Tag: baritone sax

This Saturday, October 30th there will be a special live stream performance with 3 excellent baritonists! Gary Smulyan, Frank Basile, and Jason Marshall will be performing a free online concert to celebrate what would have been Pepper Adams‘ 91st birthday!

The concert will be live-streamed on Facebook on the Planet Arts page at 1pm EST.

UPDATE 10/18/2021: Frank’s presentation has been archived and is available on YouTube. See below to watch!

On Sunday, October 17th at 3pm EST Frank Basile will be giving an online presentation on 6 of the most important jazz baritone saxophonists:
Harry Carney, Leo Parker, Cecil Payne, Pepper Adams, Ronnie Cuber, and Gary Smulyan!

In addition to being one of the best baritonists alive, Frank is a great historian and is incredibly well versed in the history and lineage of the baritone saxophone. So this is a great opportunity to see him delve into a topic that he knows more about than almost anyone.

The presentation will be available on the njjs.org website as well as on the NJJS Facebook page and YouTube channel. Attendance is free, but donations are suggested. If you can’t watch it live, it will be archived on njjs.org and the NJJS YouTube channel.

Read the full news article about  it on newjerseystage.com

Thank you to Tom Sabin for sending in a Gary Smulyan transcription on the standard “You Go To My Head”. This is from The Lure of Beauty – which is actually Gary’s first album as a leader, released 30 years ago in 1991. Its a lovely album, and a very nice solo.

Hear it below, and head to the transcriptions page to download a copy for your self!

Thanks to Martin Schaefer for sending in not one, but two Ronnie Cuber solo transcriptions! They are both classic Cuber solos. The first is “I’ll Remember April” from the album Love For Sale that Ronnie did with the Metropole Orchestra. The second is “Star Eyes” from his album Cuber LIbre. Both albums were a big part of my early listening and feature some peak cuber.

So head on over to the Transcription Repository and download copies for yourself!

I’d like to thank Jorge Retamoza for sharing two new transcriptions to the repository. Two very different solos but both from two great baritonists.

First is a Gerry Mulligan solo from what I always thought was one of Gerry Mulligan’s more interesting albums. Its called “Close Your Eyes and Listen” and its from a collaborative album Mulligan made in the 70’s with Argentinian Tango master, Astor Piazzolla. The music is beautiful and the arrangements are excellent. There is some tinge of unfortunate 70’s era percussion and sounds but overall I think the album is beautiful and Mulligan’s lyrical playing worked really well with Piazzolla’s tango.

The second solo is a Pepper Adams solo. Its the title track from his album, “Urban Dreams”. Not much to add here other than its great to have another classic Pepper solo in the mix. Urban Dreams is one of the later recordings he made as a leader.

Head on over to the Transcriptions page and check them out.

Paul Nedzela is the baritone saxophonist with Wynton Marsalis’ Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra. On Wednesday April 29th at 4pm (Eastern) he will be giving an online masterclass. I’d highly recommend watching it!

Here’s the description from the Facebook event:
“Paul Nedzela guides you through the family tree of baritone saxophonists, highlighting some of the instrument’s most influential players, and playing examples of their work!

Join us through our Zoom link or on Jazz Academy’s Facebook page on April 29 at 4 pm EST.”

UPDATE: Paul did a great job! I’m hoping that Lincoln Center archives the presentation. If so, I’ll be sure to link to it on the site. – Andrew

Thanks to Anthony Pellegrini we have another Cecil Payne transcription posted! This one is from a Kenny Dorham album, Afro Cuban, and I personally think this is some of Cecil’s best playing! 

We now have over 100 transcriptions on the transcription page, so thank you so much to everyone who has submitted and continues to send them in! We have over 60,000 downloads so far, that’s a lot of JazzBariSax out there.

Head on over to the Transcriptions page to check out the new Cecil solo and the other ones there.