Berklee College of Music

-Innovators of the Saxophone SoundA Retrospective of the Saxophonists Who Popularized and Defined the Sound
& Style
1945 - Present

Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Degree of
Master of Music in Contemporary Performance (Production Concentration)

Supervisor: Enric Alberich

By Joshua C. Harris

Valencia Campus, Spain
2018

Table of Contents
Abstract

iii

Acknowledgements

vi

1. Introduction

1

2. Background

1-3

2.1 Personal Background

3-23

3. The Saxophone: Origin – Innovators – Evolution

23-24

4. Special Note

25

5. Objective

25-26

5.1 Sub-Objective

26

6. Methodology

27

7. The Source

28

8. Video Comparison & Analysis

28-42

9. Conclusion

42-43

10. Bibliography

44

11. Videography

44-45

ii

Abstract

My decision to focus this project specifically on the aesthetic qualities of the saxophone
sound, was based on and inspired by my own reflections and experiences as a professional
saxophonist for over 40 years. Having transcribed the artists, who are the subjects of my
exploratory research, I can honestly say that I have learned my craft by borrowing from these
masters. My method for displaying these aesthetics as they relate to the saxophone sound, is
from 9 select videos set into an evolutionary timeline. Through a process of comparative
analysis based on my chosen parameters, the videos were assembled into an audio-visual
presentation. My use of sub-tones, vibrato, riff based motifs, false fingerings, flutter tonguing,
overtone series and, harmonics, is all derived from players past as well as my peers. It would
be fair to say that my life’s work as a tenor saxophonist and multi-winds instrumentalist in
many respects, is based on the codified vocabulary of gestures and sounds set forth by my
predecessors. This language is inherently unique to the saxophone, and this is the focus of my
research.

Keywords: aesthetic, qualities, saxophone, reflections, analyzing, language, gestures, masters.

iii

Acknowledgements

I would like to thank and recognize the following musicians and people who have
contributed to my education and experience of learning how to become a musician and
performer. Their dedication, spirit and commitment to the craft is what inspired my passion
to seek out and ask the questions for the answers that eventually revealed themselves over the
course of my fantastic journey. For them, I am truly grateful as a human being, a father, a
friend and a musician.

Murry Rose, Paul Jeffrey, James Spaulding, Saul Rubin, Thomas Chapin, Jerry Weldon,
George Coleman, Steve Nelson, Victor Mendoza, Kenny Baron, Ted Dunbar, Phil Corner,
Joshua Selman, Sonny Stitt, James Moody, Al Grey, Jay Anderson, David Newman, Joe
Henderson, Bob Berg, Michael Brecker, Johnny Griffin, Jimmy Heath, Charlie Parker, Dexter
Gordon, John Coltrane, Joe Allard, Sigurd Rascher, James Scott, Donald Byrd, George
Garzon, Harold Mayburn, Jan Garbarek, my aunt Terry and cousin Frank Perowsky.

This project is dedicated to the memory of my parents:
Herman H. Harris
For paying for my music lessons and making me practice
Jacqueline I. Harris
For the great food that fueled my progress and the life force she passed on to me.

iv

1. Introduction
My decision for choosing this project is directly related to and connected with my own
personal development and evolution as a saxophone player. I learned much of my craft by
watching, listening, analyzing copying and transcribing other players in both my generation
and generations past. This was all part of my on-going explorations, discoveries and
realizations as a student of the saxophone. In contemplating the focus and topic of study for
my culminating project, I came to the realization that I could be the subject and the object of
the study. The reason for me saying this is because I became a part of the history of tenor
saxophone players in America. I’m not saying this because I’m in Wikipedia,1 which I am, but
I say this because my career flourished after I received my undergraduate degree at Rutgers
University.

2. Background
As an undergraduate student from 1980 - 1982, my practice routine was seven hours a
day. Early on in my development as a player, the one thing that several of my teachers and my
peers told me, was that I have a sound on the tenor saxophone that was recognizable and
signatory. For me, I attribute this to having one of my greatest saxophone lessons with tenor
saxophone titan Johnny Griffin, as well as my hard work and persistence. Johnny Griffin was

1 Wikipedia, s.v. “The Greatest Love World Tour,” accessed June 15, 2018,
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Greatest_Love_World_Tour . Billboard magazine's Carlo Wolff said the following on his column
for her show at Saratoga Performing Arts Center on July 28, 1986. During "Saving All My Love", Houston arranged the song into
a bluesy jazz number that recalled Billie Holiday. Houston often scatted with sax player Josh Harris during the end of the song.

1

known as the “Little Giant”2 from Chicago and was, as a legend has it, the only tenor player
who made John Coltrane a little nervous when he came to town. He showed me how to
practice long tones to establish my own sound on the horn. I spent the rest of my career
paying attention to what he told me and practiced my long tones every day. For me, this
proved to be a wise decision.
Johnny Griffin was short in stature, and the sound that he could produce had a wide
dynamic range in volume as well as aesthetically achieving a beautiful tone quality in my
opinion. His mouthpiece and reed set up was unusual in that he used a #5 reed, the hardest,
along with a mouthpiece with a tip opening, (referring to the space between the end of the
reed and the mouthpiece), between #9 and #10. To my knowledge, this was the largest reed
and mouthpiece size available to players at that time. Most players could not and cannot
overcome the pressure and resistance of this saxophone set-up to produce a tone using this
size mouthpiece and reed.
In continuation of the story of my evolution, I remember when I played for
saxophonist Sonny Stitt in a master class, he told me I have a nice and clear tone on the horn.
When I played for saxophonist George Coleman in my lesson he told me I have a strong tone
in the altissimo register. When I played in a big band as a member of the Rutgers University
Jazz Ensemble alumni, sitting in the sax section next to Branford Marsalis at Symphony Space
NYC, he told me I have a great tone. When I played for Whitney Houston in my audition for
her band, I was hired because she liked my sound. I also showed up prepared by transcribing
2 Tim Sendra, “The Little Giant Is Gone: R.I.P. Johnny Griffin,” allmusic.com, July 28, 2008, accessed June 15, 2018,
https://www.allmusic.com/blog/post/the-little-giant-is-gone-rip-johnny-griffin. One of the great overlooked tenor saxophonists of the 1950s
was Johnny Griffin. Billed as "the Little Giant" and the fastest player alive.

2

all the saxophone solos for which I would be responsible for if I got the job. I have honestly
lost count of how many people have given me positive feedback and comments about my
sound on the tenor saxophone. I’ve always expressed my appreciation to them with thanks
and gratitude, leaving the attitude. It seems to be my gift in life for which I am grateful.

2.1 Personal Background
I grew up in Dover, New Jersey, a small hub town 36 miles west of New York City.
My first exposure to live music and dance started at age 4 and 5 when my mother took me
with her on the bus to New York City. Four days a week she made the commute into the city
where she studied modern jazz, tap and belly dancing. It was 1963, around the same time
President Kennedy had been assassinated. (The Civil Rights Movement,3 that started in the
1950s in America was starting to coalesce in the form of peaceful marches and protests.) After
arriving in New York, we would walk up 8th avenue to the dance studios located in and around
Time Square, where most of the Broadway Theatres were located. We went to two studios for
classes, the first being Jo Jo Smith's Dance Factory, then Luigi's School of Dance. Luigi was
the father of modern jazz dance, passing away in 2016 the same year as my mother.
It was the early 1960’s and dancers were working all the time in Broadway shows, and
there were still some jobs available in film for them after the golden era of the fifties when
musicals were being adapted for television viewers. At that time, there was no MTV4 video

3 Encyclopedia-Britannica, s.v. “American civil rights movement,” accessed June 18, 2018,
https://www.britannica.com/contributor/clayborne-carson/5942199. American civil rights movement, mass protest movement against racial
segregation and discrimination in the southern United States that came to national prominence during the mid-1950s.
4 Encyclopedia-Britannica, s.v. “MTV music television network,” accessed June 17, 2018, https://www.britannica.com/topic/mtv.
MTV, in full Music Television, cable television network that began as a 24-hour platform.

3

channel and the digital age had not arrived yet. What I remember most from those days when
I was 5 years old riding the bus to New York City, was the live music being played during my
mom’s dance rehearsals. Luigi used a pianist playing classical music on an upright piano and
at Jo Jo's studio, there was live percussion to support the dancers as they practiced their
routines. The one thing in common at both studios was the use of the long wooden dowel
used by both Luigi and Jo Jo. They would us the wooden dowel to hit the floor as a count off
with the following words, 5,6,7,8 to start the endless repetition of routines and combinations
that went on for over an hour. In between the repetitions there was often yelling or shouting
directed at the dancers who were missing their steps to the choreographed routines. Shifting
ahead momentarily, my mother was also studying belly dancing and eventually started
working professionally when I was a teenager. I remember watching her adorn her costume at
home to practice. She would get her castanets and then dance to her record collection of belly
dancing music. One time my father made me go and watch her perform when I was 17, which
was pretty upsetting for me when I look back to that time, because I felt my being there was
embarrassingly inappropriate. But, she was an inspiration for me as a positive spirit and lover
of music.
When I was a teenager I knew where Jazz came from, I just didn’t understand it or
know how to play it. I remember telling my parents I wanted to study jazz, and they told me
that during the 1950’s through the 1960s, New York City was one of the most important
cultural centers and considered to be the jazz capital of the world.5 I have an older brother

5 Robert Palmer, “Jazz Thriving in the City in Biggest Surge Since 40’s,” New York Times, 1982, accessed June 15, 2018,
https://newyorktimes.com.

