One of the first jazz CDs I had was a best of Cannonball that had a bunch of tracks from his Great Love Themes album with strings. His tone on Stella by Starlight has been what I've been shooting for my whole life.
I havent watched the vid yet, but I wanna add my part here. When I started playing jazz, I also started listening jazz. I loved smooth tenor sounds like scott hamilton or stan getz (especially in his bossa nova recordings). As the years passed, I learned licks from their recordings and managed them to Sound nearly identical. Now I have an extremely smooth and dark tenor tone and im currently working on getting away from that😂 But I find it fascinating how I was able to recreate that sound in such a small timeframe
It's mostly just thinking about how tight your air pattern is. Here's a good way to figure it out... use your hand and create a circle in front of your face. Blow into that circle. Then make the circle smaller and continue to blow into it. The smaller you make that circle the more focused your air needs to be.
@@ScottPaddockregarding the exercise with your hand. Do you focus the air using your lips or other way? (since we can't change them when we hold the mouthpiece)
Thanks Mr Scott, please can you make a video about the octave key, how to make use of it while soloing a song, I mean when to hold it down and when to release it
I enjoyed the video and learned some cool things, though I was hoping this video would talk more about benefits of different sounds. Why you would prefer a certain sound and when you would want bright vs dark. I guess I like too many different sounds and I need help finding “my sound”. Specifically, more than “change these things until you find the sound you are looking for”. Basically I read the title as tips for figuring out what sound I am looking for, not assuming I already know the endgame. I’ll just have to go listen to more saxophone examples I guess.
Hey! Thanks for the message. There really isn't a benefit over having one type of sound as opposed to another - it's all subjective and depends 100% on what you like. You can go anywhere from Boots Randolph to Dexter Gordon. As for figuring out what sound you want - that just comes down to a lot of listening and a lot of experimentation. If you like to play old-school jazz, that's going to put you in one category, and if you like soft and silky smooth jazz that will put you in a different one.
I was going to, but then someone came into the music store where I was recording this video and started shredding on the guitar, so it ended my session a little earlier than planned. Here's an explanation if you want to check it out: www.syos.co/blog/gear/saxophone-mouthpiece-chamber
HEY SCOTT THANKS FOR THE GREAT SAX SOLO ON THE SONG CANAVAL WITH THE OTHER SAX PLAYERS FROM THE UA-camRS U GUYS SOUND GOOD BUT U SCOOT FOR ME HAD THE BEAT TONE AND BEST SOLO OVER EVERYBODY THERE ,THE OTHERS WERE NICE ON THERE SOLOS BUT YOUR SOLO WAS SUPER GREAT!!!!!! AND ORIGINAL AND U HAD SUPER GREAT TONE ON THE SAX ALSO THANKS FOR SHARING THIS GREAT TALENT U HAVE ON SAXOPHONE WITH US SAX PLAYERS BLESSINGS MIKE
Alto: Cannonball and Phil Woods, are my two alto Gods. Tenor: Dextor Gordon and newer Joshua Redman. Just my four cents worth. By the way you sound great too.
Going back 58 years my teacher said a lot of players used chewing gum to modify their m/piece (prob wartime shortages). Les Evans, Reed Clinic, Crescendo Magazine - think he wrote 258 articles. Great guy and lovely wife Ruby.
@@ScottPaddock I have one of his postal sax courses - bit dated but good . I also saw recently a leslie evans mouthpiece in a case in my local sax repair shop
I’m curious how the audio mixer effects can influence the sound. Do you have any videos that cover this? I watch your videos on my iPhone and your sound is bright and crisp. What your audio set up?
My sound is naturally bright and crisp, so my audio setup really isn't affecting that. The only thing I add is a little reverb. I'll do a video on that in the near future.
@@ScottPaddock looking forward to a video on audio set up. I play sax in a Mexican band and don’t know what to tell the audio engineer to adjust on my channel. I like the way my sax sounds “au natural” but sometimes what comes out the mains, I don’t
Hi Scott thanks for the video, just want to make sure I understand correctly. How to you control the air stream from narrow to wide? Also does high baffle mean that more of the material is scooped out inside above the reed in the mouthpiece and a low baffle or no baffle is just flat ?
