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Year: 2011

Thing 1

Posted on March 6, 2011 By ericdano No Comments on Thing 1

Have a computer? Have something like Garageband or a Synth sound you really like? Have a microphone? Then you might want to check this out.

Thing-1TM – MIDI Performance System
Thing-1 is a software MIDI wind controller for woodwind players offering a new range of musical expression to anyone who can play the saxophone, flute, clarinet, or recorder.”

Basically, it is a real time Pitch (monophonic) to Midi program. Yes, there are other ones out there like Pyrolators Max for the Max/Msp sytem, or WIDI Audio to Midi AU, or even Blue Cat’s Digital Peak Meter Pro that do similar things as this program. There are probably other things as well. This is not an area that I know much of, but it is interesting stuff. I’ll have to look into stuff like this. Looks fun.

Articles

Jazz Robots on Finish and SOTW

Posted on February 22, 2011February 22, 2011 By ericdano No Comments on Jazz Robots on Finish and SOTW

Yes, most of the time going to SOTW is like this……these are the sort of “discussions” they have there.

Articles, Videos

George Shearing dies; pianist, composer was 91

Posted on February 14, 2011 By ericdano No Comments on George Shearing dies; pianist, composer was 91

The Washington Post reports:
“George Shearing, 91, the virtuosic jazz pianist who wrote the standard “Lullaby of Birdland,” died of cardiac arrest today in New York.”

If you haven’t checked out his work before, now is a good time to acquaint yourself with them.

Articles

Talkin’ ’Bout i(Pod) Generation

Posted on February 11, 2011 By ericdano No Comments on Talkin’ ’Bout i(Pod) Generation

San Francisco Classical Voice had a great article about the iPod Generation
“The iPod (and, by extension, iTunes) not only revolutionized the world’s listening habits early in the last decade, expanding the sheer variety of music people listen to; it also changed the manner in which people think of and hear music. It’s true that not everyone has an iPod (or an iPhone or an MP3 player of some sort), but virtually everyone understands its significance. The device holds music that fits in your pocket, offering you an easy way to listen to vastly different things, even a way to juxtapose and to mash-up music or sounds that would normally seem as far apart as a Formula One racecar and a pony.

The most significant musical inventions from Apple’s iPod (and, by extension, iTunes) are the shuffle, the mashup, and the playlist.”

I think the author left out Music Hoarding…..I think that is a huge contribution to music. You now don’t have to look for an album in your collection, it’s there. And as your collection grows, it is invaluable to hear 20 versions of “Impressions” or “Giant Steps”. Playlists are nice, the mashup can be fun, and shuffling has its place but hoarding is where it is at. That is the wondrous thing Steve Jobs and the iPod brought us.

Thanks Steve……now lets create a playlist of a mashup of everything that has the word blues in it……ahhh, 5,568 songs? I guess we shall be using the shuffle on this…..

Articles

How to Play Saxophone

Posted on February 7, 2011 By ericdano No Comments on How to Play Saxophone

I got this in my email today. Funny stuff.

HOW TO PLAY THE SAXOPHONE

First things first: If you’re a white guy, you’ll need a stupid hat, the more stupid the better and preferably a beret.

Sunglasses are optional, but all the really, really good players wear them, especially indoors.

You’ll also need some “gig shirts”-Hawaiians are good, but in a pinch anything with a loud floral pattern is acceptable, as are T-shirts from various jazz clubs and festivals. The good thing about the latter is that you can get them mail order so you don’t have to go to all the trouble of actually seeing and hearing live music.

And sandals are an absolute must, even in winter.

Once you’ve assembled the proper attire you can begin practicing. One of the most important things about playing is being able to convey emotion to the audience. This you do through various facial expressions. The two emotions you’ll need to convey are (1) rapture / ecstasy and (2) soul wrenching pain and sadness (i.e., the blues). You may find it useful in the beginning to borrow a page from the method acting school. So, for example, to convey rapture, try thinking of something nice-like puppy dogs or getting a rim job from Uma Thurman while Phil Barone feeds you Armour hot dogs with truffle sauce.

To convey the “blues” try thinking of something really appalling – like ulcerative colitis or Alec Baldwin.