4

named Michael, and he being a big fan of music and culture in general went to see Jimmy
Hendrix play the national anthem at the Woodstock Music Festival in 1969.6 A few years later
in my teens, I remember when my brother told me that during that time, between the late 50’s
and 60’s, New York was considered to have been on the cutting edge of a major paradigm shift
in the aesthetic of new music, modern dance, art, film, jazz and rock and roll.
I think it is reasonable to say that this time in American history had an influence on
the rest of the world. In my opinion, this shift was a result of the struggle for a social (ending
the Viet Nam war and the fight against racism), economic (the struggle to end poverty), and
sexual (the struggle for women’s rights and sexual equality) revolution that was about to
emerge. There was a gathering momentum amongst people who were feeling oppressed and
exploited that turned into a movement that would become the Civil Rights era in the U.S. It
was in my opinion a time when the spiritual awakening and physical struggle for the identity
of the soul of America7 was starting to take shape in the form of a resistance that was being
expressed in the culture through art, music, dance, literature and live theatre.
It was 1964-65, about the time I watched the Beatles on TV performing on the Ed
Sullivan Show.8 I was seven years old then and began taking drum lessons with Muzzi
Mazzone at our local music store just up the street from my Father’s hardware store. My
6 Joseph Berger, “Town Is Weighing A Shrine to the 60's at Woodstock Site,” New York Times, Jan. 26, 1997
www.newyorktimes.com The monument bears the names of the performers who were featured during those three days: among them Joan
Baez; Crosby, Stills and Nash; Creedence Clearwater Revival; the Grateful Dead; Jimi Hendrix; the Jefferson Airplane; Janis Joplin, and Ravi
Shankar.
7 LC Hon, "To Redeem the Soul of America,” Public relations and the civil rights movement, November 19, 2009,
Journal of Public Relations Research Volume 9, 1997 - Issue 3, accessed June 18, 2018.
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1207/s1532754xjprr0903_01.
8 Miss Cellania, “The Beatles on the Ed Sullivan Show,” June 21, 2011, accessed June 20, 2018.
https://www.neatorama.com/2011/06/21/the-beatles-on-the-ed-sullivan-show/.

5

older brothers were also taking lessons at the same time in the same studio. After about one
year of drum lessons, I remember one day seeing my brother Daniel standing in the open
doorway to one of the teaching studios holding a shiny horn called the saxophone. Right after
my lesson I went straight to my father and told him I needed to switch to the sax. My new
teachers name was Murray Rose and he was a Broadway9 musician. He had cataracts and
wore glasses with lenses as thick as the bottom of a coca cola bottle. Mr. Rose remained my
teacher throughout my teenage years until I was 18 years old. He taught me how to play the
saxophone, flute, clarinet and bassoon.
During my junior and senior years in high school I was playing saxophone in a local
R&B band called the Uniques. The lead singer of the group was Dennis Ray and he sounded
just like American soul crooner Sam Cook.10 We called him the golden voice because he had
one of the most beautiful singing voices we had ever heard. New Jersey and the east coast in
general was the home of Doo-wop music11 and many a cappella groups. I introduced Dennis
to the vocal group the Five Satins who were from Connecticut. He stayed with them for about
5 years.
In the 1970’s the local pastor from the Presbyterian church in my home town was
recruiting people from Puerto Rico to join his congregation and work in the factories within
our hub town community. In school, there were people from Columbia, Ecuador, Africa and
9 The Cyber Encyclopedia of Musical Theatre, Film & Television, s.v. “Theatre in NYC: History - Part IV,” By John Kenrick,
http://www.musicals101.com/bwaythhist4.htm.
10 Biography by Sam Eder, “Sam Cooke,” Allmusic.com, accessed June 19, 2018. https://www.allmusic.com/artist/sam-cookemn0000238115/biography A seminal influence on soul music and R&B…
11 Encyclopedia-Britannica, s.v. “Doo-wop,” accessed June 22, 2018, https://www.britannica.com/art/doo-wop-music. The
structure of doo-wop music generally featured a tenor lead vocalist singing the ... Doo-wop. music. Written By: Frederick Dennis Greene. See
Article History. Doo-wop, style of rhythm-and-blues and rock-and-roll vocal music…

6

Puerto Rico and some recent European immigrants. But in my home town there was an
atmosphere of racism at our high school and a general distain for ethnic minorities. There
was name calling and fighting as the lines were being drawn as to whom was a member of the
minority and who was the majority. In 1984 I was 24 years old and just returning from
playing in the Umbria Jazz Festival in Perugia, Italy12 to visit my family. The local chapter of
the KKK, also known as the Ku Klux Klan13 had come to our home town. They had
specifically targeted my family, and with buckets of acid burned the images of a hammer and
sickle, and a swastika on my father’s hardware store window. The Klansmen also wrecked our
family car by breaking into it and releasing the emergency brake, allowing it to roll down the
street we lived on which was a very steep hill descending into town. They also painted the
symbols of the hammer and cycle and swastika on the windows of the local peace center where
my brothers were members. There is a three feet square cement base with a one foot square
hole, used by the Klan to set giant crosses burning on top of the hill overlooking town, that is
still there today. But my point and emphasis here is that the diverse cultural community I was
growing up in had a strong influence on my musical tastes, as well as my lessons about the
dark side of humanity.
It was the mid-seventies, and the radio played all the time in our house with the

12 Peter Watrous, “For U.S. Jazz Players, Europe Is the Place to Be,” New York Times, July 31, 1996, Accessed June 22, 2108
https://www.nytimes.com/1996/07/31/arts/for-us-jazz-players-europe-is-the-place-to-be.html, The tours also offer the chance to hear what
other musicians are up to. At an event like the Umbria Jazz Festival in Perugia, Italy…
13 Merriam-Webster, s.v. “Ku Klux Klan,” accessed June 22, 2018, https://www.merriamwebster.com/dictionary/Ku%20Klux%20Klan. 1: A post-Civil War American secret society advocating white supremacy. 2: a 20th century
secret fraternal group held to confine its membership to American-born white Christians.

7

American Song14 book being broadcast by DJ Jonathan Winters. He often played singers
Frank Sinatra, Mel Torme, Judy Collins, Pearl Bailey, Nat King Cole, Johnny Mathis, Joni
Mitchell and many more that were on the play list roster. I have an older sister who also
exposed me to another world of music during those formative years. Sister Miriam was and is
a big fan of Doo-wop and R&B music. She played many of the hit songs of the times, from
Frankie Vali, Ben E. King, The Spinners, The Drifters, The Shirelles, and her favorite, The
Tokens singing “The Lion Sleeps Tonight”15 which was originally recorded in South Africa in
1939 and sung in Zulu. During that same period, I often went to the department store to buy
the latest new music released on vinyl. When I got back home my sister and I would literally
spend hours in the attic of my parent’s house playing music and dancing the hours away to all
the great new music that was constantly being released.
Another big and important musical influence for me was the time I spent going to the
synagogue with my father on Friday nights and Saturday mornings where I heard the prayers
being sung to ancient Hebrew hymns. At the age of 13 I had my bar mitzvah. I learned to
memorize the prayers to be sung so I could lead the congregation during the Friday night and
Saturday morning prayer services. With the help of a reel to reel tape recorder that was given
to me, I listened and learned the hymns sung to the prayers. One year later at age 14, I saw
Miles Davis play at New York Philharmonic Hall.16

14 Michael Feinstein “What is the Great American Songbook,” Jeffrey C. McDermott, President/CEO-Michael Feinstein, Artistic
Director, copyright 2016, accessed June 18, 2018. http://thecenterfortheperformingarts.org/index.aspx.
15 The Tokens, “The Lion Sleeps Tonight,” (music video). (Wimoweh) (Audio), published by tokenvideos, October 29, 2015,
accessed June 18, 2018. https://youtu.be/OQlByoPdG6c.
16 John S. Wilson “Miles Davis and Group Play Philharmonic Hall,” The New York Times, October 1, 1972-page 66, accessed June
15, 2018. https://www.nytimes.com/1972/10/.../miles-davis-and-group-play-philharmonic-hall.htm.