It's mostly just thinking about how tight your air pattern is. Here's a good way to figure it out... use your hand and create a circle in front of your face. Blow into that circle. Then make the circle smaller and continue to blow into it. The smaller you make that circle the more focused your air needs to be. High baffle is close to the reed. A low baffle or no baffle is further away (scooped out is a good description!).
Hi Great Tutorial video! If I want to sound like Getz, then should I be playing on a hard rubber mp? What mp and reed did Stan Getz play? Keep those videos coming Scott!
I don't know Stan Getz full setup, I'm sure you can find it if you Google it, but I remember reading that he used super hard reeds. I think that might explain some of the squeaks in his playing and why he had such an airy sound.
Getz experimented with many mouthpieces over the years but the Otto Link Tone Edge (hard rubber) or Tone Master (metal) are the ubiquitous, go-to mouthpieces for that 'cool jazz' sound that Lester Young, Stan Getz, , Zoot Simms, Paul Desmond etc created. Imo, the Tone Edge is a better choice for this kind of tone quality. Scott is correct that Getz used hard (4 strength) reeds but he played on small tip openings (around a 5) during this period. I'd suggest a more conventional setup of 7ish tip opening with a 2.5-3 strength reed but this is something you'll need to experiment with to see what works best for you. If you decide to buy a link, pay a bit extra and buy new from a shop rather than online, so you can try several out, as they can be inconsistent.
Thanks Scott! My favorites tone-wise (on tenor:) Ben Webster, Michael Brecker & Scott Hamilton. On alto: Boney James, Kenny G, Everette Harp and Candy Dulfer. I usually play on an Otto Link Tone Edge #7(on alto), which gives the dark tone that I like. I recently built a baffle (as per Kirill Poudavoff's video) into my B&S metal mp to get a brighter sound with more projection.
That could be a few different things - a reed that doesn't match up with your gear. Your tongue in the wrong position (I did a video called 3 tongues positions you need to know) or squeezing to hard with your embouchure as you go into the upper register.
@@ScottPaddock I viewed your tongue position video and yes, the front of my tongue is too high (like the "ee"). By coincidence I had ordered the Barkley Brazil Custom Pop that you use. Wow! What a great mouthpiece. The intonation is much better. With my other mouthpieces when I dropped my tongue the sound suffered. Not with the Barkley. Thanks for your help on both counts. (and wow, what a sound! I can make the paint on the wall peel.)
Hi Mark. I used a 1967 s/s Berg Larsen 110/2 with fibreglass reed on my 1954 Mk VI. I had changed from a metal Selmer Soloist for a brighter tone. A touch of echo from my Wem CopiCat through a solid state (for a clean sound) Carlsbro Scorpion amp did the trick. There is a studio shot of Getz with reeds all over floor. Looked like parquet flooring. LoL
@@derekakien7379 It all depends on the rest of your gear and the size of the baffle and chamber. But as a general rule, a 5 is going to be darker than a 7.
Scott, I thought that the reed will vibrate at a speed that equates to the tone being played, regardless of how much or little air is being pushed through the mouthpiece. Your sound is much brighter than mine, but I thought that if we are both playing the exact same note on our saxes, assuming that our intonation is exactly the same, that our reeds would both be vibrating at the same frequency. Am I wrong on this? Perhaps you are speaking of the amplitude of the reed vibration and not the frequency.
On the sax, we change notes by lengthening and shortening the tube when pushing down the keys. The reed doesn't change its vibration with each pitch, but by the amount of air that we are blowing into the sax. Think of it like a flag on a flag pole. The more the wind is blowing the faster the flag will wave. Here's a super scientific analytical breakdown of what's happening if you want to check it out: www.phys.unsw.edu.au/jw/saxacoustics.html
Like the great Karen Carpenter she was one in a million when she sang you knew it was her. The great Paul Desmond the sound and style again one in a million.
Lester Young, Stan Getz, Dexter Gordon, Cannonball Adderley, and several others. UA-cam and Spotify are a fantastic resource using quality headphones.
👍👍
One of the first jazz CDs I had was a best of Cannonball that had a bunch of tracks from his Great Love Themes album with strings. His tone on Stella by Starlight has been what I've been shooting for my whole life.
Yeah, that's a great tune! And his tone is amazing.
Brilliant video. This explains the whole mouthpiece thing too! Thank you.
