Eddie Daniels took on the challenge of the clarinet at an early age; over the course of the last five decades he has built a modern clarinet legacy, erected squarely upon the models of Benny Goodman and Buddy DeFranco, that can only be described as...
It is difficult to know where to start when trying to approach the recorded musical legacy of Soprano Saxophonist Steve Lacy. His discography at his Wikipedia site lists well over a hundred recordings as a leader, and another forty as a sideman. In 1975 he...
Rahsaan Roland Kirk is one of my favorite musicians. Known for his unique ability to play several saxophones, or something akin to a saxophone, at the same time, Rahsaan made music that defied convention and explored new territory, while building on the roots and building...
Art Pepper was THE quintessential West Coast alto saxophonist of the 1950's and 60's. His beautiful alto saxophone sound and infectious sense of swing made him a star on the Los Angeles jazz scene at an early age. Strikingly handsome, some of his finest playing...
Alto saxophonist Charlie Parker, along with trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie and pianist Thelonious Monk, developed the style of music known as Be-Bop. Charlie Parker, AKA Bird, short for Yardbird as a result of his love of chicken, was truly the innovator and originator of this music...
San Francisco native Paul Desmond forged a unique alto saxophone sound and style that can immediately be identified after one phrase by the studied jazz listener. He is one of the true innovator’s on his instrument who does not display any influence of Charlie Parker...
Recording Studio Wizard and Woodwind Master Gary Foster has been a fixture on the Los Angeles music and recording scene for more than five decades. He has been a part of the golden age of recording, doing studio work, television and movie soundtracks, and innumerable...
One of the most influential books on music theory to come out of the 20th Century is the Thesaurus Of Scales And Melodic Patterns, written by the Russian born music theorist and conductor Nicolas Slonimsky. The complete story of his career and work can be found...
Chapter 6-Extended Chords We are now far enough along in our technical work to move forward into some Extended Chord studies. If you recall from Chapter 4 we began to investigate Seventh Chords. At that point we were working with four note chords that were comprised...
The study of fourths on the clarinet is particularly important. Many clarinetists, if they are classically trained, practice scales and thirds regularly; they may not regularly practice fourths--and fourths have a variety of benefits if you take the time to master them and integrate them...