[ARC454]

Lately, I've noticed that a few mainstream pop artists are incorporating sax solos into their work. We're not talking about anything particularly groundbreaking as far as solo work, but it's nice to see that our horn is still relevant today, and is perhaps making more of a return in the pop music scene. Two recent examples are Katy Perry's "Last Friday Night" ad Lady Gaga's "Edge of Glory." Not exactly the kind of music that I usually listen to, but it beats the usual pop from these days. I, for one, would love to see our art get a little more recognition. But, it's still nice to hear from people when they learn that I play sax something akin to, " Cool, man, I love sax!", even from my teenage peers. Perhaps not all is lost for my generation, musically. Anybody else have any modern pop examples of good sax work?

 

[piwikiwi]

I don't know if it's the influence of pop music but I generally get positive responses from people when they hear I play saxophone.

 

[rleitch]

Did you read this?

http://forum.saxontheweb.net/showthread.php?160197-Sax-making-a-comeback-in-Pop-music&highlight=gaga

 

[Super Action Man]

yeah, i'd rather not be associated with that. quite a few of my teenage peers detest the sax solo on "last Friday night" and rightly so, IMHO. I'd really rather that somebody think of, say LeRoi Moore, Maceo Parker or even Sexy Sax Man Sergio Florez* when they learn that I play sax (hey, at least he's hilarious) rather then "that guy who autotunes his squeals on that Katy perry song. (no offense to Lenny Pickett, he's a monster player. but yeah, offense to Katy perry and her producers.)

*I picked some of the more mainstream guys. there's no way my teenage peers know who Coltrane, Bird, Sonny Rollins, or Coleman Hawkins are... although I would love to be compared to them.

 

[zorrosg]

It was great to see the G man soloing in that Katy Perry clip, but it was too bad that is only went for like 10 secs, because those few seconds were the best part of the clip. I also found the autotune or vocoder thing they did with the last altissimo notes on the sax solo ridiculous, but maybe I'm just not cool enough to dig it?

Still, I'd rather listen to a whole 5 mins of Kenny G on one of his own tunes, then have to suffer through 5 mins of that Katy Perry dirge to hear 10 secs of sax. Whether it was Lenny or Kenny makes no difference. They are both great players, or at least, much greater than me :mrgreen:


PS. FWIW, I'm inclined to believe now that it was Lenny on the solo, since the growling on that solo is not something I have heard Kenny do before. I wonder why they didn't get Lenny to do the video then?

 

[Super Action Man]

I wonder why they didn't get Lenny to do the video then?

Because he's much more well known then Lenny Pickett, and, forgive me for saying this and sounding absolutely cynical, but image appears to be the only thing that pop musicians care about today.

 

[zorrosg]

Just a thought after perusing another thread about Lady Gaga and Clarence Clemons sax parts on her stuff. Why do the producers always make the sax sound so horrible in their tracks. This is a trend that has started since the days of Tom Scott and continue to this day. Tom did some great playing, but his sound on those hit tunes was like yikes!

They compress the sound of the sax so much, that it sounds like a bad imitation of a saxophone - there is hardly any pop or dance tune that doesn't treat the sax parts in this way AFAIK.

Sometimes, I think to myself, if they wanted a sax that sounded that bad, they could have just employed me to do it, for cheap, LOL

 

[jazzcat58]

maybe after the 80s sax emergence!! so many songs had sax in them"it may make a some what return??..who knows, but in the right context/music, it still sounds right!

 

[Kontra]

I hate pop music with a passion. But, you do still hear a lot sax and low clarinet solos in alternative, electronica, rock, etc. They're there, just maybe not as noticeable as with pop.

 

[AZAZAZ]

hell yes, a typical lenny solo with the all-so-trendy pitch correction effect added to it. that is about as pop as it gets for the sax

 

[AZAZAZ]

I wonder if this is the first instance of using auto tune as an effect on a sax solo?

 

[bozzd]

Snake Davis played sax on a recent Take That hit. No idea which one though.

 

[DannyMetalC]

or even Sexy Sax Man Sergio Florez* when they learn that I play sax (hey, at least he's hilarious)

Not only is he hilarious but he's actually decently good. He played in tune while running across a field for crying out loud! Running and playing sax!

And when he disrupted that ladies class with his gag, he played a pretty killer solo!

 

[themacintrasher]

As far as I'm concerned, if there's more saxophone in mainstream music that just makes more work for us. Doesn't matter what you think of the music.