8

At the age of 17, my older brother Michael introduced me to Jamaican artists Bob
Marley and Peter Tosh. I did not like Reggae at first, but two weeks later I bought every
record and knew the lyrics to every song. Brother Mike was also building an extensive Latin
music record collection with artists from Cuba, Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic. For
the first time, I was hearing Dominican saxophone players performing merengue as well as
Cuban and Puerto Rican folk music. The music was feverishly fast and heavily articulated.
My brother loved Latin music and culture so much so that he moved to Puerto Rico. My
girlfriend in high school was from Columbia and we danced to Latin music at her house,
heavily supervised by her mother. My musical life was also enriched by going to visit my
brother in Puerto Rico during the annual Festival Loiza Aldea.17 This festival is still celebrated
today and is very much like carnival in Brazil. Born of slavery, I got to hear and see the Ayala
culture18 of music and dance. There were salsa bands such as Caribe, Apollo Sound, La Selecta
and a Calypso band, with music playing non-stop for about 8 days. During the festival, I
happened to walk into a small club off the main square where I saw the legendary conga player
Patato Valdez leading his ensemble of 5 conga players. Upon leaving I remember hearing
gunshots ring out just a few blocks away. Some off-duty policeman in a bar found his wife
with another man and killed him. The annual festival is a celebration of the cultural heritage
of the island of Puerto Rico, being a mix of the indigenous Indians known as Borikens,

17 Gov. Carlos Romero-Barcelo, Delegate, “Local Legacies Celebrating Community Roots,” Festivities of St. James the Apostle, held
at the town of Loiza in Puerto Rico, Library of Congress/The American Folk Life Center, October 29, 2010, accessed June 19, 2018.
http://memory.loc.gov/diglib/legacies/loc.afc.afc-legacies.200003485/default.html.
18 César J. Ayala and Rafael Bernabe, “Puerto Rico in the American Century, A History since 1898,” (The University of North
Carolina Press, 2007), accessed June 18, 2018. https://muse.jhu.edu/book/21212.

9

Spaniards and African slaves brought there in route to the mainland who never made it off the
island.
In June of 1976 I was about to graduate high school and America was celebrating its
Bi-Centennial, 200 years of a new nation’s history. And juxtaposed next to this celebration
was the impending demise of the revolution in culture that had taken place just a few years
earlier. Martin Luther King, Medgar Evers, Malcolm X, both John and Robert Kennedy had
been murdered, and the Black Panther party which had been infiltrated by CIA operatives,
was being dismantled with the assassination and imprisonment of its members. The
conservative movement in the U.S. was successfully and systematically subverting the
movement that started in the early 60’s. And for the first time in recent American history, the
U.S. Marines were let loose on The Kent State College campus where 4 students were killed
during a Vietnam War protest.19 White Americans were now also being killed to crush the
resistance to the new war economy, the same one former president Dwight Eisenhower
warned us about.
In my last year of high school, I was in the concert and marching bands, and still
arguing with my father about having to practice one hour every day of which he forced me to
do. I was not allowed out of the house until I did so. He was a 6’4”, 145-pound former county
champion wrestler, so there was not much I could say or do about that. In the spring of 1976,
being a serious athlete, I qualified for the NCAA Junior Championships in Philadelphia after
braking the school record in the Javelin throw. I placed 4th in the U.S. at age 18. It was on a

19 John Kifner, “4 Kent State Students Killed by Troops: 8 Hurt as Shooting Follows Reported Sniping at Rally,” New York Times,
May 4, 1970, accessed June 20, 2018. https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0504.html#article.

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break from the competition at the New Jersey track and field championships held at Rutgers
University, when a recruiter from Florida State University offered me a partial scholarship. I
remember telling the recruiter, “no thanks, I’m going to music school.”
Earlier that spring while at my music lesson, my teacher Mr. Rose asked my father
about sending me to Berklee College of Music in Boston. But that wasn’t going to happen just
yet because in 1976 America was still recovering from the recession of 1972. My father’s
hardware business was not doing well, especially after the new Rockaway Town Square Mall
was built on 300 acres of land behind our high school. The building of that mall was the
beginning of the end of our family business which eventually went bankrupt 10 years later.
Our small family business could not compete with the new era of retail, supported by cheap
labor and computerized inventories.
When I graduated high school, I worked in a stainless-steel pipe factory for a year to
save money for college. At that time, I could not save enough money to pay for out of state
tuition to attend Berklee, and my father did not give us money to further our education. We
had to “make it on our own” as he often said. At that time my father discouraged me from
wanting to be a musician telling me “I didn’t have what it takes," and at the same time offered
me a job in his hardware store. I declined the job offer and applied to Rutgers, the State
University of New Jersey majoring in Jazz performance. I had no idea of what I was about to
get into, or what my life was about to become.
At Rutgers, I studied saxophone with the late great Jazz educator Paul Jeffrey.20

20 Wikipedia, s.v. “Paul Jeffrey,” accessed June 18, 2018, accessed June 17, 2018. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Jeffrey.

11

One of the techniques we were taught in our lessons was to practice our scales while holding
pencils between our fingers at the base of our fingers nearest the palm of the hand. We
learned this pedagogy by watching Charlie Parker videos. By observing Charlie’s technique,
we learned how to keep our finger tips close to the key pads on the horn while playing, to
facilitate a faster technique. Legend has it that Charlie Parker was often seen playing while
having a lit cigarette between his fingers.
Before coming to Rutgers, Paul Jeffrey was the conductor and arranger for Charles
Mingus for 11 years, and he played tenor sax in Thelonious Monk’s band from 1970 to 1975.
When Monk died in 1982 the Rutgers University Jazz Ensemble was asked to perform at the
funeral, and it was held at St. Peters Church21 on Lexington Ave in New York City. This
church is famous for hosting most of the funerals for Jazz musicians who lived and worked in
the New York area. Paul was a close and personal-friend of Sonny Rollins, and he was a
student of John Coltrane. Paul used to sit on John Coltrane’s and sometimes Sonny Rollin’s
doorstep on Sunday mornings, waiting for them to return home after their gigs so he could
play duets with them.
During my time at Rutgers, Paul was still very connected to the east coast jazz scene.
He brought many of the Jazz masters still living and playing to the school campus to play
concerts with the Rutgers University Jazz Ensemble, every month. We performed with Frank
Foster, Dexter Gordon, Johnny Griffin, James Moody, Benny Bailey, Philly Joe Jones, Joe

21 John S. Wilson. “Friends Pay Tribute to Monk with His Music,” New York Times, February 1982, accessed June 18, 2018
https://www.nytimes.com/1982/02/23/arts/friends-pay-tribute-to-monk-with-his-music.html.

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Jones, Benny Powel, Arthur Rhames, Sonny Stitt, George Coleman, Ornette Coleman, Jimmy
Heath, Joanne Brackeen, Horace Arnold and others. Our student concerts always involved
playing the guest artists music, including several of their transcribed solos. Paul worked so
hard that he didn’t have time to copy our individual parts, so we had to go to his house and
copy our own from the scores. I’ll never forget the first time we went to Paul’s house. He
took us into the basement where his studio was and I noticed that the entire floor, from wall
to wall was covered with written out charts on manila paper. You literally could not see the
floor.
During my freshman year in 1978, I went to study with saxophonist Jimmy Heath at
the Harlem Jazz Mobile22 in Harlem, New York. In the summer of 1980, I switched from
playing alto saxophone to playing the tenor saxophone. That same summer, I attended a
weekend jazz workshop in Sandy Hook, New Jersey hosted by Rutgers University. It was
there I received a lesson from tenor sax master Johnny Griffin. The focus of that lesson was
long tone techniques.
During my junior year, I remember receiving positive feedback about my saxophone
tone during school workshops from Sonny Stitt, Branford Marsalis and George Coleman. It
was years later in 1986, while on tour with Whitney Houston as her soloist, I met Kenny G.
Being label mates on Arista Records, Kenny G was Whitney’s opening act for 6 months.
In my last year as an undergraduate I was practicing 7 hours a day as I was

22 George Gent, “Jazz Mobile Begins Season on High Note,” New York Times, July 12, 1970, accessed June 20, 2018.
https://www.nytimes.com/1970/07/02/archives/jazzmobile-begins-season-in-harlem-on-a-high-note.html.

13

contemplating a career in Jazz. Six months after graduation I got a call from Paul Jeffrey,
offering me a job playing lead tenor sax in the Umbria Jazz Festival in Perugia Italy, with other
graduates and former members of the Rutgers Jazz Ensemble. This concert featured George
Coleman, Jimmy Cobb, Harold Mayburn and the late David Eubanks on bass, along with the
Rutgers reeds section. We performed the entire transcription of John Coltrane’s “Giant
Steps”23 record, arranged in four-part harmony. After the festival, I bought a eurail pass and
went busking in Europe with a fellow sax player for three months. That experience of playing
in the streets of Europe, for me, was a big lesson in how to be a performer. I was witnessing
first-hand what an audience liked and didn’t like, revealing my strengths and weaknesses as a
musician. I would highly recommend to any student wanting real experience to do the same.
When I returned home from Europe, I decided to move to New York and pursue a
career in Jazz. Wanting to continue improving my skills as a player on both sax, flute and
clarinet, I began studying with Latin flute player Art Webb and Jazz flutist Lloyd McNeil. It
was at that time I studied saxophone with Bob Berg who was on break from playing with the
Miles Davis Band. In 1984-85, I took a trip up to Boston, Massachusetts to study with the
legendary Joe Allard. Joe taught at the New England Conservatory for 17 years and was still
teaching at the age of 82 when I met him. Joe Allard taught Mike Brecker and many of the
great saxophone players in and around New York City. I was also studying clarinet with

23 Stuart Nicholson, “Popular Jazz Artists: John Coltrane-Giant Steps,” Jazzwisemagazine.com, December 2009/January 2010,
accessed June 22, 2018, http://www.jazzwisemagazine.com/artists/13818-john-coltrane-giant-steps/.

