Author: JazzBariSax Curator, Andrew Hadro

Brian Landrus is a modern baritonist, amongst all the many other woodwinds he plays – often focusing on the low range. In addition to recently joining the composition faculty at the Berklee College of Music in Boston, Brian has released a new album. This album is called Red List, and refers to a list of critically endangered animals – Brian is hoping to raise awareness about this important issue.

The album sounds great, and Brian has assembled an incredible list of musicians to play on it. It has a lot of room for improvisation but is clearly showcasing Brian’s composition skills and also leaning into more of a modern rock/electric sound that is refreshing to hear.

Have a listen below, and head over to Brian’s website to pick up a copy.

The baritone saxophone is not nearly as prevalent as the alto or tenor, so it is inherently somewhat niche. Josh Sinton is a long time practitioner of the baritone and is exploring the edges of what the already somewhat undiscovered baritone saxophone can do. He has two new recordings out and they are worth listening to.

“b.” is a solo baritone saxophone recording. Recording an instrument acoustically while playing solo is incredibly daunting and ambitious. Adding digital effect, pedals, loops etc can really assist the endeavor. But Josh has spent a lot of time developing a repertoire of sounds and approaches to the saxophone such that he can now present an entire album’s length of music and sound with just him and a saxophone in a room. When listening to a solo instrumental recording I like to try to keep in the foreground the physical reality of the music. This is a large brass tube with holes in it, and the variety of sounds that can be produced with it is astonishing and worth listening to.

The other recording, “Adumbrations” is a trio recording with Josh, Jed Wilson, and Tony Falco. While still not striking down the middle of main-stream jazz this recording might be more familiar sounding to some listeners. The interaction between the musicians is really what’s special here. I especially enjoyed hearing Josh play some excellent flute.

I encourage you to expand your palate for baritone and go to Josh’s band camp page and have a listen. You make like it, love it, or just be interested to know what’s possible.

There is a new album from a group called Mr. PC out of Dallas, TX featuring some classic swinging music. The group is a sextet (baritone, trumpet, trombone, piano, bass drums) and while the tunes are all originals they have a timeless jazz feel about them. The writing is nice, the playing is tasteful, especially from the young baritonist, Preston Cummins. 

The album is called Sessions, and I recommend you have a listen. Check the links below:

https://music.apple.com/us/album/sessions/1624430148

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCjqDZ7EeK-7y83BqbbZMPoA

Almost 15 years ago I took the helm of this site and launched it at its current home, jazzbarisax.com. The reason I created this site and maintain it is to address the lack of readily available information about the baritone saxophone and the musicians that use it as their voice. Especially the ones that aren’t Gerry Mulligan or Pepper Adams (though I love them too). So it with great pleasure that I welcome a new website devoted entirely to Leo Parker!

LeoParkerMusic.com is an incredible new site with an incredible level of detail. Frank Basile has done so much research and work over the years. In the past I noted his complete discography, which now has a home on this new site in addition to biographical information, excellent photos, a complete chronology and even a list of his compositions. 

All true baritonists know Leo Parker, and its shocking how few non-baritonists know him. Ronnie Cuber once told me that he can’t listen to Leo anymore otherwise he’ll sound too much like him! So head on over to this new site and learn more about the father of baritone be-bop.

For Pepper Adams fans (which is most baritone saxophonists I think) there is great news. A new album is being released after being uncovered by some extensive archive digging. Its being released on the Real to Reel label headed up by Cory Weeds. The title is “Pepper Adams with the Tommy Banks Trio: Live at the Room at the Top”

This is a recording from an engagement Pepper did with the Tommy Banks trio. The new recording is in a 2 disc format with an extensive booklet. The tune lengths seem to indicate plenty of stretching out in the blowing, which makes sense on a live recording not originally intended for release. 

From the official description:

The 100-minute performance was recorded on September 25th, 1972 at the University of Alberta.

This is the first release from a rich tape archive from Marc Vasey in Edmonton, Alberta. The set is transferred from the original analogue tapes. The deluxe edition double CD Includes an extensive 15 page booklet with rare photos; essays by Gary Carner, producer Cory Weeds; plus interviews with baritone saxophonists Frank Basile and Gary Smulyan as well as original music producer Marc Vasey.

Click here to pre-order ! (releases May 6th, 2022)

A new transcription has just been added to the transcription repository – and its a bit of a strange one. This transcription comes to us from Erik Robisch, thank you!

Gerry Mulligan fans will probably know of the album that features him and Thelonious Monk. Two seemingly very different players with different approaches, and boy does that show on this album. Monk being famously fond of dissonance and jagged lines and Mulligan opting for linear consonant melodies. I think its a safe assumption that this was a record company’s idea of ‘put two big names together and profit’ and thus I’m not sure the music was at the forefront of the intention here.

There’s a quote from mulligan that goes something like ‘playing with Monk’s comping is like falling down an elevator shaft’ or something to that effect. I think this is probably true in the best of circumstances, but listening to this album I can’t help but think that Monk is just intentionally messing with and vibing Mulligan. For example on the track where this transcription comes from, Monk plays a chorus of the head (Mulligan noodles) plays the head again with Mulligan, comps for 2 choruses then just lays out for the rest of Mulligan’s solo and the bass solo to boot. Mulligan did very little to interact or acknowledge Monk’s comping. After the bass solo, Mulligan tries to noodle a bit behind the piano solo but seems to give up and they just take the head out. An odd album – but if you’re interested in hearing what Mulligan does over the blues, head to the transcription repository and download yourself a copy. Have a listen down below.

As the curator of JazzBariSax.com I often have the pleasure or sharing music by all of the great baritonists out there. Today, Friday December 24th I am releasing a single and would like to share a bit of my own music with the world. Perhaps you are curious as to what the person who runs this site chooses to pursue artistically.

Here’s a bit about the singe. Follow this link to find it on the streaming platform of your choice or YouTube.

‘Regarding the Moon’ is a new composition by Greek bassist Petros Klampanis, commissioned and performed by Andrew Hadro, baritone saxophonist in New York City. Hadro began working on the concept in the early days of the pandemic as a way to give work to composers during the global  performance outage. It is written for double string quartet (four violin, two viola, two cello), bass, piano, drums and features the baritone saxophone. It utilizes the extreme upper register of the baritone saxophone, a range and timbre rarely used by composers.

 

The title is both a reference to the extreme upper reaches of saxophone range and  a nod to composer Claude Debussy’s ‘Clair de Lune’. The piece is so technically difficult that Hadro spent months re-learning the altissimo range of the baritone saxophone, while the recording took nearly 18 months to complete on two continents with sessions months apart.  

 

According to Petros, ‘Andrew asked me to write a tune that features the high register of the baritone, a sound which I find especially beautiful and surely not what someone expects to hear from a bari. I tried to integrate the roles of the different ensembles, within the whole group (strings on the one hand and a jazz quartet on the other) and create a musical story that allows the leading instrument to shine but not overshadow the colors of the group.’

 

This piece is the first in a series of compositions commissioned to feature the baritone saxophone with strings as part of Andrew Hadro’s ongoing project, ‘For Us, The Living’. Subsequent works will debut in 2022.

 

‘Regarding the Moon’ will be released on the  ΠΚ Music label on December 24th, 2021. Available wherever music is sold or streamed. To learn more please visit https://andrewhadro.com and https://www.petrosklampanis.com