Imagine getting a call one day out of the blue and being told you have a job with Miles Davis. This is exactly what happened to saxophonist Rick Margitza and he tells us the incredible story in this week’s YouTube video. Rick’s Background: Rick Margitza is a highly accomplished saxophonist with a wealth
Why Miles Davis Hired Me After Hearing My Demo – Rick Margitza Read More »
Today is the big day, you can now order BetterSax Jazz Cut Reeds, and to celebrate I made this video with my best reed tips that I have learned over decades of playing, studying with masters, and lots of trial and error. If you have any additional tips that don’t get covered here, please share
14 Reed Tricks You Need To Know Read More »
Hey Guys, quick lesson on learning and playing melodies. This month in the BetterSax Studio we are working on “All of Me”, and I always tell my students to learn melodies by playing along with recordings. You can learn them from sheet music, there’s nothing wrong with that, but if you want to sound
How to Learn Tunes (Without the Real Book) Read More »
I recently visited the factories of the 3 world-leading saxophone brands: Selmer, Yamaha and Yanagisawa. Perhaps the most important lesson I learned is that there is more than one way to make a saxophone! Each of these manufacturers has their own unique processes, techniques and systems that result in quite different outcomes. In this
How the Best Saxophones in the World are Made Read More »
I met up with saxophonist, producer, composer, and multi-instrumentalist Terrace Martin for an interview about music, saxophone and life. In this conversation, he shares insights into his journey, influences, and the keys to his remarkable career. Terrace Martin’s label – Sounds of Crenshaw: https://soundsofcrenshaw.com/terrace-martin Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SoundsOfCrenshaw/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/soundsofcrenshaw/ Terrace Martin’s Musical Journey Terrace Martin’s
How to Succeed in the Music Business – Terrace Martin Read More »
I recently had the chance to meet up with saxophonist Immanuel Wilkins at the Nice Jazz Festival. We had a great conversation about what he worked on to develop such a beautiful sound, his backstory and how he started playing saxophone, the setup he plays on, and how he was able to get his
How He Got a Golden Saxophone Tone – Immanuel Wilkins Read More »
During my recent trip to Japan, I had the pleasure of speaking with Nobushige Yanagisawa, the President of Yanagisawa. He gave me a wonderfully detailed look at the history of Yanagisawa and how it has evolved over the years. This is a translation of our conversation, in his own words. How was Yanagisawa started? It’s
The Origin of Yanagisawa Saxophones Read More »
On my recent trip to Japan, I visited the Yanagisawa Croche workshop in Shinjuku, Tokyo. While I was there, I was able to meet with the chief saxophone technician, Mr. Yamada, who did a quick adjustment for me. Learn about saxophone repair from a master in this video.
I Got My Saxophone Repaired by a Master Technician in Tokyo Read More »
I had the chance to catch up with Jaleel Shaw, a veteran of the New York jazz scene, at the 2023 Nice Jazz Festival to check out his performance with the Dave Holland New Quartet. In this conversation, we talk about what it’s like to tour internationally with jazz legends such as Roy Haynes
Going on the Road with Jazz Legends- Jaleel Shaw Read More »
There are endless videos about what to do physically on any given instrument to get better. Those are great, but the biggest problem every single musician faces is largely in the mind and not the body. So here are 10 affirmations, things that if you just say them to yourself on a regular basis,
10 Fixes for Struggling Sax Players Read More »
I have reviewed plenty of different electronic saxophones on this channel. And today I have another one for you, but as you can see it is clearly different. Now I have to be honest with you. At first I was kind of skeptical on this thing. Maybe because it’s all plastic or so small, but
Is that a SAX in Your Pocket?! – Travel Sax 2 Review Read More »
Eric Marienthal is one of the all time great saxophone players and educators. He has won Grammys, he has recorded countless albums and soundtracks including 6 of his own as a leader. He has performed with many of the world’s greatest musicians in a multitude of genres, and is also the author of several
I Asked Eric Marienthal How He Got So Good Read More »
Theo Wanne has been making amazing professional saxophone mouthpieces for decades, and one of the unique features of these is that they get updated all the time. I’m going to show and play for you all the new Theo Wanne tenor mouthpiece designs, including the brand new Brahma mouthpiece in both hard rubber and
Best Theo Wanne Mouthpiece EVER? Read More »
I recently got this incredible sound proofed studio that can be built in about an hour from what are essentially really fancy high tech legos. I only wish I had this 20 years ago as it would have changed my life. Quick backstory Let me know if you can relate. At some point, in
We Built this Practice Booth in 1 HOUR! Read More »
Learning how to improvise can be tough. There’s so much information to learn and things to practice. It can be really overwhelming sometimes. Right? I certainly remember feeling overwhelmed a lot. Right now, I’m going to share with you a shortcut for getting better at improvising solos that’s guaranteed to speed up the process
This Technique Saves 100s of Practice Hours- Improvisation Shortcut Read More »
My guest today is Nathan Graybeal, otherwise known as @Saxologic on YouTube. He has amassed a following of over 188K subscribers and went viral with the Mario Kart Lick. He is currently working on his doctorate in saxophone performance at the University of Memphis. In this interview Nathan and I talk about making the
Jazz or Classical Saxophone? – Saxologic Decides Read More »
My guest is Donny McCaslin, one of the most exciting saxophone players of our generation. He’s been making incredible music for quite a while now having recorded more than a dozen albums as a leader and several dozen more as a sideman, he is perhaps most well known for his work on David Bowie’s
Being a Musician is Not Always Rational Read More »
My guest today is the world renowned pianist, educator, composer and author Kenny Werner. His landmark book Effortless Mastery has been revelatory for musicians around the world since it was published more than 25 years ago. His latest book Becoming the Instrument guides us further down the path of liberating the master musician within
Jazz Legend Reveals Secret to Music Read More »
What happens when two saxophone players try each other’s horns? The fact is that pretty much all saxophone players are biased towards the saxophone that they play on. So with few exceptions, someone who plays a Mark VI is going to be biased towards their Mark VI. Somebody who plays Yanagisawa is going to be
My SAX is better than YOURS! Read More »
Hello Saxophone friends, this is going to be a special video. I’ve got here the latest creation from Selmer Paris, the most legendary manufacturer of saxophones in history. It’s the new Selmer Supreme tenor saxophone. I’m excited because it’s not everyday that Selmer comes out with a new model. Think about this, the first
Selmer Supreme Tenor Review Read More »
There’s a brand new mouthpiece out that the saxophone world is very excited about. JodyJazz has just released the Hard Rubber version of their flagship DV mouthpiece for alto saxophone. I’m going to play it for you so you can hear what it can do, and then we’ll compare it to the metal version
4 Amazing Alto Sax Mouthpieces for a Beautiful Sound Read More »