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Frank Perowsky. Frank graduated from the Julliard School of Music and was currently
playing in several Broadway shows. He suggested I get my clarinet playing back together to
start getting work playing in Off Broadway shows, but first I had to prove to him I could play
classical music on the clarinet again before he would recommend me for any sub work. I
spent the next six months practicing the clarinet. This was a good decision because I still
wasn’t getting enough work playing just saxophone. I did manage to get work playing in
several off-Broadway shows.
Frank Perowsky once told me he used to go watch John Coltrane play at the Village
Vanguard during the 1960’s. He said in the mid-60’s just a few years before his untimely
death, John Coltrane began taking 45-minute solos that in his opinion sometimes sounded
reminiscent of a person screaming. Coltrane was expanding the sound of his band with the
embrace of the avant-garde24 movement in Jazz music during the Civil Rights Movement. I
think he was so emotionally distraught over the injustices he was witnessing and living
through as a person of color, that he had to let his emotions out on the saxophone. I believe
his playing on his later albums was an emotional reaction to what he was feeling at the time
and what was happening in the world around him. The song “Alabama” was written and
recorded by John Coltrane in reaction to the bombing of a church in Birmingham, Alabama
where 4 little innocent black girls died. While hearing the recording for the first time and
connecting the backstory with the song, I could hear Coltrane’s sorrowful lamenting tone as
he rendered the haunting melody. It had a chilling effect on me emotionally.
24 Scott Anderson “John Coltrane Avant gard Jazz & the Evolution of My Favorite Things,” thesis by Scott Anderson was
completed as an independent research project for the Honors in Music History and Literature program at Gustavus Adolphus College, St.
Peter, Minnesota, Spring 1996, accessed June 18, 2018, http://coltrane.room34.com/thesis.

15

It was 1984 and the economic climate in the U.S. was starting to change. From 1981 to
1989 Ronald Reagan was the President of the United States. He had introduced the term
“trickle-down economics”25 and drastically changed the way the tax laws were structured by
lowering corporate taxes, reducing worker’s pay and busting up unions. The spirit of the
unions in America was broken by, beginning with the dismantling of PATCO,26 the
Professional Air Traffic Controllers Organization. It was also the beginning of a period of
deregulation and unregulated capitalism in America. This new era, which was the beginning
of another shift in the centralization of power and wealth in America, was also effecting the
global economy. In my opinion, this shift in values was responsible for the continuation of
the war on culture. The proof was that privatization of profits and socialization of losses on
Wall Street had created an unbearable burden on the middle class, leaving funding for culture
devoid and flat. The National Endowment for the Arts27 was defunded during those years. It
was about this time that the best source for saxophone reeds, the cane fields of southern
France, had all been cut down to accommodate suburban sprawl, which rhymes with mall, as
in shopping. And right here at home it was starting to seem that in America there was no
time for art and music, only making money to survive if you weren’t exceedingly wealthy. I
remember one day going to have my saxophone repaired at Perry Ritter’s shop on 55th street
25 Thomas Del Beccaro, “Trickle-down Economics Does Not Exist, The Benefits of Capitalism Do,” Forbes, January 14, 2018,
accessed June 18, 2018, https://www.forbes.com/sites/thomasdelbeccaro/#767e3d012321.

26 David Macaray, “Labor Day: Ronald Reagan and the Patco Strike,” The Huffinton Post, August 30, 2017, accessed June 18, 2018,
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/labor-day-ronald-reagan-and-the-patco-strike_us_59a6d604e4b05fa16286beb1?guccounter=1.
27 Encyclopedia Britannica, s.v. “National Endowment for the Arts,” accessed June 19, 2018,
https://www.britannica.com/topic/National-Endowment-for-the-Arts.

16

in New York City. He pointed out to me an article in the Wall Street Journal about the Mark
VI Selmer saxophones being a worthwhile investment on the stock exchange. The Selmer
Company stopped producing them after the 200,000 mark, and they were becoming scarce.
Instrument buyers from around the world were coming to the states to buy up the horns
because they were appreciating in value. I went and bought another Mark VI tenor
saxophone right away, before the price eventually doubled and later tripled. The very same
day I was buying my second horn as a back-up, the seller was going to JFK airport to pick up a
buyer from Japan. The collector from Japan purchased 30 Mark VI saxophones, at roughly
$3,000 each. That’s about 90,000.00 dollars.
In 1985 I got a call for an audition for a tour with gospel singer Jennifer Holiday. I
spent the next six months touring the U.S. playing in a gospel opera written and
choreographed by George Faison. George was the choreographer for hit makers Ashford and
Simpson and the group Earth Wind and Fire. It was on that tour where I met John Simmons,
Whitney Houston’s then pianist and musical director who would sometimes conduct the
show. After hearing me play he got me an audition for Whitney’s upcoming world tour with
the release of her new album. Making the audition, John told me I was hired because she liked
my sound, becoming her saxophone and flute soloist for her first two world tours from 1986
to 1988. Kenny G was her opening act for 6 months of the tour. Kenny and I often used to
get together and play backstage before the shows, until we had a falling out. I remember the
incident. I showed him a lick used as a harmonic device that was passed on to me by a fellow
sax player from New Jersey named Stanley Bielski. But when I refused his request to slow
down a lick in the form of a pattern that I had composed, so he could have it, he got frustrated
17

with me. He never spoke to me again after that and instructed his band members never to
speak with me. At another time during the tour, after the incident, we were riding the same
plane to a gig when his road manager offered me a ride to my hotel and Kenny refused, saying
“he didn’t have time.” What a nice guy I thought, not.
It wasn’t until years later I came to understand that Whitney’s manager and her
record producer Clive Davis, wanted a white saxophone player to integrate the band racially,
thinking she was about to become the biggest selling cross-over artist of all time. Her music
appealed to both black and white audiences. Whitney was considered a sellout by the black
community when she gained success because they wanted her to be the next Nina Simone,
instead of going commercial with her music. I know this because I was riding the subway in
New York, just one day after I got the call for the audition to be in her band. There were
printed fliers scattered across the floor and seats that said “Whitney Houston, sell out to the
black community and culture.”
A new genre of instrumental music was well established in the music industry starting
in the 1980’s with the success of Ronnie Laws, Grover Washington, Kenny G and Najee. The
new contemporary instrumental music market called smooth Jazz was starting to emerge, as
more recording contract opportunities for saxophone players began to open-up. But at the
same time in the U.S. with Ronald Reagan as our President, there was a new culture shaping
up to be what I call the money culture. The values in our society were shifting, and this was
effecting people’s jobs, their homes and their families. The price of renting an apartment in
New York was increasing, and the cost of living was on the rise along with stress and less time
for being creative. I had to spend more time making more money. In the early 1990’s many
18

artists and musicians of my generation, the 70’s generation also known as the lost
generation,28 were no longer living in Manhattan, moving to Brooklyn, Queens and New
Jersey where the rents were cheaper. It was also the same time the digital age in music was
about to explode on the music production scene, putting more musicians out of work along
with live performances being replaced by DJ’s because of budget concerns.
In the 1990’s there was another new era in music developing in the U.S. markets. Hip
Hop music was exploding on the scene and the artists and producers making that music were
starting to get real opportunities with bigger budgets and some control over record sales. In
1991, Michael Jackson renegotiated the terms of his record contract with Sony Records,
raising his sales points for every album sold from about 3 percent to 12 or 13. This was
unheard of at that time, and the artist Prince soon followed suite by starting his own label.
New record labels were flourishing, and again it was also the beginning of the digital age and
the power of computerized sequencers and synthesizers which were starting to replace real,
live, flesh and blood musicians in some circumstances.
In the early nineties, I moved to Queens, New York with my wife and daughter Lenna,
away from Manhattan for more space for the price. While living in Queens I started to write
and record commercial sounding music for a solo cd project. It was the same time new digital
music platforms were being created and the proliferation of pirated music was just a few years
away. I bought a synthesizer, a four-track cassette player, a drum machine and a Mac Plus
computer running Performer 3.0 to begin learning how to write and record music using midi.

28 Paul Krugman “The Lost Generation,” The New York Times, November 5, 2009, accessed June 20, 2018,
https://www.krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/11/05/the-lost-generation/.

