Some beautiful photos of Lee and Dan. I think Dan recounts somewhere that Lee rang him after a gig and said to Dan, who’d been understandably nervous despite his colossal talent, and said to Dan ‘I didn’t hire you to play like that’. Lee was referring I think to ‘hitting a home run’. Lee had a related worry about playing with Mehldau. I’m currently working on a solo played by the astonishing Florian Weber. The solo is from Solar, Lee’s ‘New Quartet’ (Minsarah and Lee, 2013, Jazzwoche, Berghausen). I just want to get the feel of the line Florian sets up before going wild. Lastly, Dan rightly rebuked me for not taking Lee’s singing seriously. I’d first heard him sing on a lovely album with Ted Brown and John Abercrombie. Lee broke down laughing on the album, Sound of Surprise. So I thought he wasn’t so serious. But Warne was very serious about getting his students to sing. And I practice what Warne demanded (sing minor scales, intervals). That’s so hard.
this is sick just a note though at 1:00 it looks like you're doing grace notes(?) on those repeated a's but i believe he's alternating between normal a and the false fingering a in which RH 123 are pressed along with LH 12; more of a "wahwah" than a grace note thing
Great to see you back on the tube Sean! The story of jugling with playing, teaching, family stuff and still the desire to produce content (which usually ends up with making scripts or footage never to be edited in the end) sound familiar. All the best wishes to you for the new year
I just listened to a 10h European podcast radio show on Sonny Rollins (yes, 10x 1h, covering 1951-2001 !!!). My opinion of Rollins is that it seems very overrated to me. First of all as a player, he does not seem to me better than Johnny Griffin, Stitt, Roland Kirk, Phil Woods, Lateef ... but enjoys a much more important reputation ... and unjustified in my opinion. Ok he plays well, but not better than the musicians I mentioned. In terms of composition, he did not compose anything, everyone knows that St Thomas is a Caribbean folklore already recorded by Randy Weston in 1955 under the title Fire Down There. His other compositions from the 50s ... well, Oleo, Airegin etc ... this can in no way be compared to the compositions of Trane, Bird, Monk or Shorter ... also, his playing and his sound are terribly degraded after 1966 (36 years). It seems that he was traumatized by the arrival of Ornette, Trane, Ayler ... In the 60's he tried to be more free than Ayler, more calypso / blues than Ornette, and more mystical than Trane, but he didn't. did not succeed. Then in the 70s / 80s he tried to be funky, disco ... with really ridiculous and cheesy results ... Did he want to be funkier than James Brown himself? Also, in the radio show they say that he was paid current $ 300,000 for himself to record the Nucleus album (so listen to the result !!!!), and that, for his concerts, his financial claims were unrealistic, only the big festivals could afford it. He played with the Stones but didn't want to go on tour with them because, according to Jagger himself, he wanted too much money! I mean, I'm not making anything up here. In my opinion, he should have remained what he was before, a disciple of Bird at the Tenor, and quit at the age of 40 to leave a quality job, and without trying to follow fashion. Thank you for not insulting me because I have documented myself on Rollins and I like to have constructive discussions without being attacked on my person.
I think the setup might have more to do with how it feels for your airstream when trying to create your sound. I spent years copying Dexter on a Yamaha, when I picked up a real beefy 10m, the pieces really fell into place. I'm playing on a Tenor Madness horn, and the neck options they let you try are radically different from the feel side.
I agree, I had a similar experience in college when I tried desperately to sound like Kenny Garrett on my Yamaha alto. When I finally got my hands on a Mark VI, that was the missing piece of the puzzle (the 20%, in my opinion). Our equipment should definitely feel good. Having a strong mental concept of sound is what guides us, and equipment can make it easier to obtain that concept. It's inspiring when I see Potter, Branford and Turner each play a Yamaha tenor, and sound essentially the same. Their mental concept is so strong, physically they can make it happen regardless of the gear. Thanks for your feedback, Andrew. I appreciate your thoughtful comments!
Me too! Such a great solo. I heard him play this tune in NYC one time and he played many of the same lines. It was really interesting to know that a lot of this language was pretty worked out. This solo is amazing to me especially because of the accuracy of his playing (time feel, articulation, and altissimo), but I especially love how it develops so naturally, and how each phrase leads so well into the next.
I’ve tried those before. To me, they sacrifice body for edge/brightness. I don’t really think most saxophonists need more edge/brightness in their sound. I prefer to find more warmth, resonance, roundness, and in general more of the mid and low frequencies.
@@SeanImboden ok. but if you still only use the traditional reed vandoren, if it's for a rather fast rhythmic song like bossanova and pop, can the sound be heard clearly?
@@johantanjung4905 they’re just different, not necessarily better or worse. They range from bright to dark. I like the traditional (dark blue box) because they have a darker sound than the others (thicker core to the sound and less edge/cut to the sound).
@@SeanImboden ok. sir..., you true..., im agree. i like vandoren traditional too..., but you can try the rico frederick hemke saxophone reed again..., yeah, i think that reed very spesifik and smoother.
All ways loved this solo Michael could just lay it down got a chance too meet him a couple times he was a phila guy and one of the all time greats ,thanks for the throw back
