Hi SZ Guys and Gals – I hope y’all are already booked for the big night, but in this case, …it’s the song! A few weeks ago, I commented on here that I was passing on the T3 upgrade to save my coin for a curved soprano sax. Well, I came across a nearly new Chinese “knock off” for an unbelievable $154 on Ebay last week. I have a straight Selmer Mark VI which I have owned since the 70’s. The Ebay horn I got is a “Selman” – amazing how the marketeers are at it, huh?

I got the new “toy” 3 days ago and I have been pretty much attached to it since then. For the money, it was a quite amazing purchase. I was so excited about the deal I got and the sweet sound of this horn that I went ahead and recorded 4 tunes today (all are on my web site). But here’s the one that showcases the sound of the “curvie” best of the four songs to my ears. I honestly cannot believe the difference in the way this horn sounds and responds to my playing. It’s much more like my alto in response than the (Selmer) straight soprano I have played for years.

At any rate, those of you who like the sax sound might enjoy listening to my new friend. Here’s the link:
http://www.box.net/shared/ojbbrgpyo5

Now I’m already scheming to get second “curvie”.

Hope you like my rendition of an absolutely gorgeous song.

Randy www.saxyguy.com

Nice one, Randy...

How did you make the track?

Diki - Thanks! The track is a karaoke track and it had a clarinet solo, which I had to "extricate".... In this case, I used Cool Edit to mod the track. I replaced the clarinet solo with a section from the first chorus.

Once the track was done I moved it to my Korg 16-track recorder and played the sax part. Then I exported the whole track back to Cool Edit for some tweaking. I spent about 7 hours doing the 4 songs that I did today.

The soprano really surprised me. I expected a honking goosey sound and terrible intonation. I am shocked the horn sounds as well as it does for a real rock-bottom instrument.

Thanks again for listening!

Randy

Randy, well that settles that with the live Super Articulation of your new Sax, you won't need a Tyros3 Your usual nice work and who would think that was $149 knock off Sax.

Wonderful job, Randy! I love your phrasing on the sax and, considering the importance this instrument has had on the evolution of jazz and contemporary music, would like to dig this subject more.
I have a book called "Saxophone patterns - John Coltrane", by Eric Dannewitz and love also what musicians like Stan Getz and Phil Woods have done. Can you advice any other sax player to listen to in order to develop a sense for melodic phrasing/improvising, especially when playing ballads?

Great tone! Had Jamie listen to it, and he said it was very nice!

After a set-up and some "fine tuning", my $200.00 Guitane copy (guitar) sounds much better than the ones that are $1000.00 and more.

Sometimes, inexpensive imported instruments will surprise you.

Of course, talent like you have "can't hurt"!

Russ

Staying Home...Turned down a Gig In San Diego
I hate the hassle of flying anymore and too many hours not enough money for 10 hours worth of flying, 10 hours in a hotel. The wife will probably work a local gig though.

I'm over traveling



[This message has been edited by Kingfrog (edited 10-20-2008).]

Nice job Randy ... would have never known it was a "cheapie" ...

t.

Andrea ... try listening to Paul Desmond, http://www.puredesmond.ca/
especially some of his work with Ed Bickert - The "PURE DESMOND" and "THE PAUL DESMOND QUARTET LIVE" albums; Desmond with Jim Hall; and the "DUETS" album with Dave Brubeck...

t.

Thank you, Tony!

Thanks to all for listening and the kind words! Dreamer, Cannonball Adderley came and did a clinic with my college band (70's) -- he has an obscure ballads album out which in part led me to decide to major in music. His ballads album has all lush tunes with strings. Another player whose ballads I love is James Moody.

I'll write some more tonight as I am on an airplane typing on my phone. Another amazing technology.

Capt Russ - Wow! Thanks for giving Jamie a listen!! I am very honored and grateful for his taking the time and listening!!Thanks again to all for listening and your comments!

Randy

Hi Randy

After having the pleasure of meeting you and hearing you play sax live, it was no surprize to me that this recording sounds so beautiful. The midi and recording balances and quality was excellent, but your playing stands out the most for me. That soprano really does sound like an alto.

I used to play a Yanagisawa soprano and decided to sell it to get my PSR2000 and equipment around 2001.

This Selman sounded so good to me I began googleing it

Scott

I already have a date, but thanks anyway

Andrea – Tony made an excellent suggestion regarding Paul Desmond. And here is the Cannonball album which, in part, resulted in my becoming a music major:

http://www.cannonball-adderley.com/2.htm

All great ballads which Cannonball recorded in the 50’s.

