In Praise of a Good Beer–After the Gig

Alpena, Michigan, has a good brewpub, the Fletcher Street Brewery. It also has the Northern Lights Arena, where I”ll be playing tonight with the Rhythm Section Jazz Band. I call that a fine combination: a fun gig followed by a beer worth drinking. As a dabbler in homebrewing, and having a best friend who is growing into a marvel at the craft, I love a good beer–the operative word being good.

At Pauly”s, one of my favorite beer stores located in Lowell, I marvel whenever I see people standing in line with a twelve-pack of Bud. Pauly”s has an incredible selection of craft brews. When I step inside, I instantly feel like a kid in a candy store. Stacy, Pauly”s wife and an avid homebrewer, has done a fantastic job of stocking their store with a huge array of truly beautiful ales, lagers, and lambics. Going there to buy mass-produced American Pilsner is like going to a Bass Pro Shop to purchase a twenty-dollar fishing pole. Sure, you can buy one there, but for a few more bucks you can do a whole lot better.

But I digress. What I want to point out is the progression from gig to brew. I can”t say for sure that I”ll make it to the Fletcher Street Brewery tonight–the gig ends late, and I”m feeling under the weather as it is–but I can just about guarantee that while I”m on the job, I won”t be drinking. On rare occasions, I may have a single draft if I come across something that piques my curiosity, but one is my limit. Ninety-nine percent of the time, I”m a bottled water or ginger ale man. I like to keep my faculties sharp so I can play my best. That”s my personal preference. From my perspective, professionalism involves showing up not only with my instrument, but also with a clear mind.

Not that I have a problem with fellow musicians who imbibe. I do have a problem with musicians who get drunk on the job. Most, however, are responsible people who play just fine and don”t go beyond the pale. My point isn”t to moralize, but to define a priority. The music comes first.

When I”m on the job, I”m there to play–and I love to play. There are few things I”d rather do. Everything else can wait. Fletcher Street Brewery will still be there tonight when I”m finished. I look forward to sampling their IPA!

December 8, 2007 by
Filed Under: Entertainment, Event, Jazz, Life, Music, Saxophone, Weddings

Saxual Development: Growing as a Player

In the earlier stages of my development as a sax player, I used a voluminous amount of written material for my practice sessions. Scales, patterns, chord studies, solo transcriptions, high note exercises–they all came out of the books. I had a gazillion books, a regular saxophone library.

Today, while I still have a few books that I pull out from time to time, most of my library is now boxed away. The books have served their purpose, namely, to get the material off the page and into my head and my muscle memory. Those faculties are now developed to a point where I prefer to devise my own excercises and patterns, which I hash out in all twelve keys without the aid of paper. After all, that’s the goal, right? To internalize musical building blocks and ideas so well that they pour forth spontaneously and effortlessly. Developing the mind-body connection in a way that produces skilled musical craftsmanship and great music takes time and hard work. But the results…ah! Creativity. Freedom of expression. Growing ability to execute ideas fluidly and convincingly. Those are the payoff.

My practice sessions today are now mostly conducted using my head and my horn. The written–i.e. visual–resources have been a boon, though, and I still resort to them freely when I need to. There’s always something new to learn and someone I can learn it from. In particular, the Internet has opened up a world of information and study tools, and today”s saxophonist has access to everything from web-based lessons, to forums on various makes of horns and mouthpieces, to jazz theory, to vintage saxophones, and much, much more.

If you’re a sax player and are not aware of Sax on the Web, you owe it to yourself to check it out. It’s a virtual clearing house of sax-related information, with lessons and input from top pros as well as forums for student and working-class sax players. Also, take a look at the website of sax clinician and educator Tim Price. Besides free online exercises that will help you build your jazz technique, Tim also offers reasonably priced distance-learning lessons.

The information and educational tools available to musicians these days are incredible. In the end, though, they can’t take the place of the ability to think and the willingness to work hard. There’s no getting around the woodshed. Practice with focus–and play with heart.

December 5, 2007 by
Filed Under: Entertainment, Jazz, Life, Music

Live Jazz to Fit Your Budget

Whether you’re planning a wedding reception or private party, or looking for background music for your dinner club, a jazz combo is a great way to add a touch of sonic ambience. And the good news is, you don”t have to drain your budget in order to find something you”ll like.

How much band can you get for your buck? It depends. Seasoned musicians will typically command a higher price. Younger players may be less expensive; however, you”ll want to consider the potential trade-off in quality. There truly are some incredible young musicians, but as a general rule, you”ll get what you pay for.

However, no law says you”ve got to hire a full entourage. You may do just fine with a duo, such as a piano and vocalist or solo instrument. That can be a particularly effective solution if you”re concerned about the amount of space you”ve got to work with.

