Baker Street

[Kevin Reed]

In the Baker Street video you are playing both tenor and alto. I noticed you switched to alto when playing the guitar solos. Is this piece written as a tenor/alto duo? Will is sound just as good if played with only one horn?

Thanks Johnny,
Love everything you do.

Kevin

[john]

good questions Kevin…
the reason I used both horns is because the original recording is with the alto doing that intro riff. when played on tenor the range is lower and so doesn’t have that same nice high screamin effect, so it sounds better on an alto. the actual high note on tenor is G#, so too low in the middle octave but too high in the altissimo.
also, the melody sounds better on tenor as it’s closer to the male tenor voice so it works nicely there.
I actually played the guitar solo on the tenor only cause I have more control on tenor over alto, which I rarely play.
The music chart as I arranged it is for only one sax in mind, not as a duet. the duet was just for entertainment value for the video.
so you will play the whole thing one one horn, some parts will sound/work better on alto, others on tenor. depends o lot on how each one of us pulls it off too.

[William Cingolani]

Hi Johnny. I was listening to and watching your tutorial on the F – F# altissimo video. I never could get to F# with the Fork key until today.I always blew a Java 2 reed but the Java 2 always fell into a flutter, so out of despair I went with a Java 2.5 and bingo I hit the high F#. I’m still working with it and with my tuner to make it a usable F#. Also while using your bottom lip embrocher lesson I was able with ease to reach low B flat so I blew Danny Boy in the key of D….Low note – B.So maybe I should move up to a 2.5 Java. I do want to blow that high F# with ease.

[Anonymous]

@William – the secret into blowing those high altissimo key notes lies soley in being able to blow all those 7 overtones on the lower keys.

[john]

well William, sounds like you’ve come to that line in the road where it’s time to do just that.
from my own experience, I moved up gradually from a 1 to finally a 3.
I can’t remember how long I played each one for, but I can tell you that I never could comfortably play a 3.5.
why do we keep moving up? too improve the tone…bigger, stronger etc.
everyone’s final strength is different. I think Plas Johnson still plays a 1.5

If I were you I’d spend some time each day now with a 2.5 for as long as you can over the next couple weeks. then one day when you try a 2 again one of two things will happen: you feel more comfortable or it feels a little too week now and you’ve made the transition to the 2.5
My feeling is that you’ll soon like the 2.5 all-round since you’re getting some good results up high.

[William Cingolani]

Hi Johnny. I worked on the forked F and Forked F# today. Using a tuner I could see that I was blowing the high F and high F#. The java 2.5 was easy to blow using the fatboy. I was also using the goose neck that came with the horn. The horn sounded good today with the original goose neck. I tweeked it today so the pad would touch down. I may have to get it tweeked a bit more by my sax man but for now the sound is a bit more edgy and broad.

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