My favourite sound comes from Euge Groove but I love the sound of so many including yours. Thanks for your inspirational video lessons
Another excellent tutorial, Scott. Thanks
Great video! Thank you for clearing a few things up for me with regard to mouthpieces and creating your own sound.
Clarence Clemons is my favorite, but I love any and all saxophone music. I am an 80s pop/rock kid, so that's my favorite.
Stan Getz on tenor. Try Otto Link and Jody Jazz if thats what you are aiming at. Great tutorial, as always. Thanks Scott!
I havent watched the vid yet, but I wanna add my part here.
When I started playing jazz, I also started listening jazz. I loved smooth tenor sounds like scott hamilton or stan getz (especially in his bossa nova recordings).
As the years passed, I learned licks from their recordings and managed them to Sound nearly identical. Now I have an extremely smooth and dark tenor tone and im currently working on getting away from that😂
But I find it fascinating how I was able to recreate that sound in such a small timeframe
Paul Desmond has my favorite tone. Really love Coltrane style
Thanks as always, Scott. Please would you explain more about how you are physically affecting the pattern of the air stream?
It's mostly just thinking about how tight your air pattern is. Here's a good way to figure it out... use your hand and create a circle in front of your face. Blow into that circle. Then make the circle smaller and continue to blow into it. The smaller you make that circle the more focused your air needs to be.
@@ScottPaddock Thanks!
@@ScottPaddockregarding the exercise with your hand. Do you focus the air using your lips or other way? (since we can't change them when we hold the mouthpiece)
Mine is Gerald Albright on the alto and Kirk whalum on the tenor
Two of my favorites for contemporary sax!
so good video scott!! Long life to your school too man! :D
Thanks!!
charles miller, from the group War. Listen to his solo Mother Earth plus many other of his solos. Amazing Dynamics hank mobley another fave
Favorite is Paul Desmond, but a close second is Johnny Hodges. Thanks for putting these educational programs out there-they're always interesting!
2 of the greats!!
Thanks for the advice
Thank you I had heard of high baffle in the mouth peace advertising and never understood the effect.
Scott, I really dig Houston Person on tenor! Big tone!
Vincent Hering, Kenny Garrett, and Cannonball of course
Thanks Mr Scott, please can you make a video about the octave key, how to make use of it while soloing a song, I mean when to hold it down and when to release it
use it when you want to change octaves 💀
Favourite sound....Stan Getz bossa nova ...every time
I love Stan Getz!
I enjoyed the video and learned some cool things, though I was hoping this video would talk more about benefits of different sounds. Why you would prefer a certain sound and when you would want bright vs dark. I guess I like too many different sounds and I need help finding “my sound”. Specifically, more than “change these things until you find the sound you are looking for”. Basically I read the title as tips for figuring out what sound I am looking for, not assuming I already know the endgame. I’ll just have to go listen to more saxophone examples I guess.
Hey! Thanks for the message. There really isn't a benefit over having one type of sound as opposed to another - it's all subjective and depends 100% on what you like. You can go anywhere from Boots Randolph to Dexter Gordon. As for figuring out what sound you want - that just comes down to a lot of listening and a lot of experimentation. If you like to play old-school jazz, that's going to put you in one category, and if you like soft and silky smooth jazz that will put you in a different one.
Vary help full sir. Thankyou ❤️
Totally agree on Cannonball. You didn’t talk about the 3rd mouthpiece parameter -/ chamber, right?
I was going to, but then someone came into the music store where I was recording this video and started shredding on the guitar, so it ended my session a little earlier than planned. Here's an explanation if you want to check it out: www.syos.co/blog/gear/saxophone-mouthpiece-chamber
Dexter Gordon. I love his trailing off vibrato.
HEY SCOTT THANKS FOR THE GREAT SAX SOLO ON THE SONG CANAVAL WITH THE OTHER SAX PLAYERS FROM THE UA-camRS U GUYS SOUND GOOD BUT U SCOOT FOR ME HAD THE BEAT TONE AND BEST SOLO OVER EVERYBODY THERE ,THE OTHERS WERE NICE ON THERE SOLOS BUT YOUR SOLO WAS SUPER GREAT!!!!!! AND ORIGINAL AND U HAD SUPER GREAT TONE ON THE SAX ALSO THANKS FOR SHARING THIS GREAT TALENT U HAVE ON SAXOPHONE WITH US SAX PLAYERS BLESSINGS MIKE
Thanks so much Mike!
