[Z]

Thanks everybody! That is a Conn Chu Berry, New Wonder Series II alto! It was either made in 1927 or 1929; I bought it overhauled about a year ago. It plays great!

[Z]

Thanks everybody!

Saxomonica, it’s a JazzLab Saxharness. I got mine on Amazon right here:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B005J3EZZY/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1526681817&sr=8-1&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_QL65&keywords=sax+harness+jazzlab&dpPl=1&dpID=51ItXu8edFL&ref=plSrch

It’s really nice; and takes all of the weight off of your neck and puts it onto your shoulders, which is much more comfortable.

Johnny, I have heard of those! I haven’t thought about trying to play through any of them but that sounds like a super great time and challenge!

[Z]

Hey thank you everybody! I hope to have more for you guys to check out soon 😁

[Z]

Hey everybody, sorry for the late reply. I’ve been getting moved into college in Chicago! I’m super excited to start playing in the city and build on my knowledge of music. I thank you all for your kind words!

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Thank you!

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Thanks for the compliments everyone. Johnny, I completely agree. Playing in a quartet of any kind would be awesome, and I have done some stuff like that before, but it took a lot of time to put together because myself and the players involved were not as skilled as we are now. We couldn’t just read a chart down without much problem after the first couple of attempts. I’m sure that now it would be much easier to do stuff like that, and I look forward to doing stuff like that in the next couple of years. There’s a book Lennie Niehaus wrote with a bunch of duets in the jazz style, and I’ve been looking into getting into that to work on my sight reading chops. Hopefully this summer I’ll be able to shed a ton more and practice some more complex stuff.

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Johnny, I completely agree!

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I messed up with technology. Here are all three links to the imgur images.

Tenor written as played: http://imgur.com/Vbd3qfU
Tenor with altissimo written down octave: http://imgur.com/pTwfwrw
For Alto: http://imgur.com/nwjuVUW

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Yeah Mel, Hawkins definitely had a huge impact on Sonny Rollins. In early jazz (especially in early jazz saxophone), there were three main players. Coleman Hawkins, Lester Young, and Ben Webster. Coleman went balls to the wall, yet had an incredible knowledge of jazz harmony. It was bebop rhythms that put him out of place in music, but he was a fantastic player. Lester Young had a lighter sound, and he sort of floated over the top of the melody in a way. His thin and light style became very influential to people like Charlie Parker, Dexter Gordon, and John Coltrane in the mid 20th century. Ben Webster had an incredibly gruff tone, which contrasted with his beautiful subtones. These three men paved the way for the future of jazz and for jazz saxophone, and they are all unique. My favorite is Ben Webster. I never get tired of hearing him play. Sonny Rollins was different than many other saxophone players in the way that he was more influenced by Coleman Hawkins than Lester Young, who at that point in time most people tried to imitate. It’s great listening to this old time music and knowing that these men influenced so many people even today. You’re listening to some great stuff.

[Z]

Check out King of the Tenors and Soulville by Ben Webster. Those are my two favorite albums of his. Also take a look at Coleman Hawkins Meets Ben Webster, where the two play with the Oscar Peterson Trio. They’re all fantastic albums, and they’re all on YouTube!

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