Ronnie Eades Jan Berry Baker

ST
Sept/October 2014
Saxophone Today Front Cover
Saxophone Today
Ronnie Eades
Jan Berry Baker
Saxophone Today Writers
16 & 58
Susan Fancher
Thomas Erdmann
ST Library Of Congress ISSN 2373-597X
30
28
26
September/October 2014
Steve Goodson
David Demsey
34
Andrew Allen
The Sax Quartet
Three Rivers
Saxophone Quartet
Feature Interviews
Jan Berry Baker - 16
Ronnie Eades - 58
Billy Kerr
69
Frank Bongiorno
3 New Saxophone CDs
Sax +, For The Love Of
Lori, Links
66
Skip Spratt
Three Swings And Out
Blues Duet For 2 Saxes
56
Andrew Clark
Navigating Minor Keys
With
Sharps
2
Repertoire Today
Sigurd Rascher &
German Composers
Saxophone Today Articles
71
3 New Saxophone CDs
Overdrive, Artistry Of The
Standard, Hear At Last
The Selmer Varitone
What Were They
Thinking?
ST Reviews
Monk & Trane Carnegie H.
24 Duets: Various Styles
38
Saxophone Today Front Cover—1
Saxophone Today Writers—3
The Editor’s Thoughts—4
Saxophone Products And News—6
Saxophone Artist CD Releases—13
Jan Berry Baker Interview By Thomas Erdmann—16
The Three Rivers Saxophone Quartet—26
Saxophone Today: Reviews By David Demsey—28
The Selmer Varitone: What Were They Thinking?—30
Sigurd Rascher: And German Composers—34
Essential Collage Music Electives—38
Henry “Boots” Mussulli: Music Man From Milford—40
Saxophone Transformation: Comfort & Ergonomics—44
Beyond Boundaries: Jazz Apps For iPad—46
A Rising Star In The Classical Saxophone World—48
Mauro Di Gioia’s Reed Geek Universal Tool—50
Big Bands And Singers: There’s This Singer—53
Navigating Minor Key Signatures With Sharps—56
Ronnie Eades Interview By Thomas Erdman—58
Three Swings And Out: Blues Duet For 2 Saxes—66
CD Reviews By Frank Bongiorno & Billy Kerr—69
50
53
Greg Banaszak
Skip Spratt
Big Bands & Singers
...There’s This Singer
Learning From The Pros
Gioia’s Reed Geek
Universal Tool
48
David Camwell
A Rising Star In
The Clasical World
Phil Pierick
www.saxophonetoday.com
Steven Mauk
Essential College
Music
Electives
40
Boots Mussulli
The Music Man
From Milford, Mass
44
Curt Altarac
Sax Transformation
Comfort And
Ergonomics
46
David Pope
Beyond Boundaries
Jazz Apps
For iPad
September/October 2014
To Purchase This Back Issue of Saxophone Today Click Here
M
The Editor’s Thoughts
y thanks goes to Thomas Erdmann for his superb
interview with Ronnie Eades this issue. Many top
popular music artist’s in the 1970s and 1980s released
recordings with backup bands that shared somewhat similar
rhythm and horn section sounds. My focus was, of course, on
saxophone solos, like the saxophone solo on Ronnie Milsap’s
There’s No Gettin’ Over Me, or even the horn section on Jerry
Woodward’s Long Tall Texan (everytime I hear it I still tap my
feet and whistle along). Then there’s Bobby Purify and I’m Your
Puppet, Bob Dylan’s Slow Train Running, the Muscle Shoals
Horns LP Born To Get Down (a combination of funk and disco
sounds of the era). And many, many more tunes too numerous to list here.
The great saxophonist we all have to thank for making so many popular artists sound
even better, both in a backup band setting, and as a saxophone soloist, is Ronnie Eades.
And, honestly, I didn’t really figure out the enormous affect Ronnie Eades had on pop music of that era, until I read Thomas Erdmann’s interview. So I say to you, Ronnie Eades,
thank-you for your great gift and artistry in playing the saxophone!