Thank you !
👍
Charlie Parker, Stitt, Adderley on alto. Tenors it's difficult to name any one as I love most of them.
Many greats but I always go back to Johnny Hodges.
My favs are Dexter Gordon, Sonny Rollins, and Zoot Sims. Enjoy your Mexico gigs.
I know you're a big fan of Zoot! Thanks, just a couple weeks left.
Jan Garbarek is my favorite..
Nice job but what about the chamber. I think the size of the chamber has a big effect on air volume and sound. Thanks Dick
Mark Maxwell, Ben Webster, Johnny Hodges, Stan Getz
I have actually found I get a jazz tone more on my Selmer c star rather than Vandoren v16
One of my sax teachers, Chris Vadala, used a Selmer C * on his soprano.
My favourite is Paul Desmond. Which setup does he use?
On Alto I can't get enough of Sonny Stitt. Tenor, Lester or Chu hands down.
👍👍
Alto: Cannonball and Phil Woods, are my two alto Gods. Tenor: Dextor Gordon and newer Joshua Redman. Just my four cents worth. By the way you sound great too.
All 4 of them are some of my favorites too! Phil Woods - wooooh!
On Alto its gotta be Earl Bostic,Tenor its King Curtis and Clifford Scott 👍
What's your mouthpiece and reed setup?
Eric Marienthal and cannonball for alto 👀
Both have great tone!
Going back 58 years my teacher said a lot of players used chewing gum to modify their m/piece (prob wartime shortages). Les Evans, Reed Clinic, Crescendo Magazine - think he wrote 258 articles. Great guy and lovely wife Ruby.
I had a teacher who would use dental wax to create baffles in mouthpieces. There was an instant crazy effect (not always good) 😁
@@ScottPaddock I have one of his postal sax courses - bit dated but good . I also saw recently a leslie evans mouthpiece in a case in my local sax repair shop
What mouthpiece do you use mostly please?
Tnxs sir does the gears matter as far as sound concern
Please help me sound like a cross between Dave Koz and Sam Kinison!
Raphael Ravenscroft
(@least when it comes to Tenor Sax)
I do Like Art Pepper !!!
Lester Young every time. Not just his sound but his style. It's always melodic
👍👍👍
I’m curious how the audio mixer effects can influence the sound. Do you have any videos that cover this? I watch your videos on my iPhone and your sound is bright and crisp. What your audio set up?
My sound is naturally bright and crisp, so my audio setup really isn't affecting that. The only thing I add is a little reverb. I'll do a video on that in the near future.
@@ScottPaddock looking forward to a video on audio set up. I play sax in a Mexican band and don’t know what to tell the audio engineer to adjust on my channel. I like the way my sax sounds “au natural” but sometimes what comes out the mains, I don’t
Dave koz bro
Hi Scott thanks for the video, just want to make sure I understand correctly. How to you control the air stream from narrow to wide? Also does high baffle mean that more of the material is scooped out inside above the reed in the mouthpiece and a low baffle or no baffle is just flat ?
It's mostly just thinking about how tight your air pattern is. Here's a good way to figure it out... use your hand and create a circle in front of your face. Blow into that circle. Then make the circle smaller and continue to blow into it. The smaller you make that circle the more focused your air needs to be.
High baffle is close to the reed. A low baffle or no baffle is further away (scooped out is a good description!).
Hi Great Tutorial video! If I want to sound like Getz, then should I be playing on a hard rubber mp? What mp and reed did Stan Getz play? Keep those videos coming Scott!
I don't know Stan Getz full setup, I'm sure you can find it if you Google it, but I remember reading that he used super hard reeds. I think that might explain some of the squeaks in his playing and why he had such an airy sound.
Getz experimented with many mouthpieces over the years but the Otto Link Tone Edge (hard rubber) or Tone Master (metal) are the ubiquitous, go-to mouthpieces for that 'cool jazz' sound that Lester Young, Stan Getz, , Zoot Simms, Paul Desmond etc created. Imo, the Tone Edge is a better choice for this kind of tone quality. Scott is correct that Getz used hard (4 strength) reeds but he played on small tip openings (around a 5) during this period. I'd suggest a more conventional setup of 7ish tip opening with a 2.5-3 strength reed but this is something you'll need to experiment with to see what works best for you.
