Saxophone Forum


by Shawn1211
(1 post)
18 years ago

Bigger alto sound for jazz

hi, i'm 17 years old and i play in my school symphonic/jazz band. I'm a second chair alto but i still do some improv solos. I am currenly working on Cannonball Adderley's Transcription Books and some other jazz stuff. I've been playing alto for about 3 years and my setups are Yamaha 62IIS, Morgan 5M with Java 3's or Lavoz Mediums sometimes. In the past couple months, i ve been working on Bb overtones and focused on long tone exercies to get fuller and bigger sound. Hmm.. I haven't quite achieved the sound that i wanted. Should I go to thicker reeds? bigger opening? or more practice?

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  1. by blackfrancis
    (396 posts)

    18 years ago

    Re: Bigger alto sound for jazz

    More practice. You're headed in the right direction- don't let GAS derail you.

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  2. by simpleman
    (10 posts)

    18 years ago

    Re: Bigger alto sound for jazz

    Are you playing along with Cannonball's recordings? Try matching his sound, articulations, intensity, etc. and you will develope a much bigger sound. Listen to as much jazz as you can. I didn't do enough of that in high school and now I regret it!

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    1. by Radjammin
      (255 posts)

      18 years ago

      Re: Bigger alto sound for jazz

      It might be tad hard to "play along" with Cannonball.... I guess you could use transcription software to slow it down. On the other hand I would suggest downloading Band in a Box demo from www.pgmusic.com. You can enter in the changes (are they listed in the Cannonball transctioon book, I own that book but forgot) if it's standards you could just get them from a fake book(funny how most of them are legit now) and enter them in (this is really easy in BIAB) Set a easy to follow tempo and play along. Now that's practicing!!!

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      1. by simpleman
        (10 posts)

        18 years ago

        Re: Bigger alto sound for jazz

        I have a program called "Best Practice" for my computer. I can slow down recordings with that. In my opinion, actually being able to hear a model while you are playing is the best. I downloaded best practice for free. Just google it. Simply playing the solo from the book can be good for sight reading and interpretation, but if you really want to play like a pro, try imitating one. Plus, it is impossible to transcribe solos exactly, because there are times when the players play out of time, they have odd articulations and the like. I would also recommend putting the book away and transcribe his work yourself. I know it’s hard, but it gets easier. The software for slowing down recordings can help with that too.

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        1. by knorter
          (205 posts)

          18 years ago

          Re: Bigger alto sound for jazz

          Guys--the post is titled Bigger Alto Sound. You cannot improve your jazz sound by playing with software. The only way to get a better jazz sound is to listen, transcribe and imitate saxophonists that you would like to sound like. When you imitate, learn a solo or read along if you have to but play with the recording and try to match the sound of every note. This requires many hours of practice. Hundreds of times through one or two solos. You'll learn to put a lot of air through the horn and use your tongue and vocal chords to manipulate your tone until it sounds like the players that you listen to. The software that you guys are talking about will work fine for using vocabulary and learning tunes just not for developing sound. Good luck. Kristy

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        2. by golferguy675
          (600 posts)

          18 years ago

          Re: Bigger alto sound for jazz

          Everything Kristy said + play from your stomach, not your lungs. Haha...I think that's why fat guys have such big sweet sounds.

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      2. by Seano
        (132 posts)

        18 years ago

        Re: Bigger alto sound for jazz

        Shawn, when you're practising overtones, do you try to match the sound of the overtone on the fingered note? For example you play overtone F and you finger F to try imitate that sound? that is the most effective step for aiming at the "phatness" (I like to call it) that you are trying to achieve. Also, try experimenting with a slightly harder reed. I've been trying to imitate Michael Breckers sound for a while and I found that a size 3.5 made quite a difference over a size 3. But if it's too uncomfortable to play, don't bother. Good Luck Sean

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