As I mentioned above, I also think James Moody is a great ballad player too. Thanks again for your kind words!

Scott – I read somewhere that many of the Chinese cheapies are copies of either the Selmer or Yani horns. I was shocked it sounds so nice.

Zuki – Shucks! Maybe some day we can make some “beautiful music” together! HA HA. Glad to hear you’re gigging New Years. I haven’t worked New Years for the last 6 or so years (always going to MD to be with the Mom-in-Law)…. But I’m hoping to get a gig this year because we are moving her to FL in a couple weeks.

Randy



[This message has been edited by saxxman (edited 10-21-2008).]

Beautiful job. Very professional sound, great playing! Makes me want to take NY off and dance cheek to cheek.
DonM

Randy,
many thanks for your suggestion re. Cannonball Adderley.

[This message has been edited by Dreamer (edited 10-21-2008).]

IMHO Desmond is perhaps the most 'melodic' of the great sax players - then Getz, Moody, Woods, etc. and let us not forget Gerry Mulligan who took the bari sax out of the sax section and into its own as a solo instrument ...
t.

Andrea, for a hard, fiery, Latin sax style, you may want to listen to Gato Barbieri http://www.centralentertainment.com/gato/

t.

Hey, thank you Tony! Gato is really

Nice performance Randy,a true profi song.
Best regards from Brazil
Chico

Thanks again to DonM, Chico and all who took the time to listen! Looking forward to getting some more recording in this weekend.

FLASH -- I received some good news this week! Looks like I may have a New Year's gig playing my T2 to back up a local female singer. If it works out, I'll play some sax too and will take my new curvie to the gig.

Still reading all the T3 posts but so far, I'm resisting the urge to upgrade (particularly with this economy). I did get a reply from a request I sent to Yamaha support -- saying they didn't plan to convert the new T3 styles for T2 users. A big disappointment and not in the best interests of supporting loyal customers.

Y'all have a great weekend!

Randy

No surprise there Randy......why should they do that Lets face it....they want you to sell your new T2 & buy a T3......
$$$$$$ is the bottom line not the customer always

Donnie - you're right! Oh well....maybe when the upgraded S900 pops out I'll take the plunge. For now I'm holding w/T2 and hoping maybe some industrious programmer will be able to figure out a way to convert them.

I just checked Ebay and there was a T2 out there wallowing in the $1100 range....WAAAAAA?
Must be a fluke. Mirroring the stock market!

Oh I need an Excedrin!

Randy



[This message has been edited by saxxman (edited 10-24-2008).]

Hey there Randy,

For whatever reason, I missed this thread when you originally posted your tune here. A very musically expressive & satsifying rendition to my ears.

I had the opportunity to play T3 for several hours and I appreciate many of its new features, but came away feeling that my T2 (after tweaking) sounds as good as (better?), so in addition to added upgrade expense and considerable time it would require me to convert & tweak T3 (EQ Settings/Compressor, etc) to give it that LIVE in your face (vs CD) sound I get from my tweaked T2, I've decided to wait awhile before re-considering any KB upgrade. I'm convinced that more noticeable gains will be apparent thru continually improving playing techniques.

Re T3 styles converted to play in T2. I know from a good source that this is currently being worked on and will probably be forthcoming sooner than later.

Randy: congratulations on your new sax acquisition and may your new chinese friend bring you years of musical joy.

- Scott

[This message has been edited by Scottyee (edited 10-24-2008).]

Scott - thanks for listening and posting! Yeah, I will hope that the style conversion wizards can do their thing so that we can at least enjoy the benefits of the new styles. Please keep me posted as I know you are well networked in the Tyros user community!

The little curvie sax far exceeded my expectations. I thought it would be a toy that I needed to try and most likely would resell on Ebay. Now I am having a hard time leaving it alone. HA HA.... Looking forward to doing some more Xmas stuff this weekend.

Have a great weekend Scott!

Randy

BTW, Randy... I've been kind of rediscovering Paul Gonsalves, who played with Duke in the late fifties and sixties.

What a monster!

Diki - you are so so right! What a player! And what a band! Man talk about talent.

Here's a neat link with some dialog about Duke and Paul and some footage:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-WhnbGOka6E&feature=related

YouTube has some quirks, but lots of definite plusses for musicians!! Thanks for bringing Paul into the discussion!

Randy