Alto and Tenor music full version Take Five by the Dave Brubeck Quartet Few would venture beyond ‘Take Five’, the throwaway track that secured the Dave Brubeck Quartet’s place in the jazz pantheon of greats if prompted to name a famous track with an unusual time signature. Well, maybe some would offer the B-side to ‘Take Five’ when it was first released as a single in autumn 1959, ‘Blue Rondo à la Turk’ (in 9/8), but it’s Brubeck all the way. Dave Brubeck was a pianist and composer from California and was particularly seen as an exponent of west coast cool jazz. His synonymous quartet, forme ..read more

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Alto and Tenor music full version The Pink Panther Theme by Henry Mancini If I were to play you four notes, two pairs of adjacent semitones, a tone apart in the rhythm, da-rum-da-rum, you’d instantly be able to identify the track, wouldn’t you? I wager that many would be able to identify the tune from just the rhythm alone. Theme tunes hardly get more iconic than ‘The Pink Panther Theme’, written by Henry Mancini for the 1963 movie, The Pink Panther. The actual Pink Panther is the name given to a diamond, the subject of a robbery, but for the film’s title sequence, an animated Pink Panther ..read more

What’s the first tune you think of when you hear Getz’s name? It’s The Girl from Ipanema, isn’t it? A Brazilian bossa nova song, Getz and João Gilberto recorded it on their 1963 album, simply titled Getz/Gilberto with Gilberto and his wife Astrud sharing the vocals. Getz went on to have a worldwide hit with Astrud singing. Listen to their original here: https://youtu.be/Nim7Xs41UJo Getz doesn’t even make an appearance on the track until over two and a half minutes in. But when he does – his tone is breathy and soft, redolent of Lester Young, one of his major influences. However, there is ..read more

Every professional saxophonist uses licks, why not join them and learn some from this free pdf? Each week the Newbury Sax School will make a video coaching you how to play some of these blues and funk licks. The video has the saxophone fingering and demonstrates how to use them, also giving you a free backing track to practice too. Download the free pdf Blues licks for Saxophones and flute How to play lick 1 Play Video Killer licks Backing Track Play Video The post Saxophone Blues Licks appeared first on Newbury Sax School ..read more

Born in 1969, Dutch saxophonist Candy Dulfer is the highest profile woman to make the list of saxophone greats. She was born to it, as her father Hans is also a jazz saxophonist. She started playing soprano at six, later moving to the alto. She formed her first band at just thirteen. In the late 1980s, although her band had opened for Madonna concerts in the Netherlands, Candy came to the world’s attention with two key collaborations. Playing with Dave Stewart (formerly of the Eurythmics), their instrumental single Lily was here went to number one in 1989. Watch Lily was here played live htt ..read more

“God Rest You Merry Bond”   At one of the schools where I teach, the Jazz Band wasn’t allowed to play in the Christmas concert unless we played a traditional carol. The band really wanted to play the James Bond theme…. So, I mixed James Bond with God Rest You Merry Gentlemen, and we got away with it!     The arrangement was written for saxes, trumpet, trombone backed by keyboard, guitar and drums. Choose which line you want to play along with and have fun. Adding the Bond baseline and embellishments gives the carol a rather different feel! Email me if you would like a cop ..read more

Clemons is one of the most searched for saxophone players. We all know ‘The Big Man’ (yes, he’s tall!) from his long career playing with Bruce Springsteen from 1972 until he died in 2011, a true sax great from the rock’n’roll world this time, rather than jazz. Clemons grew up in Virginia listening to gospel music – his father was a Southern Baptist preacher. He got his first saxophone, an alto, for Christmas when he was 9 years old, taking lessons and playing in the school jazz band where he switched to baritone. It was when his uncle gave him a King Curtis album that Clarence switched to ..read more

 Wayne Shorter, who is now 87, has had one of the longest careers in jazz of any saxophonists. Born in New Jersey, he studied music education at NYU and played with various bands before joining Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers in 1959, becoming the band’s musical director and already beginning to make a name for himself as a composer as well as a phenomenal improviser on the sax. Photo: Wayne Shorter in Amsterdam with Weather Report in 1980. He joined Miles Davis in his Second Great Quintet in 1964, again composing pieces for the group that Davis, who was always in search of perfection an ..read more

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