Of course, you”ll be sacrificing something in the way of sound. Add a bassist and the keyboard player will thank you. You”ll be freeing up his left hand, and you”ll love the added fullness and inventiveness that result. Plus, a trio is still small enough to offer economy of space.

If you”re dealing with a big event, though–a wedding reception, for example–you”ll probably want at least a quartet. Drums adds drive and energy that will take your listening experience up to the next level, and when it comes to setting a beat for dancing, a drummer is indispensable. Of course, in such circumstances, space isn”t likely to be a concern for you.

In a nutshell…

* Consider your needs, your options, your limitations, and the tradeoffs.

* Consult with the band leader. He or she may offer suggestions that fit your unique circumstances.

* Finally, at the risk of stating the obvious, plan well in advance and budget for what you’ll be delighted with, not what you can get by with. You’ll love the payoff as your guests compliment you over and over on the fantastic band!

December 4, 2007 by
Filed Under: Entertainment, Event, Jazz, Music, Saxophone, Weddings

“They’re Playing Our Song”

It’s your wedding reception and it’s your money. So the band you hire should have no problem with playing your song. You know: the one you and your sweetheart pick for the first dance. The one that sets the tone for the dance floor. That, and any other song you particularly like.

Of course, you need to take a few steps to ensure that you get what you’re hoping for. Here is some sound advice from The Knot: “Explain what you’re thinking about in terms of musical selections….If there’s a song you really want to incorporate and [the band doesn’t] know it, they should be willing to learn from sheet music you provide them. If they’re resistant to the idea, find out if it’s because they think it won’t work with the instrument (they are, after all, more in the know than you; ask them to come up with some doable alternatives of a similar style). Or if it”s a case of just because, this is the time to do the cha-cha out the door.”

Assuming you’ve decided to engage a jazz combo for the live music at your reception, let me expand on the above with a few pointers:

* Discuss with the band leader well in advance which tunes you’d particularly like to have. If the leader doesn’t have a certain tune in his or her selection, then the two of you can work out how you’ll obtain a lead sheet for the band. Alternatively, you can describe what you”re looking for and ask for suggestions.

* Be realistic about your expectations. Jazz bands can be quite flexible, but they”re still jazz bands, not variety bands. If it’s a ballad you’re looking for, such as “Tenderly” or “My Funny Valentine”; or if it”s a swing standard a la “Take the A Train” or “Just Friends,” then you”re in the sweet zone. On the other hand, “Free Bird” probably isn”t in the repertoire.

That’s a general rule of thumb. Each band has its own degree of flexibility.

* Exploit the versatility. Good jazz bands are uniquely adept at creatively reinterpreting tunes. So…”Softly, As in a Morning Sunrise”: is it a ballad, a bossa, or a swing tune? Answer: It can be just about anything you want it to be. The band may make that choice spontaneously in performance, but you can capitalize on the possibilities. Maybe you”ve got a favorite tune that you”d like to hear done a bit differently. No problem. Just ask.

December 4, 2007 by
Filed Under: Entertainment, Event, Jazz, Music, Saxophone, Weddings

Practicing Altered Dominants

I had a blast playing in church this morning! Most praise team music isn’t complex; it”s primarily diatonic stuff that gives me a chance to work extensively in a particular key center, hashing out pentatonic licks, bebop scales, and so forth. It felt particularly good to be playing nice lines in the altissimo register–like, “Hey! I can actually get around up here!”

But this evening in my practice session, I drilled down into more complex material. Last year I was working heavily on my diminished whole-tone scales. More recently, I”ve been hammering out my Jewish scale, which is one name I”ve heard applied to the fifth mode of the harmonic minor scale. I”ve been running the same digital patterns over both scales, working my way around the circle of fifths to develop facility in every key.

Both the DWT and Jewish scales have built-in tones that work perfectly with altered dominant chords. But each scale has its own very distinctive sound. So I”m now implementing a new approach in my practicing that will help me integrate the two scales fluidly, so I can rapidly shift from one to the other. Tonight, I took the tone center of Bb and worked on both scales in it. I chose Bb because I find it to be one of the more challenging tone centers for these scales, particularly for the Jewish scale.

Challenging is good. I like “challenging”–particularly when I can feel the results settling into both my fingers and my ability to hear more colorful melodies and note choices. Love those flat ninths and flat sixths! It takes work to get them onto my palette, but I really value having the ability to toss them onto the musical canvas when and how I choose.

Growth: there’s no end to it in music. There’s always something to learn, some new discipline to work on. The endless demands of mastering an instrument can be frustrating at times. But they’re also one of the things that, for me, make playing the sax so fulfilling.

