The saxophone is sure an interesting phenomena..
We have a good tone; attributed to a particular embouchure, taught us by classical saxophonist Harvey Pittel when asking what John Coltrane's was like?
This is easy, by putting a thumb in your mouth then think of the thumbnail as the reed. Use your embouchure to control the reed/mouthpiece combination, without any pressure above or below from your teeth, simply sealing the airflow with your lips.
A variation is to use the upper teeth against the mouthpiece to better anchor the instrument against the right thumb..I think I would put a cushion on top the mouthpiece for that now, we'd done directly atop a metal Otto Link playing second tenor in the Evergreen Jazz Ensemble a couple years in the early 1970s.
The summer of 1969 following high school graduation, a bassist pal recruited me as an understudy tenor saxophonist for a band they were putting together featuring a pair of non-identical twin brothers then twenty-one year-olds playing tenor sax/flute & Hammond B-3 as masters of both old Rhythm and Blues and contemporary bands' covers of materials from Blood, Sweat & Tears, Chicago, Tower of Power, Ten Wheel Drive with Genya Ravan, and Lydia Pense and Cold Blood.
Like they say, the saxophone is one of the easiest musical instruments to play-also one of the most difficult to play really well. But, by then we were hooked: thanks to the proliferation of legal Cannabis Indica here in the Pacific Northwest until outlawed in the early '70s; or later, whatever else got used in Denton, TX at N. T. S. U. where possession of as little as two Marijuana joints of Cannabis Sativa as a person's very first criminal offense called for a life sentence in prison there..most folk I got high with, since from out of state, seemed oblivious of.
That embouchure we use is sure a good one, even performing as a classically trained saxophonist January 19th, 2009 for the "Minute Solo Fundraiser" for the next month's two week Seattle Improvised Music Festival.
www.seattleimprovfest.wordpress.com We paid $35 for our well received minute's toot; playing our Yamaha YAS-23 alto paired with a Beechler B10 "White Diamond" S4S mouthpiece, with amazing self confidence that would have surprised me had we noticed, attributed later to an always amazing experience seeing the Royal Belgian Saxophone Quartet in performance the spring of 1971 whose baritone saxophonist helping perform a transcription of a Beehtoven String Quartet somehow caught our ear amazingly..a laser riveting moment when suddenly the idea of classical sax got exciting.
What was especially endearing about our minute solo, was just as we began playing the right hand F# key's spring came off. So that an instant before my generous applause from a half full large hall of some of Seattle's most talented and eclectic musicians, their friends and family, and anyone else drawn to this rare fare; we were able to quip spontaneously "that was something for unprepared, prepared alto saxophone".
I felt great, since obviously there was a load of virtuoso cynics expecting at best free jazz, an entirely different idiom: though for instance the late 'legendary' in his lifetime, Seattle alto saxophonist Wally Shoup did both. Amy Denio did some juggling for their $35.
We have a lot of good stories relating to music and saxophone, we will try to share here.
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