[crazydaisydoo]

Hi everyone,

I think some of you enjoy these, and some of you think I am the devil re-incarnated, so please don't bother clicking on the link if you are tired of it all

It has been 21 days since my last ballad, and I was getting itchy fingers

This time I decided to play along with the just the bass part (aebersold vol.110 "when i fall in love" ). I tried it a few times with the tinkly, and ever so slightly smaltzy piano, but it was hard to compete with. I have a busy style, and it was all too much! (On aeberolds you can switch off the piano, just by cutting the right channel)

Playing along with just the bass created some nice space, and it was fun trying to slot some interesting notes in, knowing you might just get away with it.

Please let me know what you think, even if you hate it! I have a few tuning problems here and there, mainly due to the lack of piano, but apart from that, I like it!

 

[crazydaisydoo]

I really enjoyed your performance. You have a great tone that suits well to this song. I'll throw out a few ideas as far as where I think you could improve, but this is really an excellent recording.

Some of the articulations on certain notes I feel are a bit too heavy. Try lightening up a little bit. Remember the emotion behind the music, when you over-attack you detract from that. For the most part I like your phrase endings, much better than the starting articulations, but still keep an eye on them. Some seem to end very smoothly, whereas others are a little more rough.

When cruising up into the upper octave, make sure you maintain full control. In some places, it feels like you're just happy to be hitting the pitches, and I know that's not the case, you're too good for it. Just be conscious of your sound in all octaves and try to make the notes sound similar, even on different octaves. Sort of hard to explain. A lighter articulation may also help.

Tempo felt solid. Minor tuning issues, but nothing to worry too much about. If it were with piano, they'd be more noticeable, but I have a feeling that if there was piano then you'd most likely fix them yourself.

Really, you did a tremendous job and it's a recording you should be proud of!

Thanks for listening and the advice, really appreciated.

I am deliberately trying to toughen up my sound a bit, I have a very soft tone naturally which I dont always like. This recording was done with a JodyJazz HR5, which feels fairly open to me and adds some edge. The problem is I have lost a bit of control, and when tired , notes just kind of stop rather than have a nice tail to them, so that explains some of this. Some of it is choice on my part, to add variety, sometimes I just cut notes and phrases short. (an example is at 00.13, I think this is just laziness though) It doesn't always work! Ditto the attack, I did not want it to be too soporific, or "wedding band" so I tried to add a little edge.... maybe too much.

You have noticed something about my playing, that is that I naturally sub-tone on the lower registers, and my embouchure alters (very, very slightly) in the upper register to avoid being flat. This means there is a different tonality to the upper register, and it is not quite as expressive yet, and yes, sometimes I am happy to get in tune and kind of stay there. This is all a balancing act, I dont want to lose that low-tone, so it is just practice, practice, practice!

Thanks for the kind words, and genuinely useful comments, I will work on all these things

 

[crazydaisydoo]

Matthew -- Nice to see another recording from you. Thanks.

Just viewed your main YouTube page and now I see a big part of why you've made so much progress on the sax so quickly: twenty years of transcribing sax solos for jazz guitar! Now I don't feel so bad for being years and years behind you, even though you've been playing only a matter of months.

About the new recording: I would just comment that your playing on it sounds more assured and natural than I recall it being on your early recordings. I seem to remember that on your early recordings I had a feeling like the transitions between notes lacked precision in a way I couldn't really describe. I don't know whether it was a matter of breath support, keywork, tonguing, or what. I don't sense that in this recording, sounds like you have good technical control over the sax and are able to use the instrument naturally to play what you want and sound the way you want.

Thanks Herb, I think the biggest improvement has come through using the klose 25 daily exercises book (although I only do a few) it has really sharpened things up. Highly recommended!!