I somehow get a Yamaha Magazine called “Backstage Pass”. It’s usually not a good read, however the Spring 2003 issue has some interesting stuff in it. There is a good article about Mark Rivera, Frankie Perez, Jeff Coffin, Lennie Niehaus, and the venerable Phil Woods. All these guys are Yamaha artists, and the articles are good reads, especially the Phil Woods article about how he is using a Yamaha Custom that they made for him.
The other thing of interest came in my mail the other day (like paper mail….imagine that). Freehand Systems is offering their MusicPad Pro Plus for $999. What this basically is is a 12.1″ LCD pad that can hold music. It runs Linux, has 2 USB ports, 32 Megs of Flash Memory and is supposedly fault tolerant (whatever that means).
It’s an interesting idea, except for a couple of things. First is the price. About 1/2 that it might be worth buying. Second, increase the memory. 32 Megs of Flash memory is nothing. You need more memory. Third, it really needs to be two pages. One way to do that would be to be able to hook up 2 of these together and when you hit the foot switch, it would move the second page to where the 1st is, and then load the next page where the second was.
It’s an interesting idea, but I don’t think it’s ready for prime time yet.
Update: 02/17 01:11 GMT by E :Rory was brave and actually emailed the man about his horn change. Here is Phil’s reply:
You bet your ass I am going to use it-it is a great horn-I can't play the selmer anymore-Yamaha has blown them out of the water for half the price about time- no, I am not playing it because they are paying me-they pay nothing. They do help with tour support. I have not sold out, contary to internet chat- the very idea that a man of my integrity is for sale is very upsetting - my ass has never been for sale-tell your friends and my enemies.
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Comments_Questions:
Phil played at my college in about '98 and let us put 2 cuts from the great concert on the CD. Also thanks for a signed Voyage CD that a friend conned you into sending for my 50th. Are you really going to use that Yamaha in place of the gold plated Mark VI? Later....
Well, there you have it. He simply LIKES the Yamaha better. He’s not getting $$$$$ for saying so, he really thinks that his Yamaha is a better horn than his Mark VI.
I remember reading something about Michael Brecker and switching to Guardala saxophones. He said something to the effect that “Yeah, it plays easier and better, but I’m used to my horn.” Regardless, whatever works for you. If you change horns, then more power to you, if not, more power to you.
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