Hal Leonard is selling a CD set of backgrounds to ALL the songs in the Real Book Vol. 1. For about $100, you get 12 CDs of piano, bass and drums background that range in time from about 2 1/2 minutes to 6. Depends on the song. A couple of songs, like Wave, have guitar [Continue]

It has been really hard keeping the cat in the bag (I was a beta tester for the last 2 weeks or so), but tonight PG Music finally released Band in a Box 2010 for the Macintosh. As was the case in the previous version, this version is Intel only. So, you people with G5s [Continue]

Greg Fishman has a number of excellent books out. I’ve reviewed and highly recommend his Jazz Etudes Book Vol. 1 and Vol. 2 and his Saxophone Duets book. His latest book is Jazz Phrasing For Beginners, which is aimed at the beginning student. It contains 10 melodic tunes that great examples of idiomatic “classic” jazz [Continue]

After YEARS of waiting, and PG Music saying it was coming…it is here. Band in a Box 2009 for Macintosh. I could hardly believe it myself. Yes, the languishing program that was 7 versions behind the Windows version (2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2007.5, 2008, 2009) has been brought back to life. I wondered what happened [Continue]

The now dead iBrecker had the audio files for this clinic/jam session given by Michael Brecker in 1984. But Youtube has the VIDEO of them. Enjoy! And check out the rest on Protocol66′s youtube page. [Continue]

Have an iPhone or an iPod touch? Need a tuner? You NEED the Peterson Strobe Tuner for the iPhone/iPod Touch. I’ve tried many of the tuners available that are available for the iPhone/iTouch, free and paid. This one is worth the $10. If you don’t know what a strobe tuner is, check out this wikipedia [Continue]

I finally got around to watching some of the things that had been piling up from Netflixs. One of them was Tom Dowd and the Language Of Music. The description is a little misleading: “Rarely do we get a chance to see a feature-length documentary about a true unsung hero. Tom Dowd was an innovative [Continue]

I came across German Saxophonist Norbert Stein’s website today. He has a TON of stuff up there for FREE. A comprehensive saxophone workbook (more like a book for free), compositions, CDs for sales (of course) and more. Highly recommended. Check it out. He’s getting a place on my “sites” links. [Continue]

Ok, I think this is the FINAL version of this. Last updated in 2005, this version took out some stuff I had in there, and put in some stuff I have been practicing lately (triad things). 32 Pages of Saxophone goodness. It is FREE and available here and via Lulu here Plus you can buy [Continue]

I’ll admit I am an unabashed Apple fan. I do use a PC for menial tasks like generating Band in a Box backgrounds, or to download some Bittorrent stuff. Anyhow, when the iPhone came out, I got one within the first week. It has been amazing. Then they opened up the OS on the iPhone [Continue]

Here are the ingredients of a great album and recording: 1. Great songs….Pink Floyd’s Dark Side Of The Moon…..check 2. Good arrangements of said songs…..check 3. Great players…..check 4. Record everything live, with a single microphone and no digital “wizardary” (not Pro Tools *gasp*)…..check The [Continue]

Sometimes on the internet, you find some great sites. This is one such site. “You Are What You Hear” is a great site that has concert recordings from great artists such as Dave Liebman, Michael Brecker, Chris Potter, John Scofield……to name a very few. Well worth spending some time getting some of the recording here. [Continue]

I just picked up a Samson Q1U for a student as a going away present. He wants to do some webcam lessons or something (we’ll see how that goes…….yeah). Anyhow, there are a number of USB microphones out, or adapters for Microphones to USB. The Samson was a well under $100 mic that includes a [Continue]

One of the best tutorial sites I’ve seen. Doug McKenize’s Jazz Piano Site. If you play piano, or want to play, or just get better, check out his videos he has up. Very well done! [Continue]

Boots Randolph’s Rock and Roll Saxophone – Techniques and Fundamentals for Today’s Players by Boots Randolph and Mike Shannon is 63 pages that try to show you how to play rock and roll like Boots. Not that Boots playing could in any way be condensed down to so few pages. The first part of the [Continue]