You should practice your facial expressions in front of a mirror at least two hours per day. You may feel a tad stupid at first, but you’ll never get the chicks if you don’t jump around on stage like a monkey with your face screwed up like there’s a rabid wolverine devouring your pancreas. And, bottom line, getting chicks is really what music’s all about.

Next, you’ll need the correct ligature.

Some people think that the ligature is just a stupid old piece of metal that holds the reed on the mouthpiece. Well, those people are idiots. Besides your beret, the ligature is the single most important piece of musical equipment you will ever buy. Mine, for example, is 40% platinum and 60% titanium; one screw is rubidium and the other plutonium. It makes me sound exactly like Booker Ervin would if Booker Ervin wasn’t (1) dead and/or (2) living on Mars.

You may have to spend years and years and thousands of dollars finding the proper ligature, but in the end it definitely will be worth it.

Now reeds. Optimally, you’ll want to move to Cuba, grow and cure your own cane, and carve your own reeds by hand. If you’re just a “weekend warrior” however, you can get by with store-bought.

First, buy ten boxes of reeds -100 in all. Next, open all the boxes and throw away 60 reeds. Those were unplayable.

Take the remaining reeds and soak them in a mixture of 27.8% rubbing alcohol and 72.2% pituitary gland extract for a period of 17 weeks.

Throw away 20 more reeds. Those were stuffy.

Take the remaining 20 reeds and sand each one for exactly 13 seconds with #1200 grade 3M sandpaper.

Throw away 14 reeds. Those squeaked.

Take the remaining 6 reeds and soak them for another 17 weeks, this time however in a mixture of 27.8% pituitary gland extract and 72.2% rubbing alcohol.

Sun dry the 6 remaining reeds for 3 weeks, optimally at an equatorial latitude, and throw away 3 more just on general principles.

You now have 3 reeds that will last you several months if you play each one only 20 minutes a day in strict rotation.

Now, you say you just bought a horn. Although you didn’t say what kind it is I’d sell it immediately and get a different one.

The best one to get would be a Selmer Mark VI made at 4:27 PM on June 14, 1963, serial number 635543. If you can’t get that one though, generally speaking the older and more expensive the better.

The following brands are good: Selmer Paris Mark VI. The following brands suck: any other Selmer, Yamaha, Conn, Beuscher, Yanigasawa, Cannonball, LA, Jupiter, Elkhart, King, Martin, Keilworth, Boosey and Hawkes, Couf, Silvertone, and Holton. On no account should you play the horn before you buy it: go strictly on reputation and price.

You will also need some accoutrements: a flight case capable of withstanding atmospheric pressure of dP = – Dg dz where D and g are, respectively, the density of air and the acceleration due to gravity at the altitude of the air layer and dz is a horizontal layer of air having unit surface area and infinitesimal thickness; a metronome; a tuner; a combination alto-tenor-baritone sax stand with pegs for an oboe, bass clarinet, flute, english horn and bassoon; Band in a Box; every Jamie Aebersold play-along record ever created; a reed cutter; swabs, cleaners, pad savers, pad dope, pad clamps; a Sennheiser Digital 1092 Wireless Microphone; an effects rig with digital delay and parametric EQ; and a 200 watt (per channel, minimum) amplifier and 18″ monitor.

It will be helpful if you listen to lots of sax players. Unfortunately, listening solely to players you like is absolutely the worst thing you can do.

To really understand the music and its traditions you have to go back to the beginning and listen to every bit of music ever recorded. I’d start with madrigals and work forward. Once you get to the 20th century, pay particular attention to players like Jimmy Dorsey, Sidney Bechet, and Al Gallodoro who are the foundations of the modern jazz saxophone.

In no time at all, or by 2034-whichever comes first-you’ll be able to understand the unique be-bop stylings of players like Ace Cannon, Boots Randolph, and Sam Butera.

Finally, to play the sax itself, blow in the small end and move your fingers around. (Author Unknown)

Articles

Kenny G Riot Suppressor

Posted on February 6, 2011February 6, 2011 By ericdano No Comments on Kenny G Riot Suppressor

This actually explains so much about Kenny G…….

Articles, Videos

Wooden…..Saxophones?

