Practising - One

A few months ago, my girlfriend, Val (follow her here), and I decided to buy a house. This has given me more time to practise than I have ever had (since college). Living in the apartment was not condusive to practising, because I have always had neighbours who have complained (not that it ever stopped me from practising, but I did put less hours in). Now that I can practise when I please I am finding more and more holes in my playing - particularly in my technique.

I have always focused on my sound. Long tones, soft and loud, bent and straight, with or without vibrato - I have always been obsessed with sound and tone. Check out Andrew White's Four Hour Warm-Up. Don Englert turned me on to that one. Technique, however, has always gone to the wayside. I have always gotten by, but just, and now the more I want to execute, the more frustrated I have become.

So, the remedy....I have started adapting Czerny's School Of Velocity from piano to saxophone. These set of exercises are brilliant, and suit the saxophone quite well. I'm finding that they force me to use the palm keys and the altissimo register. This mobility is the challenge I've been looking for!

When I practise, there are several elements of my playing that I'm working on.

Tone and air support - these exercises are written for the piano. There are not many places for the saxophonist to breathe. I have been omitting a note here and there to make sure that I can keep full support and a good sound.

Articulation - I play everything with the "jazz" articulation (ta-tee-ah-tee-ah). To make sure it swings. Practical application is a concept that I cherish.

Time - Metronome starts at 40bpm on beats two and four. No questions, until it's perfect.

Keys - each study gets transposed through every key. I do this at sight. I feel this is an important skill because A) it forces me to think about what's coming next, B) the study becomes internalized much quicker, because I can't read it, and C) sight transposing is a necessary skill - have you ever worked with a singer? (Sorry - had to do it.)

These (in my mind) are the keys to making any exercise or set of exercises practical. I'm finding that I'm getting around the horn much more comfortably, and hopefully, the technique will start to show in a few weeks. I learn slowly - it usually takes a few weeks, or sometimes even a month before my practising exposes itself at a gig.

You can find the Czerny book here, and from my research, it IS public domain, so feel free to download it.

The Trio

Every Tuesday night, for the last twenty seven Tuesdays (except for one), my trio of Philippe Charbonneau (bass), Matt Aston (drums) and myself have performed at the Avant Garde Bar. This residency has allowed us to explore each other's musical boundaries and has created one of my favourite groups that I have ever worked with.

I'm blogging about the trio, and specifically Phil and Matt, because they make my job easy. Yes, all of the compositions are mine, and yes, the group has my name on the banner, but it is far from my group. We work as a cohesive unit - a collective. This makes the music, to me, much more fulfilling.

Phil was the first bassist I worked with when I moved to Ottawa in June of 2008. We played my original compositions (at the Avant Garde, no less) in a quartet setting (Kelsey McNulty was the pianist, and Patrick Sénécal was the drummer). Phil hooked me up with a bunch of great players - Zakari Frantz, Olivier Fairfield, Linsey Wellman, Mike Essoudry, Thomas Posner, Kelsey McNulty and so many others. Phil always has great arrangement ideas, and creates a huge amount of spontaneaty in the group. He keeps me on my toes.

Matt turned down my first gig...but he has helped me move a few times, so I guess he's alright. I have played more with Matt than any other musician in the last two years. Matt has been part of almost every small group that I have put together. He will be with my Large Views Ensemble and a few other projects that I have coming up. Matt provides a great support for both Phil and I to explore. He seems to push us at just the right time or he lets us go where we feel. My favourite part about Matt's playing is his dynamic range. He knows when the group needs to shift gears. He gets inside of my tunes and there's a huge trust factor when it comes to our interaction.

With both of these incredible musicians, the music is a lot of fun, challenging and explorative.

At the beginning of October, we're heading into the studio (for the first time with this group), to record the trio's debut album. If you're ever in the Ottawa area on a Tuesday night, check out the trio for a preview of what you'll hear on the upcoming release.

Coming Up This Year

My life never feels like it has a definite year end (or beginning for that matter), I have always felt that the best place for me to start is in September. I love the fall, school is in, it starts getting really busy for me with students and gigs - this is my new year. I love this time of year. So much inspiration.

I have to alert you to some projects coming up over the next several months.

My Large Views Ensemble will become active again after about a year off. We're coming back with a new look. I've pared down the group to allow for some more freedom. This ensemble is made up of my trio (Philippe Charbonneau - bass, Matt Aston - drums and cymbals) and a string quartet (led by Elizabeth St-Cyr - more on her in another post). Keep your eyes open for a show and possible recording in November.

The Nonet will be back this winter as well. This group has been on an even longer break. A show with brand new material is being written currently. I`m really excited about bringing a bunch of my favourite musicians back to the stage and performing large group music together again.

As always, look out for my trio. We play every Tuesday night at the Avant Garde Bar. Come check us out. Each week, I`m bringing more original material and the group is getting more creative with every show. We`ve been performing at the Avant Garde for a steady six months now.

More projects are in the works, so keep coming back for more news! If you`re ever looking for any more information regarding the happenings in the blog, you can contact me through my website.

