Reed Warbler
Senior Member
- Messages
- 616
- Locality
- Marciac, France
Hello, I play trombone in a french trad band, 64 Dixie, the only anglais in the group. My musical journey began with a plastic ukelele at age 9, followed by guitar and a few weeks of clarinet. My dad bought me a trombone when I was 11 and I tried to emulate Chris Barber who was a big name at the time (1957). I learned 3 scales from a teacher then continued playing by ear. Had the very good fortune of joining a traditional jazz band of older blokes and we gigged at dances and pubs, even played for prime minister Macmillan when I was just 13. Everyone was learning to play 3 chords but the jazz repertoire took me way beyond. The chord sequence to Who's Sorry Now was a lot more educational than Hound Dog!
At 15 I joined the army as a boy soldier musician. Trombone was my horn but I had a go on most instruments and learned the basic fingerings for valves and keys. By 17 I had had enough and bought my way out. Traded trombone for a guitar and hitched around Europe, playing in Germany and Holland. Went on to bass guitar and stuck with it for years doing jazz, night clubs, jingles, prog rock, the musical Hair, you name it. Had an alto for a few months but sold it on. Eventually got another trombone then moved to France to teach art.
In France I've played 'bone with a couple of trad bands and with a splendid 19 piece free jazz orchestra EPO.
Recently a friend asked what would be a good instrument to start out on. I told him I knew enough to direct his fingers to the right places on a sax. He bought a tenor, I had a blow on it and was instantly hooked. I bought a real cheapie myself, to be sure I wanted to go down this road, then traded up to a funky old 1959 King Cleveland which I find hard to put down!
Amazed to find how important mouthpiece and reed are. Am currently blowing an old Otto Link 7* with a 2 1/2 Van Doren V16 reed and loving the sound. A buddy leant me 3 m/pcs to try, and this is the winner. I practice with a few Jamey Aebersold playalongs, the Cannonball Adderly one is my favourite though it's fiercely fast. Cannonball was always a god to me, warm, fluid and soulful. I use a metronome app on my iPad to help build up speed. Play something right five times before increasing the tempo: that's good advice.
So now I still play Dixie with the band on 'bone and enjoy it but the tenor is my new passion. I think all the years of trombone gave me the chops to make rapid progress on sax, in terms of sound, from low Bb to high F#, the muscles were already there. Now it's a matter of getting fingers to do what they're told. Sometimes they seem to have a life of their own! Altissimo can wait a while...
I've consulted CafeSax many times, like it a lot and today took the plunge to become part of it. Good to meet you, ladies and gentlemen.
At 15 I joined the army as a boy soldier musician. Trombone was my horn but I had a go on most instruments and learned the basic fingerings for valves and keys. By 17 I had had enough and bought my way out. Traded trombone for a guitar and hitched around Europe, playing in Germany and Holland. Went on to bass guitar and stuck with it for years doing jazz, night clubs, jingles, prog rock, the musical Hair, you name it. Had an alto for a few months but sold it on. Eventually got another trombone then moved to France to teach art.
In France I've played 'bone with a couple of trad bands and with a splendid 19 piece free jazz orchestra EPO.
Recently a friend asked what would be a good instrument to start out on. I told him I knew enough to direct his fingers to the right places on a sax. He bought a tenor, I had a blow on it and was instantly hooked. I bought a real cheapie myself, to be sure I wanted to go down this road, then traded up to a funky old 1959 King Cleveland which I find hard to put down!
Amazed to find how important mouthpiece and reed are. Am currently blowing an old Otto Link 7* with a 2 1/2 Van Doren V16 reed and loving the sound. A buddy leant me 3 m/pcs to try, and this is the winner. I practice with a few Jamey Aebersold playalongs, the Cannonball Adderly one is my favourite though it's fiercely fast. Cannonball was always a god to me, warm, fluid and soulful. I use a metronome app on my iPad to help build up speed. Play something right five times before increasing the tempo: that's good advice.
So now I still play Dixie with the band on 'bone and enjoy it but the tenor is my new passion. I think all the years of trombone gave me the chops to make rapid progress on sax, in terms of sound, from low Bb to high F#, the muscles were already there. Now it's a matter of getting fingers to do what they're told. Sometimes they seem to have a life of their own! Altissimo can wait a while...
I've consulted CafeSax many times, like it a lot and today took the plunge to become part of it. Good to meet you, ladies and gentlemen.
