Given the insanity of the past few months and weeks, and what is sure to be an equally batshit crazy next 72+ hours, I thought we could all use a moment of comedic relief in our lives. May Mr. Potato Head bring good reed karma to your saxophone Sunday. 😉
I wish all my fellow saxophone players a Happy National Saxophone Day! This is the day when we pay homage to the man who invented our favourite instrument. Adolphe Sax was born 202 years ago today in Dinant, Belgium.
If you are not a saxophone player: What the hell is wrong with you?
At least the saxophone has to be your favourite instrument… Right? If it isn’t, what is wrong with you? Perhaps you fell off the change table when you were an infant and bumped your head? 😉
If none of these things applies to you, then I hope you get some help for whatever ails you. Perhaps I can assist you a bit in that regard…
If classical piano is your thing, then I believe some Paul Brodie might be in order. He was Canada’s ambassador of the saxophone for decades, and performed and recorded more classical saxophone repertoire than any other Canadian saxophonist that I can think of.
If you suffer from symphony affliction, then I suggest you try some of Ravel’s orchestration of Pictures At An Exhibition by Modest Mussorgsky. The Old Castle features an alto saxophone solo. Yes, a saxophone really can perform with a symphony.
If you’re a percussionist, or a guitar player, then might I suggest some Colin Stetson. Stetson’s percussive, polyphonic playing will make you re-evaluate what you think you know about saxophones, and the fundamental concept that they are a monophonic instrument.
If you’re in love with oboes, then any straight soprano can be made to sound reedy enough for your tastes. English horn your thing? Then the Conn-O-Sax is definitely something you’ll want to investigate.
Are you in love with the sound of a bassoon? A bari can be moulded into a bassoon sound easy enough—although as a bari player I have to tell you, personally, nothing stifles my creativity more than sounding like a bunch of angry bees… 😉
And how could I forget my beloved bass? If you’re a tuba or upright bass player, then the bass saxophone is something you should really investigate. In the early days of the recording industry, the bass saxophone was the string bass’s biggest competition. Why? Well the reason is simple enough: The sax was chosen for recording work over strings, because the bass sax could project better. (Don’t forget, electric pick-ups had not been invented yet, nor had the electric bass.)
The following is a recording of the man who is recognized as being one of the world’s best bass sax players: Adrian Rollini. He makes playing that hulking 18 lbs of metal sound effortless. Take it from me, that is not an easy feat.
By now you should get the idea. Saxophone can play all styles of music, but they do it incredibly uniquely—and generally louder than their musical counterparts. Saxophones also take on the characteristics of the person playing them. Very few instruments are as individual as saxophones are.
Happy Saxophone Day 2016 everyone. Get out your horns, and play a lick or riff in honour of the man who made it all possible!
It’s funny, but even with a Conn-O-Sax in his hands, James Carter still sounds like a tenor player. As for the sound itself, it seems to range anywhere from Paul Desmond’s alto to a dark soprano, usually somewhere in between. You might logically think that being two semitones up from an alto but five down from a soprano, it would be much more like an alto, but that does not seem to be the case — it seems right smack in between and similar to Jessen’s G mezzo-soprano. Despite the globular bell, it sounds nothing like an English horn and still very much like a saxophone.
You might like this:
Bassoons need not sound like angry bees.
They do though…
Especially if their reeds are on their way out, or the player is using rehearsal reeds.
Hey, that Rollini guy can really play! Never heard of him before. Thanks.
At, at the opposite end of the size scale, I’m doing some straight soprano work for a xmas concert. Yup, pretending to be an oboe :). Now, so long as I don’t start to sound like Bechet I’ll be fine.
Yup, I’m really on top of my comments, aren’t I. 😉 By now your Xmas concert has come and gone. Hope it went well with the little ersatz oboe. 🙂 Hopefully it sounded like a real soprano sax, and not too much like a double reed.
Here’s something funny I’ve noticed. When I first take my straight soprano (Mark VI) out after not playing it for a while, I sound like a saxophone. After playing it for a number of days, or perhaps weeks, it takes on more of a reedy sound. Why? I don’t know. But the oboe player in the musical I did last summer laughed her ass off, and kept saying I was copying her sound. 🙁 Whatever…
Some days you’re the dog. Some days you’re the hydrant. When I play soprano, I’m definitely the hydrant!