Posted on February 2, 2011 By ericdano No Comments on Wooden…..Saxophones?

So, we have wooden clarinets, oboes, flutes, piccolos…..but a whole saxophone?

Besides these guys NOT knowing how to play saxophone…….I just have to file this under the WTF category….

Read More “Wooden…..Saxophones?” »

Articles, Videos

Brian Rust, Father of Modern Discography, Dies at 88

Posted on February 2, 2011 By ericdano No Comments on Brian Rust, Father of Modern Discography, Dies at 88

Brian Rust died. Don’t know who this is? Oh, but you know his work. Yes you do you jazzer you.

“Brian Rust, a discographic detective who compiled comprehensive guides to recorded jazz and other popular music, in the process setting the standard for the modern field, died on Jan. 5 in Swanage, in southern England. He was 88.

For decades, “Jazz Records” — known to jazz mavens simply as “J. R.” — has been the de facto standard reference work in the field, furnishing meticulous information on session dates, personnel and much else for tens of thousands of recordings.”

See, he’s the reason you know X, Y and Z played on a session at so and so studio on this date.

Thanks for your work Brian.

Articles

Mass User Purge

Posted on February 1, 2011 By ericdano No Comments on Mass User Purge

Sometime between the end of November and the first part of the year, Jazz-Sax was hit with tens of thousands of registrations of fake and spam users. Like marc162230205 and his brother marc247329716. The result was that pretty much the outgoing email (like registrations and passwords) was shut down due to being flooded with bounced emails that I didn’t know about (thanks google apps!). We went from a about 12,000 users to nearly 100K.

Anyhow, I’ve been using some tools to remove inactive and spam users. So, if you had registered here but haven’t ever posted a comment or submitted a story, you probably got deleted. Sorry.

You can easily enough register again, except it will ask a few questions and make you enter a CAPTCHA to help weed out the people from the bots.

Articles

John Barry

Posted on January 31, 2011January 31, 2011 By ericdano No Comments on John Barry

Barry composer of the classic James Bond theme died today. It’s impossible to imagine James Bond without it’s signature theme, but that almost happened.

“Shortly after this Barry would receive the fateful phone call from Bond producer Harry Saltzman. “I got a phone call from Harry,” recalled Barry in a 2006 article in the Telegraph. “He never used to come down to the recording sessions, and he says: ‘John, that is the worst fucking song I ever heard in my life. We open in three weeks’ time, otherwise I’d take that fucking song out of the picture. I’d take it out! Out!’”

Here are some other themes he did, like Dances With Wolves.

Another good link about John Barry.

News

Jake Shimabukuro plays “Bohemian Rhapsody”

Posted on January 28, 2011 By ericdano No Comments on Jake Shimabukuro plays “Bohemian Rhapsody”

Not saxophone, but not everything totally amazing is……and when you see or hear an amazing performance, it doesn’t matter what instrument it is. Here is one such performance….on Ukulele…..

Articles, Videos

Playing With Effects Pedals – Dean Mongerio

Posted on January 26, 2011January 28, 2011 By ericdano No Comments on Playing With Effects Pedals – Dean Mongerio

Sometimes, I find things that are just totally cool. This is one of them. Florida based Saxophonist Dean Mongerio showing off his pedals and stuff. Here is what I saw that he is using.

1. BBE SupraCharger Power supply
2. Eventide PitchFactor Harmonizer
3. Q-Tron (older model?)
4. Troop Bypass looper
5. Keeley 4 Knob Compressor
6. MXR M169 Carbon Copy Analog Delay Guitar Effects Pedal
7. MXR M-108 Ten Band Graphic EQ
8. DigiTech Hardwire Series RV-7 Reverb Guitar Effects Pedal
9. Radial ProDI Passive Direct Box

I’ve always loved effects on saxophone since hearing those amazing Brecker Brothers albums in the 70s. I have been experimenting with pedals using software on my iPad and EWI (working on an article/review) which is actually quite useable. Plus, the iRig also works with a dynamic mic like a Shure 57 Beta. So you can pipe your Sax into the iRig and run it through Ampitude on your iPad or iPhone.
EDIT: Upon further testing, the iPad/iPod/iPhone iRig and EWI is very cool. Though it does work with a microphone like a Shure 57, it sounds like crap and picks up way too much other noise to be practical.

