The Woodwind Forum
Dedicated To The Woodwind Enthusiast
Afternoon Listening
02450 days
Listening to some Sonny Rollins today. Right now I have Brass/Trio from 1958. Interesting record. Interesting playing. Sonny Rollins is one of those players who has changed a lot through the years. Most people know the story behind “The Bridge”. This was recorded a year before he took his break. Brass/Trio shows Rollins in great shape and you can see hints of where he was headed. Overall a great album and check out the supporting cast – a bunch of great players.
Personnel
Sonny Rollins – Tenor Saxophone
Nat Adderley – Cornet
Clark Terry – Trumpet
Reunald Jones – Trumpet
Ernie Royal – Trumpet
Billy Byers – Trombone
Jimmy Cleveland – Trombone
Frank Rehak – Trombone
Dick Katz – Piano
Rene Thomas – Guitar
Roy Haynes – Drums
Henry Grimes – Bass
Ernie Wilkins – Arranger, Conductor
Don Butterfield – Tuba
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2510 days
My review of Doug Ramsey’s book “Take Five the public and private lives of Paul Desmond” is now in the Reviews Section.
Five Favorite Tenor Players
02564 days
by Ed Svoboda
in Saxophones
1. Lester Young
2. Zoot Sims
3. Stan Getz
4. Ben Webster
5. Coleman Hawkins
Honable Mention
Scott Hamilton
James Houlik
Five Favorite Bari Players
02565 days
by Ed Svoboda
in Saxophones
1. Gerry Mulligan
2. Pepper Adams
3. Serge Chaloff
4. Harry Carney
5. Mike Brignola
Honorable Mention
Nick Brignola
Ronnie Cuber
Gary Smullyan
Claire Daly
Five Favorite Alto Sax Players
02570 days
by Ed Svoboda
in Saxophones
1. Paul Desmond
2. Johnny Hodges
3. Art Pepper
4. Benny Carter
5. Kenny Garrett
Honorable Mention
Phil Woods
David Sanborn
Coltrane’s Tone
02571 days
I’m listening to “A Love Supreme” right now. I love the things that John Coltrane creates in terms of improv and his writing can’t be appreciated enough. His tone always leaves me cold. Too bright. Too brittle sounding. His early work isn’t quite as creative but his tone is much better. His middle work is amazing but the tone leaves me cold. The last few years of stuff when he’s fully into “Free” jazz I still don’t enjoy.
Having an Impact
02656 days
by Ed Svoboda
in wisdom
I could tell you that I get asked a lot of times how I can change the world and I also have been asked a lot of times how I can be a rock and roll singer. And do you see what’s on the end of my fingers? Calluses. And what that means is that if you’re willing to play the guitar night in and night out for audiences of three people when you are coming up and finding that even your mother says tpppth it doesn’t sound very good. The point is very simply that if you care enough you can have an impact. Because in the long run we are not sure of a prior life or an after life � we’re all hoping for that. But what we can do is maximize what we have in this brief flicker of time in the infinity and try to milk that. And be hunger in a different in a different kind of way. Hungry for experience, hungry for meaning, and you can be terribly terribly effective if you want to be.
Harry Chapin
Mouthpiece Change
02656 days
I used to change mouthpieces often. It seemed like every time I showed up to play I’d have a different mouthpiece. My section mates never knew what I would show up with. A couple of years ago I made the decision to stop changing pieces all the time and to stick with something. I think that’s the best advice I could give a player. Stick with something and practice more.
For the last couple of years I have been playing primarily on the great mouthpieces of Ralph Morgan. On tenor I have been playing his 7L with nice results. My only compaint about this piece has been that it sounds a little buzzy . . . which is to say I don’t find it quite smooth enough. Three or four months ago I picked up a 7* Otto Link Tone Edge hard rubber piece from a fellow member of the Sax On The Web Forum. I noticed that the table wasn’t really flat and that the facing curve wasn’t quite right. I fixed those things and adjusted the baffle. I liked the piece but proceeded to send it out to another player who was looking for something different. Thankfully, it didn’t fit what he was looking for and I am now using this piece instead of the Morgan 7L. I find the revised Link to be smoother than the Morgan and this one has a bit of a slant vibe to it.
I believe this piece will give me a wonderful baseline for the hard rubber prototypes I am working on for my Chicago Mouthpieces line.
Sax Repairs
02656 days
by Ed Svoboda
in Saxophones
I like to have my horns in top shape all the time and one of the problems with having as many horns as I do is that you make frequent visits to the tech. I just got back my soprano (Antigua Winds A-590SPC) which is now playing great. I dropped off my 1960 Selmer Mark VI alto and it apparently has a major leak in the bis. In the meantime I get to spend some quality time with my Armstrong Heritage (Keilwerth Stencil) which is a fun horn to play.
More Vintage Ads
02668 days
I have added another ten vintage ads to the Vintage Ad Gallery including a couple of really great ones from Otto Link and Brilhart.