[Benon]

Hi everyone. I'm in the process of writing my PhD thesis concerning usage of the saxophone and electronics in the jazz context. I tried to look for the recordings which employ the use of the electronics and found some including the work of Eddie Harris, Joshua Redman and even Joe Henderson, but it's not enough. Do you have any recommendations I should check? It doesn't have to be only saxophone oriented, in fact I'm interested also in the electronics in connection to the trumpet and trombone.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.
All the best,
Szymon Łukowski

 

[milandro]

benon you’ve opened 3 identical threads, I understand you want to ask a question but it is very much against the rules of this forum

 

[Benon]

I understand it and usually avoid it at all costs. That's only because of that I am not sure which forum department is most appropriate.

 

[milandro]

still against the rules and the place where you publish it has no bearing on its visibility

 

[Benon]

If you find it against the rules just please pass this to the moderators. Seriously. I am not going to offend anyone and/or break the rules, just looking for the knowledge.

 

[milandro]

I am not really sure that I understand your question.

What do you mean by electronics? Is the use of an octavoice electronics to you (You mention Eddie Harris) ? Or are you talking of synthesizers?

Anyway

lets try some

read this source if you want (it's a very long quote otherwise)

https://forum.saxontheweb.net/showthread.php?16548-Gil-Melle-Innovator-Visionary-RIP

I see the management has taken dow the other threads

 

[Benon]

I'm thinking about playing saxophone with the use of the signal processing with all the gear you associate with guitars like delays, pitch shifting, washy reverbs and so on; EWI and synthesizers aren't what I am looking for. The most part troublesome thing is that I have a really enormous gap between from 1970s until the early 1980s work of Breckers, except the Joe Hendersons' "Black is the color of my true love's mind" and I am trying to find something preceding Joshua Redman Elastic Band.

 

[milandro]

then that above fits your bill

 

[HeavyWeather77]

I'm also curious about what "electronics" means to you in this context, Benon. If you mean playing with effects processing, either live or in the studio, then there are thousands or tens of thousands of examples (which is great news for a dissertation). I'd be happy to email with you privately about the topic, I have reasonably extensive experience with electronic effects processing with saxophones. Here's my artist page on Horn-FX and here's my website for contact info.

If you mean jazz that involves both saxophone and hardcore electronic music production techniques (beat sequencing/chopping, sampling, splicing, etc), then the sample pool will be a bit smaller, but still extensive. Terrace Martin, Louis Cole (Knower), Thundercat, Kneebody, Bill Laswell, and John McLaughling are not all saxophonists, but they're all top-tier jazz musicians (or groups) who have incorporated sophisticated electronic sequencing and production into their recordings in the past.

 

[milandro]

well, of course we don’t want to forget the obvious such as Miles Davis, Sun Ra, Chick Corea, and Herbie Hancock?

Really between 1970 and 1980 this was the era for these things, synthesized instruments came only afterwords

 

[turf3]

I'm thinking about playing saxophone with the use of the signal processing with all the gear you associate with guitars like delays, pitch shifting, washy reverbs and so on; EWI and synthesizers aren't what I am looking for. The most part troublesome thing is that I have a really enormous gap between from 1970s until the early 1980s work of Breckers, except the Joe Hendersons' "Black is the color of my true love's mind" and I am trying to find something preceding Joshua Redman Elastic Band.

I'm not clear how there can be an "enormous gap" between the 1970s and the early 1980s.

Let's face it, you're not going to find much of anything before about 1968 (Chris Wood with Traffic and Mel Collins with King Crimson would I think have probably used some effects, and they were about the earliest I would be aware of), or after about 1990, when the new traditionalists took over jazz.

I'd check out Jeremy Steig as well, though he's on flute.

I don't recall Rahsaan Roland Kirk using effects on his horns, but he may well have. How about Anthony Braxton?
Ornette with Prime Time? John Klemmer? Did Arthur Blythe ever use effects?

And there's the whole Euro sax group - Garbarek, Brotzmann, and so on.

And I don't understand "having trouble finding something preceding Josh Redman" - heck, almost EVERYTHING precedes Josh Redman.

 

[Pete Thomas]

I don't recall Rahsaan Roland Kirk using effects on his horns, but he may well have. How about Anthony Braxton?
Ornette with Prime Time? John Klemmer? Did Arthur Blythe ever use effects?

And there's the whole Euro sax group - Garbarek, Brotzmann, and so on.

And I don't understand "having trouble finding something preceding Josh Redman" - heck, almost EVERYTHING precedes Josh Redman.

Not to forget Cannonball Adderley.

 

[Dr G]

I don't recall Rahsaan Roland Kirk using effects on his horns, but he may well have. How about Anthony Braxton?
Ornette with Prime Time? John Klemmer? Did Arthur Blythe ever use effects?

Thanks for adding John Klemmer. His use of Echoplex was among my early inspirations in the '70s.

I was also inspired during that time to use a wha pedal with both bassoon and soprano sax. I was in a band called the Post Nasal Drips Wind and Percussion Symphony that performed original music in the style of Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention. We got an honorable mention in the back of DownBeat.

Check in with Tim Price. I recall that he did the electric bassoon thing in the '70s, and took it to the next level.

 

[Govinda]

My favorite Liebman Solo

No effects per say but it is the sound of the neck pickup coming out of an amp!

 

[MLucky]

I think most of the examples I know of have been mentioned: Eddie Harris, Brecker Bros, Miles. I believe Sonny Stitt also went through a period of experimenting with electronics, but I haven't heard any of that. If you're looking for a contemporary example, there's Donny McCasslin.

Regarding the "gap" you're seeing in the late '70s and early '80s, I don't think there would be anything unusual about that. I think sometimes electronics go through a phase where they're new and different and trendy, and then there's almost a backlash: what sounded new five years ago now seems dated. I'm thinking, for example, of the Fender Rhodes, which got very popular in the late '60s early '70s, but then seemed to disappear for a while, probably because it was so closely associated with jazz rock fusion styles that had come to seem dated by the late 70s or so. But what goes around comes around, and you see a lot more Fender Rhodes again lately, or at least I do.

Anyway, interesting topic! As a former electric guitarist who now focuses on sax, I've often been tempted to hook up my old wah wah pedal and fuzz box to the sax just to see what it would be like. Haven't done it yet, but someday when no one's around to hear ...

 

[swperry1]

Jeff Coffin and Seamus Blake both use effects and have for a while, but they came onto the scene around the same time as Josh Redman.

 

[BH9]

Skerik, for sure. Donny McCaslin.

 

[ZootTheSim]

If you're looking for a contemporary example, there's Donny McCasslin.

+1 on McCasslin. Very skillful and artful integration of effects, whether live or recorded.

For earlier performers, the amazing Hubert Laws was a pioneer of effects for woodwinds.

 

[BH9]

Also David Binney.

No one I know of currently performing uses effects more than Skerik.

 

[tony51]

Evan Parker has had various “Electro-Acoustic” groups mixing live performance and electronics.