Hi Chris,
thank you for the comments.
Envy is not a nasty trait at all. It's what makes us strive for improvements. (Completely ignoring the fact that envy can make us do nasty things.) But you could not possibly envy my singing. It's as rusty as my sax playing. Barely in key, struggling at the high notes and diaphragm is rubbish. As you probably picked up, I tend to close my throat on the high notes in stead of opening up. That's what makes an unsteady, thin voice. Come to think about it, perhaps it's the same reason I can't do a growl on the sax any more?
Have you ever seen Casablanca? 1942, Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman? I mean, if a movie ever was jazz, then it would be this one. And just before you are going to turn down a lady in the most elegant way ever, you turn to the pianist and say: take it away, Rune... Or even worse: take it away, rudjarl. You need the rest of the song just to say that. Nope, no can do. I think we better leave it with: take it away, Sam. (Humphrey has spoken!) And of cause Sam would know all about which keys to press when. Only, Sam... ehhh... this Sam... uhhh me needs to 'not skip practising' a whole lot more.
It is no wonder you found the improvisation considered. I had a couple of 'images' in my head, but could not get them out on the sax. So I jotted down the notes in NoteWorthy and moved them round a bit until I was happy with them. Then I altered the melody in the rest. First a little, then a little more... and so on. The whole impro is based around the melody. Not the chords or the key. So it's an improvisation all right, it's just not spontaneous. (It was the first time around, and the less said about that the better). I'm still not happy with all of it, but I'll get there.
I promise you, on the next take, there will be less reserved playing, and a bit more sax in the mix. (Less singing (if any) and more volume on the sax).
Thanks again and happy playing
Rune