Misc recording Dedication to the great Ronnie Ross - Walk On the Wild Side

[Taragot]

Ronnie Ross is my favourite Baritone player, I love his sound and phrasing as a jazz player and also what he did in pop recordings from Matt Bianco.
Here's me trying to play his famous outro solo on Lou Reeds "Walk on the wild side".
The story goes, that David Bowie as a boy convinced him to give him some lessons on sax and later booked him for the session of the "Transformer"-Album by Lou Reed.

I try to mimic the whole band with the instruments I have here, including a glass of wine.

Hope you like it.

best regards

Dirk

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WsPpmGOeltA&list=RDWsPpmGOeltA&start_radio=1

 

[rhysonsax]

Good stuff - Ronnie Ross is also my favourite baritone player and I am lucky enough to own the modified Berg Larsen mouthpiece that Ronnie played for many years. Presumably it would have been the very mouthpiece that he used to record "Walk on the Wild Side".

Your video reminded me of this interesting story of how the bass part for Walk on the Wild Side came about.

View: https://youtu.be/XBXUP5GqYJs?si=eO39VXbeIQkScBo4


Rhys

 

[Taragot]

Good stuff - Ronnie Ross is also my favourite baritone player and I am lucky enough to own the modified Berg Larsen mouthpiece that Ronnie played for many years. Presumably it would have been the very mouthpiece that he used to record "Walk on the Wild Side".

Your video reminded me of this interesting story of how the bass part for Walk on the Wild Side came about.

View: https://youtu.be/XBXUP5GqYJs?si=eO39VXbeIQkScBo4


Rhys

I recall the story that you met Ronnie in person, no? I admire how he gives this certain extra to every popsong he plays in. It's always 100% himself, a bebop trained jazz bari player but fits so well. Walk on the wildside without him would be a good song, but with Ronnie's playing in the fading outro it's a milestone in pop history and you wish it would go on forever.

 

[Taragot]

And how does your/ his former Berg Larsen play? My "Bigband-Bari" is a low a Jupiter with a PPT mouthpiece, but going after this Ronnie Ross vibe feels much more natural on my (leaking) king zephyr with a very nice zinner mouthpiece.

 

[rhysonsax]

I didn't meet Ronnie in person but I did see him playing live once. He was playing alto exclusively that night at the Bull's Head at Barnes (famous London jazz venue) - I was sitting the the front row and had the good fortune to be mildly spattered with Ronnie's spit (well it was in the Punk era).

I was hoping that Ronnie's Berg Larsen (modified by Bill Wrathall) would carry some of his genius over to me and in particular would work as well on my Conn 12M as it did on his. The short version is that no magic transferred and it plays just like a good Berg Larsen. The main differences I could discern are that the shank has been extended and the bore of the shank is significantly larger in diameter. I think that bore increase may well date from when Ronnie was booked to play bass saxophone in the band for the soundtrack of the BBC "Beiderbecke Affair" series. Here is what that band sounded like (with the great Kenny Baker playing some Beiderbecke style trumpet or cornet and Ronnie playing in the style of Adrian Rollini, who also used a bari mouthpiece on the bass).

View: https://youtu.be/WN5vs0tb9hE?si=rLP2DIW03MeNZq8z


Rhys

 

[Nick Wyver]

I was hoping that Ronnie's Berg Larsen (modified by Bill Wrathall) would carry some of his genius over to me and in particular would work as well on my Conn 12M as it did on his. The short version is that no magic transferred and it plays just like a good Berg Larsen. The main differences I could discern are that the shank has been extended and the bore of the shank is significantly larger in diameter.

What variety of Berg is it?

 

[rhysonsax]

Ronnie's mouthpiece is the one in the middle. The shank extension obscures the Berg Larsen numbering completely but comparing it with these two more recent Berg Larsen pieces, I would say its tip opening and baffle are similar to the marbled piece (marked 110/2) and tip and baffle are smaller than the black one (marked 120/1).

Looking at the chamber area it seems that the sidewalls have been modified by rounding out a little but is still smaller than an Otto Link style chamber.

Rhys