If you decide to buy a link, pay a bit extra and buy new from a shop rather than online, so you can try several out, as they can be inconsistent.
Since Selmer c star has a square chamber what would happen if you rounded it out & thinned the rails?
I don't know, I'm guessing it wouldn't play that well unless it was done by a professional mouthpiece doctor who would most likely advise against it.
Ben Webster! Trying to get his sound on an alto. Any comparable alto players to Ben Webster?
Johnny Hodges was a big influence on Ben. That's probably your closest equivalent.
Thanks Scott! My favorites tone-wise (on tenor:) Ben Webster, Michael Brecker & Scott Hamilton. On alto: Boney James, Kenny G, Everette Harp and Candy Dulfer. I usually play on an Otto Link Tone Edge #7(on alto), which gives the dark tone that I like. I recently built a baffle (as per Kirill Poudavoff's video) into my B&S metal mp to get a brighter sound with more projection.
@7:12 So is it safe to say that the lower the Number tip opening, for example #5 vs. #7 then, will it be a darker tonal sound?
Those are all great players! I once bought a Meyer 6 with a built in baffle that I played on when I toured with the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra.
Mobley on tenor, Adderley on alto
Which saxophone sir
I have problems with upper octav sharp/ lower octave flat. How can I change my tongue position to work on that?
That could be a few different things - a reed that doesn't match up with your gear. Your tongue in the wrong position (I did a video called 3 tongues positions you need to know) or squeezing to hard with your embouchure as you go into the upper register.
@@ScottPaddock I viewed your tongue position video and yes, the front of my tongue is too high (like the "ee"). By coincidence I had ordered the Barkley Brazil Custom Pop that you use. Wow! What a great mouthpiece. The intonation is much better. With my other mouthpieces when I dropped my tongue the sound suffered. Not with the Barkley. Thanks for your help on both counts. (and wow, what a sound! I can make the paint on the wall peel.)
Gerry Mulligan (Jeru)
👍👍👍
👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾
Hi Scott, @7:12 So is it safe to say that the lower the Number, for example #5 vs. #7 then, will it be a darker the sound? please advise!
Hi Mark. I used a 1967 s/s Berg Larsen 110/2 with fibreglass reed on my 1954 Mk VI. I had changed from a metal Selmer Soloist for a brighter tone. A touch of echo from my Wem CopiCat through a solid state (for a clean sound) Carlsbro Scorpion amp did the trick. There is a studio shot of Getz with reeds all over floor. Looked like parquet flooring. LoL
@@derekakien7379 It all depends on the rest of your gear and the size of the baffle and chamber. But as a general rule, a 5 is going to be darker than a 7.
Scott, I thought that the reed will vibrate at a speed that equates to the tone being played, regardless of how much or little air is being pushed through the mouthpiece. Your sound is much brighter than mine, but I thought that if we are both playing the exact same note on our saxes, assuming that our intonation is exactly the same, that our reeds would both be vibrating at the same frequency. Am I wrong on this? Perhaps you are speaking of the amplitude of the reed vibration and not the frequency.
On the sax, we change notes by lengthening and shortening the tube when pushing down the keys. The reed doesn't change its vibration with each pitch, but by the amount of air that we are blowing into the sax. Think of it like a flag on a flag pole. The more the wind is blowing the faster the flag will wave. Here's a super scientific analytical breakdown of what's happening if you want to check it out: www.phys.unsw.edu.au/jw/saxacoustics.html
Angela Puxi
Tommy McCook
I would love to sound more like Johnny Hodges
You can tell it's him from the very first note!
Jr walker
Lester Young all day
😁😁
Like the great Karen Carpenter she was one in a million when she sang you knew it was her.
The great Paul Desmond the sound and style again one in a million.
There is only one sound that counts and that your own. Play what you hear in your innerear..
Thank you Scott for the nice explanation! BTW for me, one of my favourites is James Senese (e.g. here: ua-cam.com/video/EXBWiFipdiw/v-deo.html)
I need to check him out.
lee konitz or art pepper
I always loved both of their sounds also. So clean and pure.