Are subtones used only on tenor?

thats a 1st, bebopsop, referring the legend alto player Phil Woods' playing as farty in the same sentence, you heathen 😉
 
Thanks altissimo, I must admit I had never heard of Willie Smith until now.What a great player! I think listening to these samples, I must try to play at different levels of volume etc, listening back to myself recorded, I play everything all at the same volume (usually loud), thanks
 
I'd not heard of Willie Smith either, until I googled 'alto sax subtone' - I'll be searching youtube for more of his great playing...
One thing I did find was that there's a variety of opinions on what subtoning ctually is and how you do it. We all recognise it when we hear it, but defining it seems to be more difficult...
 
I've always concentrated on my sub tone on alto - to the point that I now find it hard to produce any other sound. I have spent the last few weeks trying to "harden up" my sound, while not losing the subtone when required. Easy on the high notes, but I find it hard to play low notes without subtone. Having the ability to play dynamically is what I'm after- listen to Cannonball on "Serves Me Right" from the album "Things Are a getting Better" for a demonstration. So many alto players have that hard edged glass cutting funk sound (Dulfer / Sanborn) when the alto is capable of much more than that. Only wish I could produce it..!
 
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Mack said:
I've always concentrated on my sub tone on alto - to the point that I now find it hard to produce any other sound
Click to expand...

It's the same for me, except on the tenor. My teacher remarked that I've got a great tone for this song when I played Take Five (on the tenor, yes), but when it was time to improvise major blues on Watermelon Man, she said "OK, you can seriously stop subtoning now", and it took me a good while to get back to playing with a normal tone.
 
Steve Coleman's solo record 'Invisible Paths' features some subtone on alto and any John Zorn solo that isn't a b###tearing screamer (not that often honestly)

Sent from my LT26i using Tapatalk 4
 
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