19

The word “midi,” stands for musical instrument digital interface. I was specifically thinking
about this new market and decided to try to write commercial music on the same level as
other sax players at that time who were incorporating Jazz harmony in their writing with a
back-beat rhythm. There were bands like the Brecker Brothers playing fusion who were still
making records, Grover Washington from Philadelphia, Najee, Stanley Turrentine, David
Sanborn and Kenny G.
In 1991, I regularly attended a weekly jam session at The China Club in New York
City. Looking for work, I got to jam with artists like Rock-a-Billy musician Charlie Sexton
and the new guitar player with the Allman Brothers Band, Warren Haynes. This club was an
industry hang out for players who were on and off the road from touring, looking for new
connections and playing opportunities. One night at the club while jamming I met the
keyboard player in Hiram Bullock’s band. He was going out on tour with Freddie Jackson and
asked me to join the band. I took the job, playing a Roland D-50 synthesizer, Yamaha DX7
wind-controller, tenor and alto saxophones and percussion. Just before the tour started, after
3 weeks of rehearsal, my verbal contract agreement was re-negotiated to a lower amount by
the director of Hush Productions, Freddie’s management company on 58th street in
Manahattan. Apparently from what I understand, Freddie’s sister cut herself in on the tour
budget by taking money from the musician’s salaries.
It was December 1993 when I returned to New York from the 3-month tour in Europe
and the U.K. I had a friend in New York named Johnny Young, who is blind. He was writing
and producing music for a TV soap opera funded by Proctor and Gamble called the Guiding

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Light.29 Johnny recommended me to the producer as a sub for Blue Lou Marini, saxophonist
with the Blues Brothers Band. Lou was out of town and on tour at the time. The recording
session was at Clinton Studios on 10th Ave in New York. I also recorded several sessions for
the Geraldo Rivera Show and a few more television jingles at the same studio.
Needing more playing work, I spent 3 months of that year learning the repertoire of
the modern version of the Klezmer30 bands in Crown Heights and Williamsburg Brooklyn,
New York. The traditional use of the clarinet was replaced by the alto sax. I was not given
any music to learn so I recorded several performances using my small cassette tape recorder. I
felt like I was doing field work, like a scientist or musicologist. It took me about 3 months of
practice to memorize dozens of songs in the Hebrew repertoire. Many of the tunes are very
similar melodically, but different at the same time by just a few notes. In the performance, if
you missed notes or made any mistakes while on the job, you were yelled at. This was New
York.
During my first audition in that market, I almost got into a physical confrontation
with another saxophone player, whom I found out later was given all the music to learn when
he entered the business. At different times in the performance he kept pulling the
microphone away when it was my time to solo. We literally got up and faced off at each other
in the middle of the gig. The incident did not escalate, except for a few exchanges of some
harsh language, of which I will not mention here. Tensions were high for me having just been
29 Peter Bradfield, “Guiding Light 1952-2009,” Plot, IMDb, date unknown, accessed June 18, 2018,
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0044265/plotsummary?ref_=tt_ov_pl#summaries.
30

Walter Zev Feldman, Klezmer Music, History and Memory (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2017).

21

divorced by my wife, and losing access to my daughter who was taken from me by the New
York Family court system. I was trying to survive and pay my child support.
In November, 1995 I was invited to record in Stockholm, Sweden for a friend’s CD
project and I ended up moving to Stockholm where I lived for 5 years. I signed a publishing
contract with EMI Scandinavia, aka Entertainment Music Incorporated. There I began
working with artists from North Africa and Sweden, writing and recording at Breaking Bread
Studios. The studio was built in a factory on a shipping wharf outside of town and I rode the
bus there just about every day of the week.
During my time in Sweden, I did not get to see my daughter back home or in Poland,
where my ex-wife would take her every summer. This tragedy went on for 4 years, as my exwife emotionally black mailed me for more money by keeping my daughter from me every
time I tried to see her, both in the U.S and in Poland. I was constantly threatened with arrest
when I proposed a meeting with Lenna. The justice system did not respond to my written
requests for implementation of my visitation rights. It seemed to me that my rights and
freedoms as a tax paying citizen were being stripped away, and no one cared. In my opinion,
there should not be a monetary value put on a parent’s right to see his or her child. It’s a
double negative for the child and parent.
I returned to the U.S. in 2001, ten days before 911.31 Several weeks after the tragedy I
started working as a designated substitute in a Broadway show at the Eugene O’Neil Theater
in NYC. I played alto saxophone, tenor sax, flute, clarinet and recorder. The show closed
31 Serge Schmemann, “U.S Attacked: Hijacked Jets Destroy Twin Towers and Hit Pentagon.” The New York Times, September 12,
2001, accessed June 22, 2018, https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0911.html?scp=2&sq...st.

22

after four months so I had to take a non-music related job to supplement my income to stay in
New York. I never stopped playing and practicing during my struggles, as I often referred to
what my professor had told me once after graduation from Rutgers. “Stay on your horn.”

3. The Saxophone: Origins – Innovation – Evolution
The first saxophones were invented somewhere between 1838 to 1846 by Belgian born
instrument maker and musician Adolph Sax.32 Most of my research on this subject has
revealed that there are numerous accounts regarding the actual dates of when the saxophone
was originally invented. The record shows that in 1846 he finished his designs, manufactured
and patented 14 different saxophones. During my time as an undergraduate, I learned in my
Jazz History class that the first generations of saxophones manufactured were shunned by the
classical orchestras of Europe because of inherent technical problems with pitch and the
ability to play in tune. I’m not sure if this is entirely true. We know that some of the earlier
horns produced did have flaws with regards to certain notes that were out of tune when
played. One such saxophone is the Selmer super balanced action tenor saxophone and
another being the C melody saxophone. This rejection of the saxophone by the established
orchestras in Europe maybe was due to the fact that the saxophone, being the newest member

32 Encyclopedia Britannica, s.v. “Sax, Adolph,” accessed June 18, 2018, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Antoine-JosephSax.

23

of the woodwind family, did not fit the character, style and sound of classical music that had
been established over centuries.
During the Big Band Era in America, roughly 1910 through the mid 1940s, the standard
Jazz orchestra had saxophone sections, brass sections, rhythm sections and sometimes a singer
leading the band. The reeds section consisted of two tenors, two altos and a baritone
saxophone. Many of these bands had tenor saxophone players who were not only ensemble
players, they were also soloists. The tenor saxophonist was often featured as the soloist on a
particular song in the set.
During that era and the ones that followed, many of these soloists would go and play at
gatherings of what became traditionally known in American Jazz as the jam session. Jam
sessions were formed by musicians for musicians as a platform to display their playing style
and craft to and for each other, as well as serving as a means for musicians to further develop
their ideas, and have fun. In my opinion, this tradition of meeting to play, often after they had
finished working that very same evening, fostered a fierce competition amongst the players.
There is a history that shows that this frequent meeting up of musicians to jam gave rise to
what is commonly known as the cream of the crop, or the best of the best. I think it’s fair to
say that this evolution from one generation of saxophone players to another resulted in the
writing, playing and recording of some of the most beautiful, complex and sophisticated
music. It also literally shows that the popularity of the saxophone helped to define the very
sound and definition of jazz, as well as eventually evolving and establishing a voice in R&B,
Funk, Rock and Pop music.

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4. Special Note
For the aspiring saxophone student or anyone else who is curious about this history,
understand that my study focuses on the period between the mid 1940’s up until the present.
There is more history to the tenor saxophone that pre-dates the scope and analysis of this
document, starting with soprano saxophonist Sidney Bechet. He was known as one of the
earliest and most important soloists. In 1930, another monumental player emerged by the
name of Leon Brown, AKA Chu Berry, who was a member of Fletcher Henderson’s
Orchestra.33 His soloing style was bluesy with a raucous sound on the tenor. Also during the
1920s into the 1940s tenor saxophone player Coleman Hawkins emerged as one of the most
popular practitioners on the horn. All of these players I mentioned are equally responsible for
contributing to the very sound that defined the saxophone and the idiom known as Jazz.

5. Objective(s)
My intention is to use a process of exploratory research to create a platform as the basis for
showing and exhibiting the evolution of the modern tenor saxophone sound, from 1945 to
present. The main objective is to bring awareness of the oral tradition and history to an
audience that may or may not have an idea or understanding of how artists learn from one
another. By displaying and demonstrating what is in my opinion, the obvious link between
the players of today with players past, it is my hope the audience will have a better idea of how

33 Biography by Scott Yanow, “Fletcher Henderson,” Allmusic.com. accessed June 20, 2018,
https://www.allmusic.com/artist/fletcher-henderson-mn0000152490/biography.

25

musicians and artists learn their craft. With the results of my exploration into this subject
matter, I have supported my arguments. For example, a discerning listener can easily hear
that John Coltrane was heavily influenced by Dexter Gordon. The presentation of this study
is intended to serve the purpose of existing as a workshop - masterclass that is informational,
educational and entertaining.

5.1 Sub-Objective(s)
I have created a project that will serve the purpose of illuminating and bringing an educated
awareness of the saxophone and its brief history to a willing audience. Using my results of
this study, it is my hope to use this source material to enter other markets in education, such
as master classes, seminars, saxophone workshops and clinics to be taught at colleges and
universities. The sourced materials and findings and results contained in my thesis, can and
could be part of any Jazz curriculum at a college or university. It is also my intention to work
towards gaining a wider recognition for myself as a player, composer and producer of mine,
and other artists music. If this project serves as a vehicle for the purpose, of getting that
exposure and opportunity to educate, meet and collaborate with other musicians on their
projects, then the plan will have succeeded.