Fun With An Old Friend

The last two weeks have been fairly hectic for me (not that I'm ever totally relaxed, but still). Life changes, new groups and everything inbetween.

A couple of the highlights involved a friend that I hadn't seen in half a year. In fact, I didn't even realize that he was in town until he called me for a gig on June 2nd.



Pianist Nick Maclean. One of my favourite players to work with and a really great hang. Nick and I met a few years ago in a band led by Jim Lewis at the Ottawa International Jazz Festival. Nick was playing trombone, and I tenor sax and clarinet. We didn't talk much, but I remember him playing the piano before rehearsals. A few months later we met (again) through singer Renée Yoxon and we did quite a bit of playing and a some recording (I may dig a few of those recordings up and post them). At this time, I was settling in Ottawa, and Nick was heading to Humber College.

That more, or less brings us up to date. Nick called me for a gig and I jumped at the chance to work with him again. Lately, I have been working with my trio (almost exclusively) and haven't played with any chord players - I couldn't have been more excited for a change of pace. A duet. Just saxes and piano. And as little sheet music as possible.

Nick and I started off the gig as if we'd never stopped playing together. Right from the first note we were able to push each other. Not pushing so much that we were uncomfortable, but pushing enough to keep each other on our collective toes. Nick brought a great arrangement of the theme from Star Trek and the rest of the night (except maybe one or two) were great standards. We've decided to spend a little more time learning each others' originals and we're hoping to get in to record around August.

The next week, I was able to catch Nick's trio (with Donovan Bullen and Mike McNeil) and that trio was incredible. It reminded me of a Monty Alexander album Montreux Alexander. I was fortunate enough to sit in with the group for the second set and the group was so easy to play with. Great interaction, great swing, great sound.

If you can catch Nick somewhere in Ottawa this summer, make sure you do - you won't be sorry. And make sure you look out for any news regarding the upcoming recording!

My New Horns

A fellow saxophonist, Linsey Wellman, turned me on to Ellery Eskelin and his blog (view it here). In a recent post, Ellery talks about getting his Buescher Big B tenor restored, and how much he loves it.

I have to admit that this was the first time that I had ever had Ellery Eskelin play - he`s a great! I love his tone! And his ideas! I`ll have to try to grab a lesson with him.

Linsey and I were talking about that blog post in particular, because I recently made a major purchase...FIVE saxophones. Four (curved soprano, alto, tenor and baritone) are Buescher True Tones (the model that preceded the Big B - which is the horn that Ellery Eskelin has had restored) and one Rudolph Wurlitzer (c-melody), which happens to be a Buescher stencil from the same time period. Five matching horns that play beautifully.

Here`s the story behind the acquisition of the four True Tones.

I have played several different models of saxophones over the last few years. I`m a little bit crazy when it comes to gear. Not so much that it gets in the way of my practise time, but in that 4am kind of crazy. I like to drool over eBay late at night after a gig and think of ways to acquire horns and mouthpieces and many other saxophone, flute and clarinet paraphernalia.

My first horn was a vintage Borgani tenor that I loved, but I couldn`t get over the keywork. It was a very uncomfortable horn for me to play on - my wrists were constantly sore. I sold that horn about three years ago on eBay.

After that, I had a Selmer Series II, a Selmer Mark VI, and up until recently, a Yamaha Custom Z. These are the tenors that I have owned. I`ll focus on that, since it`s my main horn.

Through all of these horns, I promised myself that if I ever found a set of nice old horns, I would get them.

A few weeks ago, I started looking, not particularly planning on finding anything, but just simply seeing what was out there, and a set of Buescher horns was for sale in Nova Scotia. This was Sunday night.

Monday morning at 11am, my Yamaha Custom Z tenor and my Custom EX soprano were sold! I, for the first time in my career did not own a single saxophone.

Friday morning, I flew down to Nova Scotia, tried the horns (the man who sold me the horns was incredibly welcoming) and flew back that afternoon.

After working on the baritone, alto, and tenor, I am happier than ever. The soprano needs a total repad (this will come over the next few weeks). You can check out the tune `You Do Something To Me` on the Reverbnation player. That`s the new bari. I`ll post more tunes in the next few days.

The horns are different from the modern horns in many ways. The keyword of the older horns is said to be clumsy. In regards to this comment, I find the horns different, but not difficult to get around the horn on. Also, tuning is not as locked in. I find this to be true. I do have to focus a little more on pitch, but it makes life interesting. One thing I do miss from the new horns is the front F key. I can always put one on, but I`m sure I`ll find a way around it. If anyone has suggestions, let me know.

A really positive aspect of the Bueschers is the tone! Big, fat, round and yet still totally flexible. I still sound like me. I love that!

I have a day off tomorrow, so more work on the horns (from a practising and tech side of life)!

Cheers!

Rich

Welcome!

Hi Everybody!

Thank you for checking out my blog. I will be posting (hopefully regularly) my thoughts and questions from my world of jazz and woodwinds.

Cheers!

Rich