My horns getting all prettied up for The Hunchback of Notre Dame For the second time this year I find myself surrounded by a sea of instruments—all my own and that I am responsible for—as I am in the pit orchestra for Secondary Character’s production of The Hunchback of Notre …
This one is for all my American friends who frequent my website every day. I wish all of you a safe and happy Independence Day holiday. Watch those fire works. We need all 10 of our fingers to play sax. 😉 PS: Please remember, we did not burn down your …
Canada Day long weekends always mean gridlock Yup, it’s hard to believe but Summer 2018 is officially here! Although we on the West Coast are currently experiencing anything but summer-like conditions, much of this country is basking in a hot, sunny, air conditioner necessary temperatures. Yesterday I ran a couple …
It has been a long while since I’ve written anything about bass saxophones, so when I saw this Orsi bass sax on eBay a couple of days ago, it got me thinking. I sent an email to the seller to get a clarification on the horn’s range, but he informed …
The concept of being a saxophone caretaker isn’t really outlandish at all Any well-made professional—or even a good, student model saxophone from the early to mid part of the 20th century—when properly cared for, will serve its owners well for hundreds of years. Yes, you read that right, I wrote …
I just got back from two-day trip to Vancouver Island where I picked up what is likely to be the replacement for my B&S Medusa low A baritone saxophone. As much as love my raunchy-sounding, natural overtone-producing, German-made bari, it no longer fits for the kind of music I play …
A few weeks ago a friend asked me what I would do if I was asked to sub in a community band, and there was a tuning problem with the saxophone section. Would I offer to help them to fix it? Or would I let them just play out of …
Wow, it feels like forever since I’ve sat down and tried to write an article for my site. It could be because I have spent the better part of the last month playing the Reed 5 book of The Music Man. The show wrapped last weekend, and I must admit, …
The other day I did a massive update of the Stencil Saxophones Names & Links page on my website, because for the last 10 months—I can’t believe that I first created that chart nearly a year ago!—I have been collecting saxophone stencil names by the dozens, and adding them to …
Over the years I have written numerous articles illustrating how the saxophone’s iconic image is used in everything from advertising to high art. Well today’s example of saxophone imagery is nothing short of exploitation. Yesterday while browsing eBay I happened across something I hadn’t seen before: sax-shaped metal tobacco and …