[maestroelite]

Well, leave the band out of it. I'm a freshman in the 2nd band at my school and I play lead tenor so therefore, I get solos, and we have tons of recording equipment so everything is recorded. So now I finally have an acceptable recording of myself. Lay into me! The tenor solo is around a minute into it I think. The tune is Night Flight by Sammy Nestico.

http://media.putfile.com/BSU-Jazz-II---Night-Flight

Let me know if it doesn't work.

 

[dstack79]

Nice job.

You have some good melodic ideas and sound. Here comes the biggest hypocritical advice: Focus first on playing distinct rhythms that lock into the groove. This is critical...more important than the actual notes themselves. Once you start doing that, the energy level will remain high and everything you play will sound incredible. I need to listen to my own advice, this is my biggest weakness

Secondly, play louder. Right at the solo break you sounded a bit timid, as if you didn't mean to play. With breaks like this it's imperative that you keep good time since nobody is playing but you. Even if you're just playing quarter notes, it'll work.

Nice job

-Dan

-Dan

 

[Saxydude]

I'll echo what dstack79 said: "Blow!"

I dig your sound and melodic concept, but I was distracted by what you were playing because I had to listen for it (does that make sense?).

My best advice: Practice everything with a metronome. Set a metronome at 60 and it becomes your 2&4 (high hat) and play through all of your scales. Do the same with transcriptions and when you're learning tunes. I never thought it was a big deal until a year ago when I started really putting it into practice, and let me tell you....it pays off! It really helps with your swing and sense of time (phrasing, feel, all the stuff that separates a good solo from a great one).

One more thing, when you use altissimo make sure it makes sense in the context of the solo and that it definitely leads somewhere or serves as a climax.

Other than those few things, you sound great. Nice work on a Nestico tune!

 

[harmonizerNJ]

+1 on what Dan and SD said.
Be more sure of what you want to do with the rhythms of what you play.
Your melodic ingredients sound fine.
You could probably help yourself during practices by trying to sing or hum to yourself the melodies you want to improvise - think about which of these melodies you like, and what you would like to hear next after the last measure or two that you just improvised. When it feels pleasing to you, it will probably feel that way to your audience.

 

[maestroelite]

Thanks for the replies. I totally agree with what has been said. I usually actually do play out quite a bit, but for whatever reason I seem to back away from the mics here. I think some of it is myself being timid on stage as well.. sort of afraid of people here(at university) hearing me play. The recording from the first concert was even worse with regard to hearing me. I've been working on my rhythm in solos for the past few months, before I came to school I took lessons for a few months from a keyboard player on improv and that helped quite a bit, you should have heard how bad it was a year ago . I'll work on getting heard better in the future.

 

[queperknuckle]

I love this song! I'm in a big band to, and I think it is so much fun playing with other people like this. You're volume came across okay to me actually. I thought you blended very well on your tenor sax solo.

 

[docmirror]

I like it. I can hear you backing away from the mike. Then you seem to get back up and crank good. I tell my son, 'when you solo, play like you're trying to reach the folks in the hall outside'. Here's something that hard at your age. Have fun with the song! Music is entertainment. It's about sharing your interpretation with the audience. Let it rip and have some fun.