26

6. Methodology
The methodology I used to create my constructs and arguments to formulate my thesis
was through a process of watching, listening, comparing and analyzing, with the use of 9
videos I have collected, out of approximately 14. These videos in my opinion are
representative of the artists who contributed and impacted the aesthetics, knowledge and craft
of playing the tenor saxophone. Unfortunately I could not include all the artists who deserve
mention here. My criteria for choosing and deciding which videos to use is based on a specific
set of parameters, as applied to my process of comparative analysis. This method is the basis
for my work, the aesthetic achievement in sound, style and technique. These videos represent
a visual, audio and living proof of the contributions and legacy we have been gifted by these
masters and innovators of the tenor saxophone sound.
The videos I have chosen as the platform for my presentation have been edited, timed
and formatted to approximately one minute each, using the IMovie program in my Mac.
Before each video there is a slide with the name of the artist about to be shown, including the
name of the technique being displayed in the video. In the following section titled video
comparison and analysis, I have described in detail which techniques the artist used to
produce and articulate the sounds of the various playing styles, from one generation of player
to the next. To see the complete list of video resources see section 7.

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7. The Source
1. Billy Holiday with Lester Young: tenor sax solo - “Fine and Mellow”
2. Ben Webster: tenor sax - “Chelsea Bridge”
3. Charlie Parker: alto sax & Dizzie Gillespie: trumpet - “Hot House”
4. Dexter Gordon: tenor sax - “Night in Tunisia”
5. John Coltrane: tenor sax - “On Green Dolphin Street”
6. John Coltrane: tenor sax – “Impressions”
7. David “Fathead” Newman: tenor sax - “I Got A Woman”
8. Junior Walker: tenor sax - “Shot Gun”
9. Michael Brecker: tenor sax - “African Skies”

8. Video Comparison and Analysis
Video #1 Lester Young soloing on “Fine & Mellow”
(false fingering technique)
The false fingering technique used here (0:31 to 0:36) by Lester is produced by
establishing the fundamental note, then fingering a note a perfect 5th below. With the added
keys, the player then overblows the fundamental to produce the overtone and harmonic
equivalent. In this video Lester is playing a false fingering off the fundamental note “B” above
middle C and the note “C” natural. By holding down the fundamental and simultaneously
pressing and releasing the false fingering a 5th below, the player is altering the velocity of air
passing through the column of the horn. This disruption to the velocity of air in the column
has the effect of altering the pitch, tone and volume of the note. This technique is typically
28

not used for long held out notes because when false fingerings are used, there is a slight
change in pitch upwards.
Both Lester Young and Billie Holiday were members of the Count Basie Orchestra.34 I
think Lester’s smooth and velvety tone was a good match and complement to Billie Holiday’s
voice. You might say their musical connection was obvious from watching and listening to
this video. In this video Lester plays his solo with long held out notes, often placing them
behind the beat, which seems to have carried on into the next generation with Dexter Gordon.
Dexter Gordon was notorious for playing well behind the established beat. In addition, Lester
was a big influence on Charlie Parker. I learned from my undergraduate professor and
saxophone teacher Paul Jeffrey, that early on in Parker’s career, he spent a summer
transcribing and playing along with Lester’s recordings. By adjusting the speed on his record
player, Charlie could play his Eb alto along with Lester’s Bb tenor.

Video #2 Ben Webster, playing “Chelsea Bridge”
(The vibrato)
Vibrato is produced by a release in pressure on the reed which is facilitated with a
momentary drop of the jaw. This momentary release in pressure on the reed can be
controlled by increasing and decreasing the pressure, or loosening and then tightening the
embouchure. The lips and jaw fluctuate back and forth, creating a wavering or oscillating

34 Encyclopedia Britannica, s.v. “Count Basie, American Musician,” accessed June 18, 2018, https://www.britannica.com/
Count Basie, by name of William Basie, born August 21, 1904, Red Bank, New Jersey, U.S. - died April 26, 1984

29

effect on the column of air passing through the horn. If you watch the video closely, you can
see and hear that he uses the technique throughout the entire video to curtail the end of each
held note as he renders the melody. Ben Webster had a beautiful rich tone and a style to
match.

Video #3 Charlie Parker, Dizzie Gillespie playing “Hot House”
(technique)
Parker was an alto saxophone player. I am showing this video clip because of what I
call the seemingly unintentional consequence of his personal life style, which may or may not
have affected his playing technique. This video is one of the few and good examples of his
playing that reveals his flawlessly flowing technique, his beautiful tone and his talent as a
virtuoso. His hands and fingers seem to fit the alto saxophone perfectly. Amongst jazz
musicians and any serious student of the saxophone Charlie Parker was and is considered, to
be a ground breaking musician who influenced generations of saxoph0ne players as well as
musicians in general.
Charlie Parker was a cigarette smoker, like most of his peers. He was often seen and
heard playing with a lit cigarette, either between his fingers or wedged onto the horn between
the keys.
If you watch his hands closely in the video (2:17 to 2:21) as the camera focuses on his left
hand, you can see that his fingers barely move off or away from the keys. His hand is wrapped
around the horn with his fingers relaxed over the keys. I think it’s fair to say that he
is basically motionless, except for his eyes. Charlie’s habit of keeping a lit cigarette between
30

his fingers, (which has never been documented on film as far as I know), may have had the
unintentional consequence of contributing to a unique teaching method. There is a school of
thought that I come from that uses this pedagogy of placing unlit cigarettes, pencils or straws
between the fingers while practicing scales. This practice teaches students to achieve a better
fingering technique. If the student allows the palm of the hand to open and the fingers move
away from the keys, the objects fall out. Training the fingers to relax with a proper bend in
the knuckles, keeps them in a close position over the keys for a better, smoother, faster and
more ergonomic way of playing. With a good hand and finger position over the keys, the
player can reduce the amount of motion it takes to press down on the keys.

Video #4 Dexter Gordon/ Dexter Gordon Live 1963-64, “A Night in Tunisia”
(Clear & open sound, sub-tones, the metal mouthpiece)
Dexter used sub-tones in his playing extensively with one example displayed here in
this video (2:55 to 2:30). Sub-tones are produced with a sustained release of the embouchure,
again facilitated by a drop of the jaw. This decreases the pressure on the reed, while the player
maintains a steady flow of air moving through the column or bore of the horn. This
technique relates to the vibrato technique but different, in that the player maintains the release
in pressure on the reed without any fluctuation, or back and forth motion of the jaw. This
embouchure technique produces a quiet, yet full and velvety subdued quality to the tone, like
a whisper.
Another aspect to Dexter’s playing exhibited here in this video (3:33 to 3:36) is what I
think is his undeniable and clear connection as a major influence in sound on the next
31

generation of saxophone players, most notably John Coltrane. In the video Dexter is playing a
cadenza, and you can hear him play a phrase that Coltrane in my opinion absolutely
mimicked or copied from him, as you will hear in the next video of John Coltrane playing.
It is a known and historical fact that Coltrane transcribed many of Dexter’s solos.
Again, this I learned from my teacher and late great Jazz educator, professor Paul Jeffrey. Paul
played tenor saxophone in Thelonious Monk’s Band35 from 1970 to 1975, and as I said earlier
in my introduction played duets with Coltrane on Sundays. Dexter’s sound on the saxophone
was unique because of his sonically full, open and clear tone quality, unlike any other
saxophone players of his generation. Dexter brought the sound and technique of playing the
horn to a new dynamic level with his beautiful full rich tone that was consistent throughout
his more than 3 octave range. He used a variety of sound colors from sub-tones in the bottom
range of the horn to an extended range with the use of harmonics.
Dexter was in my opinion like no other saxophone player in his ability to play in the
altissimo range of the saxophone while maintaining a clear, bright, full and open sound. In
this video (3:43 to 3:44) he extends his range above the third octave with a high concert C.
The tenor saxophone being a Bb transposed instrument, plays the note D with the use of an
alternate fingering to overblow and produce the harmonic in the altissimo range. When
playing above the practical fingered range of the saxophone, being from a low Bb to a high F
on the tenor saxophone, encompassing a two and half octave range, the player uses alternate
fingerings to produce harmonics. These harmonics, also known as upper partials, are the
35 Biography by Scott Yanow, “Thelonious Monk,” accessed June 19, 2018, https://www.allmusic.com/artist/thelonious-monkmn0000490416/biography.

