmartre (Dec 5, 2020) and then Skuespilhuset’s Foyer (July 16, 2021). Here's a track from the album:
Tim Armacostrecently wrote a jazz saxophone book, which I'll have something on for you all soon. I was checking out his playing too, and it's really great. Here's what I was listening too:
Last but not least, one of my very favorite saxophonists is Ben Wendel.If you haven't listened to this guy's playing or writing here is my favorite track from his 2020 album:
I recently had the chance to play the 10mfan Celebration tenor mouthpiece. It has a warm and flexible sound that you can push pretty easily. It's one of the best altissimo-playing jazz pieces I've played, so that was really notable.
I recorded a blues on the mouthpiece in the video below. I also have a couple of clips from solos live on a gig below that. The mouthpiece is definitely worth checking out.