Steve Goodsen’s article this issue titled “The Selmer Varitone: What Were They Thinking” is another brilliant topical essay from Steve that really intrigues me. With today’s
computer chips, and software capability, an updated “Varitone” device would be much
more advanced and capable. Still, Kudos goes to Selmer for making that early leap into
technology which saxophone artists like Eddie Harris, and Sonny Stitt, put to mighty
good use. Check out the live YouTube links in Steve’s article, showing the Varitone at
work in the hands of saxophonists Harris and Stitt, and others.
Andrew Allen’s Repertoire Today column discusses ‘Sigurd Rascher: And German Composers’ and includes many live links to Sigurd Rascher playing the saxophone. I thank
Allen for reminding us how valuable a contribution Sigurd Rascher made to saxophone
playing, and his efforts to get the attention of composers. Listening to Sigurd’s recordings
(played on seemingly less techinally advanced saxophones) makes me think “How did
he do that?” Sigurd Rascher was, and is truely, one of the top saxophonists ever to walk
among us mere mortals.
I was fortunate to spend an afternoon visiting with Sigurd Rascher at his home in upstate New York in the early 1990s. I remember his lovely country brick house, very near
a small babbling brook and Sigurd’s garden out back. He was working in his garden when
I arrived but received me gratiously and we visited for several hours. My one regret is he
wouldn’t consent to an interview. But I forgave him because he had a garden to tend.
This issue of ST has begun a new inclusion, that being brief listings (with CD covers) of
newly released saxophone artist CDs with live information links. For information about
submitting new CDs to Saxophone Today for review please see the notice on page 74 this
issue of ST.
I thank the many subscribers to ST who have emailed me offering compliments, ideas,
and encouragement. I also thank the writers this issue for their superb contributions to
this issue of Saxophone Today. §
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COVER PHOTOS
Ronnie Eades
Photo courtesy Ronnie Eades
Jan Berry Baker
Photo courtesy Jan Berry Baker
Publisher & Editor
David J. Gibson
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Questions,
3
Jan Berry Baker Interview By Thomas Erdmann
Jan Berry Baker
T
he quest of playing classical saxophone may be one of
the hardest pursuits a human being can undertake.
It’s not simply a matter of putting the fingers down
at the precisely correct moment, or playing with an even air
flow, or managing one’s dynamic level throughout the range
of the instrument, or tonguing and slurring in a wide variety
of practices, or even of just playing the notes on the page.
While just one of these issues is difficult in the extreme to
master, doing all of them in the correct style at the same
time is difficult beyond belief. Add to all of the above, as well
as all of the other myriad of issues involved which are not
listed such as mastering the art of phrasing and altissimo
register playing, is doing all of it in an artful and musical
way. This is not something one can do by just picking up the
instrument. Even if one attains all of this, the ability to rise
to the top of the professional saxophone world is an arduous
one. One who has is Georgia State University saxophone
professor and Northwestern University doctoral graduate
Jan Berry Baker.
The Chicago Tribune has called Baker’s playing, “as carnal
as sweat,” and Chicago Classical Review said of her playing
with the Grant Park Orchestra, “The… Orchestra blazed
through this challenging score with full-blooded playing
4
across all sections… including a mournful tenor saxophone
making [its] impact.” Baker, an Alberta, Canada native, has
performed over 20 world-premiere performances of works for
saxophone and won prizes at the Fischoff National Chamber
Music, North American Saxophone Alliance Concerto, and
Johann Strauss Society competitions. She performs regularly with the Lyric Opera of Chicago, Grant Park Orchestra,
Chicago Philharmonic and the Atlanta Opera, in addition to
being a concerto soloist with orchestras in Canada, the United States and most recently with the National Symphony of
the Ukraine, as well as recently appearing with the Paris
Opera Ballet. Yet with all of this, and more that would take
too long to list, the best is still yet to come.
I always like to start by asking about equipment. You play
Selmer Super Action 80 instruments. Why have you chosen
Selmer Saxophones?
Ever since I was a kid taking private lessons, my teachers
have always played Selmer’s. I’ve always been drawn to the
depth of sound Selmer’s offer beyond any other instrument.
My studio at Georgia State owns Yamaha instruments, and
while I do like them to me they have something missing.
Is there something about the Super Action 80 instruments
September/October 2014