December 2, 2007 by
Filed Under: Entertainment, Jazz, Life, Music, Saxophone

From the Heart

Whew! Back from Dallas, where my mother, sister, and I spent Thanksgiving with my brother Brian, sister-in-law Cheryl, and new–and first-ever–nephew, Samuel. This trip down there was my introduction to Sam, and I must say, he”s cute as a button. Handsome, too, and with gobs of personality. I would go so far as to say that, when it comes to all-around, world-class winsomeness, this little guy has monopolized the market. He”s certainly got his mom and dad wrapped around his little finger, not to mention his grandma and aunt. As for me, well…”Uncle Bob” (gotta get used to that concept!) found himself feeling unashamedly moist around the eyes as he sat there in the couch, looking down at that sleeping little black-haired baby boy cradled in his arms.

This is my third blog posting on a website dedicated to jazz and the saxophone, and frankly, I don”t feel like writing about either. Music, after all, is just a slice of something much larger called “life,” and at its best, music gives voice in some way to what life is about.

When I was a young man, I defined so much of life, and myself, by music. I saw through a very narrow lens. But the lens has grown much bigger as I”ve gotten older. My playing has improved–but more importantly, by the grace of God, so have my heart and my outlook on life. A long history of shaping experiences somehow filters in to inform the stuff I play and–when I slip on my singer/songwriter hat–the songs I write, infusing them with an added dimension, a richness I hope my listeners can feel.

In a strange way, as music becomes less consuming, it becomes more meaningful. The less that music is its own message, the more it has something to say. It becomes a voice for many things. In some way, from now on, little Samuel will find his way to and through my horn. Not through any conscious effort on my part, I”m sure. But there will be a little more gentleness, an added dash of laughter, an extra playfulness, a deeper sense of wonder, and a touch of sadness as well, all with Sam”s wide, innocent brown eyes behind them.

Life is a long song. May we play it sincerely, passionately, and well.

L’chaim!

November 24, 2007 by
Filed Under: Jazz, Life, Music, Saxophone

The Perfect Note

I”m still in search of the perfect note.

Last Sunday I played a big band gig with the Grand River Big Band, where it was my privilege to sit next to tenor man Hugh DeWitt. In the middle of a killer R&B tune, Hugh slid up effortlessly into his altissimo range to nail a beautifully placed note–a long, screaming tone that couldn”t have more clearly declared itself to be the emotional high point of the tune if it had hung a sign around its neck that said so.

There was a perfect note if ever I heard one.

I’ve spent years developing my technique on the sax. I won’t say I’ve mastered bebop, but I’ve got a good foundation in it, and when I”m in peak form, I can really get around my horn. I can play fast.

nBut these days, my goal is to slow down and let fewer notes say more, with greater creativity and conviction. It’s a challenge. Certain tunes and styles are so energetic that I naturally gravitate to a flurry of chops. It takes discipline to slow down, un-busy myself, and see what I can do with fewer notes.

I”m getting there. More and more, my internal editor is informing my playing, guiding me toward the union of technique with melodic taste and harmonic sensibility to create musical statements I’m genuinely pleased with. Sometimes I could even swear I’ve hit the perfect note.

Musicality is what it’s all about. The point really isn’t to play slow any more than it is to play fast. The point is to play musically, to make technique serve beauty and taste at any speed. That’s my goal. I’m not where I want to be yet–but I”m a lot closer than I was five years ago.

November 20, 2007 by
Filed Under: Entertainment, Jazz, Music, Saxophone

In Praise of an Alto Sax Icon

Phil Woods. If you know that name at all, you say it with reverence. What a master of the alto sax and the bebop language!

Phil is a torchbearer for the American songbook, steeped in the history and tradition of jazz while always maintaining a fresh voice. In his hands, the old standards acquire inventive and refreshing reinterpretations, while newer, contemporary tunes root into a deep and sweeping musical legacy. Depending on the context, Phil”s ideas pour forth with relentless ferocity or tender and exquisite lyricism, all with a buttery smoothness that belies the man”s phenomenal command of the horn.

If you ever are fortunate enough to catch Phil Woods live, watch his fingers. The striking thing about them is, there”s nothing to watch. His fingers barely move. The most amazing, jaw-dropping double-time passages come tumbling out of his horn, but his fingers seem barely aware of it. That is economy of motion, if you please! And always with that fat, generous sound and highly personal sense of swing that instantly identify Phil as the man behind the horn.

I remember my first exposure to Phil back in my college jazz days. Having heard of him from a fellow sax player, I went out and purchased his I Remember album. Good choice. That old vinyl LP opened my eyes to the relationship between beauty and technique. I couldn”t get enough of the album. My Phil Woods collection grew and continues to grow, but I Remember remains one of my favorites.

You can’t play alto sax and not go through Phil. He has influenced my playing perhaps more than any other alto player, and that includes Bird and Cannonball. I”m sure you”ll read more about him in my future posts. For now, it seems appropriate to begin this blog with a tribute to a true jazz legend–the nonpareil Phil Woods.

Be sure to check out Phil’s website.

November 19, 2007 by
Filed Under: Entertainment, Jazz, Music, Saxophone
« Previous Page