32

components of the overtone series.
I will mention the use of the metal mouthpiece here because I am almost certain that
Dexter used one all the time. The invention of the metal mouthpiece for the saxophone had
an impact on tone quality because of its hard, dense surface. By comparison, there is a
noticeable difference in the sound produced using either a metal or hard rubber mouthpiece.
In my opinion, a metal mouthpiece has a quicker playing response when articulating a note, as
opposed to a hard rubber mouthpiece. The difference in tone quality is generally noticeable to
even the non-player, and most saxophonists recognize the difference in the way the horn
sounds and feels while playing. It allows for greater volume and projection of sound, and in
some cases, improved intonation.
The use of the metal mouthpiece proved to be a technical achievement and asset for
modern saxophone players I think, and here’s why. Commercial music production in
America was progressing with the use of electronically powered instruments, most notably the
electric guitar. The sound of Rock and Roll music was changing rapidly in the 1960s as the
electric guitar drove up the volume in the overall sound of the bands at that time. This new
genre was coming from a tradition of American folk music and the music of the black church
that had gone secular, all churning out a rebel yell in the name of humanity. In these musical
settings, the tenor sax being an acoustic instrument was often too low in volume to be heard
within the overall spectrum of sound produced by the other musicians. The saxophone being
an acoustic instrument, players had to use microphones when soloing to match the volume of
the rest of the band. In my opinion, the metal mouthpiece had a prolific effect on the overall
dynamics and volume it could produce, as well as being able to project more sound, both live
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and in the studio.

Video #5 John Coltrane, playing “On Green Dolphin Street”
(Tone and Technique)
Knowing that Coltrane transcribed Dexter Gordon’s playing, and having made my
comparison and analysis of both players thus far, it seems a natural progression that Coltrane
would take his predecessors accomplishments to a new level of aesthetic beauty and technical
achievement. John Coltraneʼs sound at times is almost a carbon copy of Dexter Gordonʼs.
The proof is here in this video where he plays the same lick (video 4:38 – 4:41) as Dexter does
in his video at (3:33 to 3:36) with the almost identical sound and phrasing.
It has been said by his peers who survived him, as well as jazz historians, that
Coltrane’s sound in the late 1950ʼs when this video was made was so unique and distinct that
most listeners could recognize his playing after hearing him play just a few notes. Nobody
sounded like him, as he was constantly working to improve his tone, and he practiced
incessantly.
Coltrane’s technique is remarkable in this video. At one point in the middle of his solo,
he executes 1/16th note phrases (video 4:52 – 5:02) that almost sound like water spilling out of
a flask, or what was described by the critics as “sheets of sound.”36

36 Patrick Skene Catling, “Nothing Sounds Like John Coltrane: The Story of a Sound by Ben Ratliff,” The Telegraph, November
22, 2007, accessed June 20, 2018, https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/.../Nothing-sounds-like-John-Coltrane.html.

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It is a well- known and established fact that Coltrane was a clarinet player first before
he switched to the saxophone. The open holed clarinet is difficult to play and that technique
is easily transferrable to playing the saxophone, and here is why I believe this to be true. The
clarinet has open holes and is more difficult to play than a saxophone I think. A clarinet
player’s fingers must cover all the tone holes required to sound a note. If one finger misses
even the slightest from covering the tone hole, the instrument can squeak or fail to produce
the desired note. The saxophone is different in that it uses a closed hole system, making it
easier to sound the notes without missing the mark. In my experience as a student, player,
teacher and observer, most saxophone players who started out playing clarinet first, and then
switched to saxophone most often develop a very good technique on the saxophone. I believe
this step up in technique is due to the strict technical demands of playing a clarinet. I am a
clarinet player and have worked on Broadway in New York City.
As a side note, no pun intended here, if you are a reed player on Broadway you are a
multi-reeds instrumentalist. A multi-winds or reed player on Broadway is required to do the
work of 4 or 5 people. What do I mean by that? What I mean is, if you want the job, you must
be able to play the soprano, alto, tenor and baritone saxophones, flute, piccolo, alto flute, Bb
clarinet, bass clarinet, bassoon, or oboe and English horn. A Broadway pit musician is
typically semi-classically trained to be able to play at a level that is necessary to be in a
Broadway Show. On Broadway, you cannot miss or flub a note, and there are no second
chances. That’s New York City, where the competition is fierce. The work I did on Broadway
required me to play alto sax, tenor sax, clarinet, flute and soprano recorder.

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Video #6 John Coltrane, playing “Impressions”
(altissimo fingerings, overtones - harmonics)

This second video of Coltrane playing his own composition with his band for
me, clearly represents a major shift in his sound and playing style. The video shows John
Coltrane’s highly developed use of upper partials in the harmonic or overtone series to extend
the practical range to reach the fourth octave (6:28 to 6:35). Overtones and harmonics are
produced by overblowing the fundamental note to produce the upper partials in a series of
intervals. When playing chord extensions ascending, and the limits of the practical range of
playing the saxoph0ne are reached, the player accesses or uses the harmonic series to play in
the altissimo and upper ranges of the instrument. With the use of specific altissimo or
alternate fingerings, a player can also overblow the harmonic as well, to produce even more
notes in the overtone series. Again, these specific alternate fingerings on the tenor saxophone
are used to create overtones to reach and play the altissimo register. The first interval over the
fundamental is the octave, followed by a 5th, 4th, 3rd, then another octave. With practice, a
player can reach even higher notes in the piccolo range of the tenor saxophone.
I will mention here that Coltrane also used and incorporated patterns into his playing
style as he exhibits throughout this video. With his use of patterns in conjunction with false
fingered notes and harmonics, Coltrane produced a revolutionary sound and style of playing,
not to mention his ground breaking harmonies he invented and used to compose his music. I
think his style of combining rhythmic and harmonic patterns along with his extensive use of
the altissimo register, characterized his playing in the early 1960s. Another aspect of his

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evolution as a player during that time was his shift in tone from clear and sinewy to an intense
and edgy sound with overtones swirling the fundamental.

It seems to me after watching and listening to his solo in this video that his emotions
were on fire. With a burning heat in his belly, he exposed his soul on the outside, letting his
true self and spirit come out of his horn. He was now revealing a raging fire within and
without that was in my opinion his own reflection of the unjust world around him that was,
and still is America. Here, he was clearly setting a new standard in the level of playing
amongst his peers with his highly developed use of harmonics within a three to four octave
range. (6:12 to 6:20). In this video, I hear and sense a feeling of despair and urgency together,
in his tone quality and style of playing. For me it sounds and feels like he was searching and
trying for a way to reach the outer limits of the universe aka, the cosmos, through his horn.
His saxophone playing was beginning to transcend all the normal boundaries of Jazz, both
harmonically and structurally as it relates to musical form.
It has been said that John Coltraneʼs music had a profound effect on generations of
saxophone players as well as modern music in general, because of his ground breaking
contributions as a player and composer.
Video #7 David “Fathead” Newman, soloing on “I Got a Woman”
(the lyrical jazz and rhythm & blues sax solo, and the blue note trilled riff)
The blue not trilled riff he is playing in this video (7:12 to 7:16) is produced by trilling
upwards by a half step interval between the minor and major 3rd of the chord. There is a

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variation of this phrase as well, not displayed here, where the player can, again starting with
the minor 3rd trill upwards in half step intervals to the 5th of the chord. Not too complicated,
but easier said than done. I use the term blue note37 here to describe what is known in jazz as
the flat third or minor 3rd of a scale or chord. Davidʼs remarkable solo exhibits highly
articulated phrases and his style incorporates elements of jazz and blues. This musical phrase
I call the “blue note trilled riff,” became one of the most copied and widely used gestures in
the modern lexicon of popular saxophone motifs. I don’t know exactly who invented this
idea, but it has been played by generations of Funk, R&B, Jazz and Rock and Roll saxophone
players. For me, David Newman was a master of the lyrical R&B style of playing saxophone.
Because of the design of the saxophone and its inherent technical challenges, this lick
or phrase is very difficult to play in every key signature. Again, this is due to the mechanics of
playing the saxophone. Let’s just say in the words of the late great Mike Brecker, “some licks
are not playable in certain keys,” as he was heard saying in a master class I attended at Long
Island University in Brooklyn, New York in 1983.
David “Fathead” Newman as he was known, was a tenor saxophone soloist and
sideman in both the R&B and Jazz traditions. He played in Ray Charles’s Band38 during the
1950’s and 1960’s in America. I once met David after playing a gig in New York City. We
spoke briefly and unfortunately, I never got to hear him play live.
37 Gunther Schuller, Early Jazz: Its Roots and Musical Development (New York: Oxford University Press, 1968) quoted in Bruce
Benward and Marilyn Nadine Saker, Music: In Theory and Practice, Vol. 1 (Boston: MA, McGraw-Hill, 2003), p. 39.
38 Ben Ratliff, “David (Fathead) Newman Saxophonist, Dies at 75: The New York Times, January 22, 2009, accessed June 18, 2018,
https://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/23/arts/music/23newman.html David (Fathead) Newman, a soft-spoken, sweet-toned jazz and rhythmand-blues saxophonist who made his name in Ray Charles's bands ...

