What kind of reeds do you play? What kind of mouthpiece(s) do you play? How about your horns? How did you get started in music? Any advise to someone wanting to learn an instrument? Who are some of your musical inspirations? What kind of musician do you admire most? How do you practice? What are some of your favorite CDs? What kind of reeds do you play? On alto sax I am now playing on Brancher #3 Jazz Reeds. I have found them to have a great uniformity of response over the entire range of the instrument and a more full sound on a number of mouthpieces. They are flexible and I find them to be great for R&B as well as jazz playing. They have been a wonderful discovery. For me the Branchers play beautifully across the board on any different mouthpiece I might use depending on the situation... On soprano I have been using Vandoren Classics #2 1/2. They have always played very well for me. I recently have tried a Haun synthetic reed #3 1/2. While I can't say I think it plays like a good cane reed I can say it always plays consistently, easily and well. They make a nice sound. It sure is good to have in the case... just in case. On tenor I have been using Brancher #3 1/2 Jazz reeds. I find these to be excellent. I am also using Vandoren Classics #2 1/2. These have always played well for me. I find reed selection and prep very important especially on tenor. Tenor is the saxophone which is the least "natural" for me and it is the instrument I have to really practice the most. A cooperative reed is therefore an absolute necessity. Perhaps some of the difficulty for me on tenor comes simply from its size and the necessarily larger mouthpiece tip opening. I'm fairly small and the tenor is comparatively big. Also, as an aside, it is a very different head space and awareness on tenor than on alto and soprano. Vibrato, obviously the range, and how that impacts lines and approach lyrically and harmonically are quite different. It's actually kind of a complicated and deep subject. I think it is a more recent modern phenomenon that guys are increasingly playing across all of the horns. I have never found alto to tenor to be an easy transition. It is a big shift of gears. What kind of mouthpiece(s) do you play? O.K....On alto I primarily play an ARB #6 (they are open). This is an especially bright and "laser like" mouthpiece with a high baffle and a very distinctive, focused accent and direction. It sure is a fun one though, and in its way it forces a lot of issues and distinct approach. It's a very meticulous and articulate mouthpiece. It's like an old Brillhart Level Air. The ARB is made by the same folks who make the more popular Beechler mouthpiece at Remle Music in North Ridge California. I own some Dukoff #9s. They are also bright but more moderate than my ARB. These have been worked on by my friends Eric Grieffenhagen and more recently Norbert Stachel formerly of Tower of Power and Roger Water's Band. Norbert is an unbelievable player living in NY. He is a mouthpiece sage and his work has helped me a great deal. He can be reached at this E-Mail. Finally, I own an old Vintage hard rubber Berg Larsen 90/1 SMS. I call it "The Big Friendly" for it' large and open sound. I use it sometimes on more jazz oriented gigs. It's great. I love mouthpieces and just having different ones in every flavor is a lot of fun. At the end of the day you still pretty much are stuck with yourself, however. A mouthpiece is a huge influencing factor in helping the player to hear and "feel" his sound, and sometimes they can inspire your direction and capability. On soprano I now have two wonderful Beechlers, hard rubber and steel, both 7s (about.70). Norbert has worked on them both a little. Excellent. For years I have played a Runyon plastic # 8. Finally on tenor, the ongoing journey continues. I am mostly an alto player, but have been working hard on tenor for years now. I have recently (and painfully) transitioned slowly to the Gaurdala Studio model which again has been worked on by Norbert Stachel to about .112. I actually have a few of them. I have found the SR Technology Fusion pieces to be quite good for me as well. How about your horns? I play a Selmer Mark 6 on alto as well as an old Yamaha 62. They have different strengths and I enjoy them both. On soprano I play a Yamaha YSS 62 which I love and on tenor I play a Selmer Mark 6. On flute I play a Yamaha 681 and a Yamaha 682 piccolo. The Yamahas I play are all pretty old. I love my flute and feel that this particular one I have, now for more than 20 years, plays better for me than instruments that are much more expensive. On both instruments I play a Drelinger max air headjoint. These have been fantastic and I recommend them highly. How did you get started in music? I began playing the flute when I was about 15 (I think just a few months short of it.) My brother Bob was already a great sax and flute player gigging around Denver and Boulder. I was incredibly impressed by it all. I initially wanted to play the drums. Anyway, I had a strong desire, and an intuition that I would be a good flute player. My father bought me an instrument although he was skeptical that I would have the discipline to stick with such a long term enterprise like learning to play an instrument. I was natural at it, as if I had played the instrument before. The horn, its sound and its fingerings immediately made perfect sense to me and within a few weeks I was playing it. I couldn't have done this on another instrument so it's a little spooky to me. I'm being very honest when I say it was as if I had played the instrument before. Any advise to someone wanting to learn an instrument? Make sure you are very inspired not only by music but by the particular instrument you wish to play. While that seems simple I know some very good musicians who ended up as children learning an instrument that was not really the one they most wanted to play. Who are some of your musical inspirations? My earliest inspirations were my brothers Andy and Bobby. Bobby especially because of the type of music he was playing and because the life of a young musician in Boulder he was leading, seemed about as cool as anything on the planet, and pretty much was. Amongst my biggest inspirations are Michael Brecker and David Sanborn, Hubert Laws and James Galway, Charlie Parker, Trane and Cannonball, Pat Metheny, Joni Mitchell, The Beatles, Jimi Hendrix and James Taylor. To name a few. What kind of musician do you admire most? Many players and artists have a gift. I have begun to think it is not that rare, even for super talent. It is what one does with that gift that ultimately matters most. The greatest artists seem to be the ones who have the best sense of purpose and of who they are, even as they journey and change. I try to listen for what the intrinsic humanity of someone's efforts is and I try to learn by them. How do you practice? It's important to make your practice gains tangible. If one sets up a schedule and fulfills it each week then he or she can be satisfied that some practical gains toward the long-term goals are being seen to and will eventually be fulfilled. Progress is a funny thing. It's like watching the hands on a clock. If you just do your thing dutifully and consistently rather than staring at it each second, you will be struck by how much time has gone by. Remember that the art of practice is to turn what is consciously being worked on into that which will become unconscious, spontaneous and then second nature. One other note, and I am very guilty of this, is that we tend to practice most those things we are already good at - because it's the most fun. Working less fun areas that are less well developed into our practice is important. I'll try to heed my own advice. What are some of your favorite CDs? The Gentle Side Of John Coltrane Cityscapes By Claus Ogerman and Michael Brecker Travelogue By Joni Mitchell Around Roma by Stefano di Battista Takin' Off By David Sanborn October Road by James Taylor Scarborough Fair by Chris Hunter Secret Story by Pat Metheny Courage by Milton Nascimento Simply Said by Kenny Garrett Epiphany by Vince Mendoza Wide Angles by Michael Brecker Bird with Strings by Charlie Parker 34th and Lex by Randy Brecker The Brecker Brothers Time Out by Dave Brubeck Bill Evans with Symphony Street Dreams by Lyle Mays 49th Parallel by KD Lang American Dreams by Charlie Haden New Bottle Old Wine by Gil Evans Talking Book by Stevie Wonder Word of Mouth by Jaco Pastorius Obsession by David Sanchez Epiphany, the Best of Chaka Khan Nancy Wilson & Cannonball Adderly Greenhouse by The Yellowjackets Sleeping Gypsy by Michael Franks A New Standard by Herbie Hancock Masques by Philippe Saisse
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