My Fascination With Boots Randolph

In the days before Jamey Aebersold & Hal Leonard, and all the other play alongs that we can buy now, there was Music Minus One. Way back in junior high, in what feels like the stone age now , I got my first Music Minus One LP.

The other day, while I was at the new Long & McQuade store in Vancouver, I found a relatively new (2005) Music Minus One (MMO) book. This one was done with the legendary Boots Randolph (who died July 2, 2007 at age 80).

Now, Randolph’s playing has always held a certain fascination for me. His style and technique were of course so uniquely his own, that you could always tell it was him playing.

His signature piece was Yakety Sax, which of course became the theme song for the Benny Hill Show. You’ve got to wonder, when he co-wrote the song and played it the first time, did he have any idea that he’d be playing it for the rest of his career, and that it would almost become his signature?

I love this particular version, but there are A LOT to choose from if you check out YouTube. 😉 

When I bought the MMO book I really wasn’t sure what to expect, but last night I had a chance to play through the 12 tunes and it was all I could do to keep up. I’d be lying if I said I sight read them all 100% correctly on the first try, but I came close on most of them. But as we all know, there’s a big difference between playing the notes, and playing them musically, with, or in a particular style.

What I really was hoping the book would do for me, was give me a better understanding of the intricacies of Boots Randolph’s style. Not because I want to sound like Boots, but because I would like to incorporate some of what he did, into my playing. After spending an hour going through the book, I realize it will do exactly that.

His attacks, releases, and phrasing, are a huge part of what made his playing so unique. And while yes, I could just buy his CDs and listen to & play along with those, I find that having the notes in front of me, really helps. I’m not an auditory learner… And being a musician, that’s problematic at times! I learn best, as do most people actually, through a combination of visual and auditory inputs.

That’s why this particular MMO volume is a really good one from a learning and teaching perspective. Not only are the basic notes of the song written out, those are easy enough to pick out of a CD, but all of the notes of the solos are written out as well. Most play alongs that you can buy, don’t have that feature. Combining visual and auditory cues increases the learnability of any material and task.

In my post on teaching on August 15, 2008, I mentioned the following, which is worth repeating here:

• People learn only 20% of what they hear.
• When people hear and see something, they learn 40% of it.
• However, people learn 80% of what they do, or what they discover for themselves.

So for $28.95 Cdn. (minus my teacher’s discount), I figure I got my money’s worth. This new MMO book will provide me with hours of shedding material. Speaking of which, I need to spend a bit of time there right now. I’ve got some long tones that I’ve been neglecting for a while, that I hear calling to me. BTW, I picked up a new book on those too, but that’s a post for another day…