But here is Dean doing it to more old fashioned and probably better way……

Part One

Part Two

Articles, Videos

Isaac Asimov on Education and Computers in 1988

Posted on January 26, 2011 By ericdano No Comments on Isaac Asimov on Education and Computers in 1988

If you don’t know who Isaac Asimov is then go education yourself. He coined the term Robotics, beat the Lord Of The Rings Trilogy, and wrote a bunch of stuff. He also seemed to pretty much predict what we have today. He has some interesting ideas about education that we should pay attention to. He would have been in his 90s now if he had not died of HIV which he had contracted during a triple bypass surgery in 1983. He would be amazed to see what we have done.

Articles

What Happens When a CD Factory Closes

Posted on January 20, 2011 By ericdano No Comments on What Happens When a CD Factory Closes

As we move more and more to everything being digital and available for download or to be streamed to you, some industries suffer. CNet.com has an article about Sony closing it’s Pitman New Jersey plant that makes CDs.

Kind of interesting that Sony used to have THREE plants in the USA that pressed CDs, one of them closed in 2003, and now the Pitman one is closing. I personally only get physical CDs when I go to Rasputins (used), or get something used off of Amazon.com. Though there has been a resurgence of “low-fi” and “audiophile” music, both of which seem to favor vinyl rather than CD. I do like the trend of iTunes and others upping the bit-rate and losing the DRM on the music….and keeping the price at $0.99.

Articles

Bopland.org

Posted on January 20, 2011 By ericdano No Comments on Bopland.org

I came across this website/project, Bopland.org its a database of Jazz licks. It has some potential. Couple of things I would LIKE it to do are:

  1. User uploadable patterns, that are tagged with whom uploaded them
  2. User comments on the lick
  3. Ability to upload Music XML files to it.
  4. Ability to generate a “print page”
  5. Ability for a user (registered) to favorite licks
  6. Ability to generate favorite licks or selected licks in various keys easily (so if there is a lick in C major, and I want to see the same lick in 5 other keys, I can get it to do it)

It’s a cool project. Needs some additional features, but I like it. Check it out.

Articles

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iPad....essential device or stupid fad?

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Downloads

  • Zinn Practice Regimen III (592.7 KiB, 52,857 hits)
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  • Zinn Practice Regimen (211.9 KiB, 20,275 hits)
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  • Breckerisms - Michael Brecker Type Patterns (379.6 KiB, 15,070 hits)
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  • II-V-I Patterns in Bb (4.6 MiB, 12,512 hits)
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  • II-V-I Patterns Reference (600.9 KiB, 12,111 hits)
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  • II-V-I Patterns in Eb (4.7 MiB, 11,718 hits)
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  • II-V-I Patterns in Bb Pages 1 to 100 (1.7 MiB, 11,500 hits)
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  • II-V-I Patterns in Bb Pages 201 to 289 (1.6 MiB, 11,001 hits)
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Sites

  • A-NO-NE Music
  • Aebersold Music
  • AKG Headphones and Microphones
  • Apple
  • BopLand.org
  • Boston Sax Shop
  • Bret Primentel
  • Casa Valdez Studios
  • Charles McNeal
  • Create Digital Music
  • Dorico
  • Eric Dannewitz
  • EWI Musician
  • EWI Reason Sounds
  • EWI-EVI Page
  • Greg Fishman
  • Hollywood Saxophone Quartet
  • Horn Pedalboard Subreddit
  • iRockJazz
  • Jazz Standards
  • Jazz-Clarinet
  • Jazz-Flute
  • Jazz-Oboe
  • JazzBariSax.Com
  • Joe Allard.org
  • Kenyon Carter
  • M-Audio
  • McDSP
  • Metric Halo Labs
  • Michael Brecker
  • MOTU
  • Norbert Stein
  • PG Music
  • Phil Woods
  • Ricci Adams’ Musictheory
  • Sammy Nestico
  • Save A Bunny
  • Sax Pictures
  • Seventh String Software
  • Shure Notes
  • Sound On Sound
  • Tape Op
  • USA Horn

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