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Video #8 Junior Walker and his All-stars, playing “Shot Gun”
(The flutter tongue technique)
The flutter tongue technique is articulated by holding the fundamental note and
allowing the tongue to shake rapidly in a flitting motion at or on the tip of the reed. The
oscillating column of air that leaves the players mouth, moves across the point of entry into
the horn where the tips of the reed and mouthpiece meet. Not exactly comfortable to do or
sustain, the flutter tongue technique is easier to articulate using a mouthpiece with a small to
medium tip opening in combination with a softer reed. This is not true for some players, but
in general, it is easier for me to execute with the use of a softer reed.
In the video, (minute 7:45 – 7:51) we can clearly hear Junior Walker playing with the
use of the flutter tongue. This technique adds to what I think is an edgy and gritty texture to
the notes tone quality and overall character. The question I still have is who first played the
saxophone using the flutter tongue technique. It may have been first used and developed
during the earlier days of R&B music in America in the mid to late 1950s. Through my
research and explorations, I have not been able to come up with a definitive answer as to the
origins of this articulated style of playing. We know that some of the history of saxophone
playing was not documented in its early stages. I believe it would be fair to say that the oral
tradition of playing one is what made it possible for these licks, gestures and phrases to be
passed on from one generation of player to another.

Junior Walker and his All Stars gained commercial success with the release of the song
“Shot Gun.” I think it is fair to say that his sound and style was a big influence on what would

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eventually be defined as funk, r&b and rock and roll saxophone. Junior Walkers use of an
extended harmonic range, along with his full, gritty, edgy, tone and flutter tonguing technique
for me, came to define the sound which influenced generations of saxophonists to come.
Video #9 Michael Brecker, playing “African Skies”
Assimilated Coltrane’s playing style into a modern context
(Over-tones - harmonics, false fingering, technique, note bending)

In this video, right from the start and at (9:20), Mike is playing harmonics to produce
upper partials in the overtone series. Again, harmonics are produced by over-blowing the
fundamental note to produce upper partials in the overtone series. Mike was also a master of
the false fingering technique (8:36 to 8:41) & (9:15 to 9:20) as exhibited here. In my opinion,
he had a beautiful tone as well which he could maintain with consistency throughout the
range of the horn, which for me brings Dexter Gordon to mind. With regards to tone quality,
I think it is true and fair to say that Mike’s sound was directly influenced by John Coltrane,
who was influenced by Dexter Gordon.
Another element to his vocabulary and expression was his masterful use of the note
bending technique. This technique is produced by playing and articulating the fundamental
note, and then immediately releasing the pressure on the reed with a drop of the jaw. This
allows the note to curve or bend downwards. Simultaneously, the player then quickly
increases the pressure on the reed to curve or bend the note back up and into the fundamental
pitch again. Another aspect and component to this technique is to simultaneously press down
gradually on the keys or notes one or more half steps below the fundamental in conjunction

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with the movement of the jaw and fluctuation in the embouchure. This gradual pressing and
then releasing of the key or keys produces a sliding or bending down and up effect, by
allowing the note to dramatically drop in pitch momentarily before reversing the process to
re-establish the fundamental pitch. Ben Webster and alto saxophonist Johnny Hodges were
masters of the note bending style and technique.
It is a shared and common knowledge among saxophone players that Michael Brecker
transcribed Coltrane’s work extensively. In doing so, he developed a remarkable technique
that he consistently used when he performed in a variety of musical genres from Jazz, R&B to
Funk and Pop. Michael, who left us too early, also developed and established a mastery of the
use of the overtone series, often using harmonics to expand his dynamic range of colors and
tones while playing. He also mastered the altissimo register of the horn and had a full 4 and
more octave range.
Mike studied privately with Joseph Allard who taught at the Boston Conservatory for
over 17 years. Mr. Allard’s book “Three Octave Scales and Chords: A Two Octave Range in
Any Scale, Twelve Scales in Every Key, Fingerings Above High F, Unusual Chords,” was a
major influence and contributor to advancing the technical range and playing style of
saxophone players in America. Mr. Allard was a breathing, embouchure and overtone series
guru. I know, I studied with him. Another book I believe had a major impact on students and
professional saxophone players in America and around the world, was written by
anthroposophist Sigurd Rascher. Still in print today the book is titled “Top-Tones for the
Saxophone: Four Octave Range.” The book focuses on the concept of playing the extended
harmonic range in the altissimo register of the saxophone with the use of specific fingerings
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used to create upper partials to access the 3rd and 4th octaves.
Michaels mastery of saxophone technique was apparent. After knowing and watching
him play live on many occasions, I could see his fingers clearly were almost straight with a
minimal bend of his knuckles over the keys as he played flawlessly. He was a tall person and
had long fingers like left handed guitarist Jimmy Hendrix. Mike would sometimes let his
fingers overlap the keys as if resting them there, requiring even less movement to press them
down as it would seem. I remember one time by chance, meeting Mike at a saxophone shop
on 48th street in Manhattan. He asked me to come into a tryout room with him to listen for
comparisons between two different Mark VI saxophones he was trying out. I was standing
right in front of him when he flawlessly played a cadenza ascending and descending before
finally slipping into the chorus of a song. That experience left me mesmerized for several days
afterwards. I told a friend about it later who said, “it was like listening to a machine play, in
terms of his technique, right?” And I said “yes, your right about that.”
Mike, being a master of tone and the harmonic series on the tenor saxophone, had
great facility and consistency over a 4-1/2 octave range which he used to play in multiple
genres and styles of music. Michael Brecker was the most sought after tenor saxophone
soloist of his generation.

9. Conclusion
This project is a result and culmination of my experience as an American saxophone
player, an experience that continues to influence who I am as a tenor saxophone player and
musician today. My career started over 45 years ago and I’ve had the good fortune of being
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able to hear and in some instances, study with some of the players mentioned here. This
culminating experience project has reinforced my belief that much of the vocabulary and
language of gestures, licks and motifs that the early saxophone players used, was directly
influenced and copied through their imitations of the singers they heard and worked with, as
well as each other. Through my studies of these players and the analysis of their work, I can
clearly define the connection between players past and present.
Much of what we learn as saxophone players is from and based on an aural tradition,
in some cases as much so as the written and documented works found in the literature. It is of
my opinion that the results of learning and establishing a proficiency as a player and purveyor
of the language of gestures and sounds on the saxophone, is mostly acquired through the same
aural tradition and process just mentioned. The player develops their own personal playing
style and sound by watching, listening, and copying to affect the final outcome. Through
practice the player interprets and incorporates that result into one’s own vocabulary of licks,
gestures, sounds and techniques. All artists work comes to fruition by a method of process, no
matter what the idiom, genre or medium.
Having seen, heard, met and studied with some of these musicians mentioned here, I
feel justified in making the case and argument for the purpose of this project. I am part of
that history that is unique to American sax players having lived through some of those
moments in the evolution of Jazz, Blues, Rock, Funk and Pop music in the United States. The
process I used to combine video clips, audio files and performances into my presentation, has
helped me to provide a clear account and understanding of the historical events that shaped
todays modern sound and style of saxophone playing.
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10. Bibliography
Allard, Joe. Three Octave Scales and Chords: A Two Octave Range in Any Scale, Twelve Scales
in Every Key, Fingerings Above High F, Unusual Chords. New York, N.Y.: Charles
Colin, 1954.
Rascher, Sigurd. Top-Tones for the Saxophone. 3rd ed. New York: Carl Fischer, 2000.

11. Videography
“Billie Holiday,” Fine and Mellow, Live CBS Studios, 1957. Posted by Heyimjason, July 20,
2010. Youtubevideo, 9:06. Accessed June 20, 2018.
URL https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SThGnrorGW8.
“Billie Holiday,” Fine and Mellow, Live CBS Studios, 1957. Posted by Heyimjason, July 20,
2010. Youtubevideo, 9:06. Accessed June 20, 2108.
URL https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SThGnrorGW8.
“Charlie Parker, Dizzie Gillespie,” Hot House 1951. Posted by ajack2boys, August 13, 2013.
Youtubevideo, 4:22. Accessed June 20, 2018.
URL https://youtu.be/tJYO6_t4d08.
“Dexter Gordon,” Dexter Gordon - Night in Tunisia, Holland, 1964 [1/3].” Posted by Julio
Cortazar, December 13, 2010. Youtubevideo, 12:54. Accessed June 20, 2018.
URL https://youtu.be/woVHjtWaVoY.
“John Coltrane,” John Coltrane - On Green Dolphin Street (Live March 28, 1960). Posted by
Dad’s theme, January 14, 2016. Youtubevideo, 8:59. Accessed June 20, 2018.
URL https://youtu.be/ePScRElDHOY.
“John Coltrane,” John Coltrane – Impressions (Live France TV, 1966. Posted by Jazz Masters,
March 4, 2016. Youtubevideo, 19:09. Accessed June 20, 2018.
URL https://youtu.be/0iTuGr9PvUo.
“Ray Charles,” I Got a Woman, Posted by acme5050, December 4, 2010. Youtubevideo, 7:38.
Accessed June 20, 2018. URL https://youtu.be/81cyUwnM71U.
“Junior Walker,” Shotgun - Jr. Walker & The All Stars (TV video circa, 1965. Posted by
commercialnewsandfun, August 20, 2012. Youtubevideo, 2:22. Accessed June 20,
2018. URL https://youtu.be/5xKckHzzzfg.
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“Michael Brecker,” African Skies. Posted by Marcos Santos, July 16, 2016. Youtubevideo,
7:12. Accessed June 20, 2018. URL https://youtu.be/5qWNg0TvRBw.

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