Better Sax Podcast

Jay Metcalf interviews saxophonist Vincent Herring who is carrying on the legacy of great alto saxophonists in jazz. https://www.vincentherring.com/ 🔥 Join the Reed Revolution and try the new BetterSax Jazz Cut Reeds HERE ➡ https://geni.us/reed 🎁 Access the FREE BetterSax SHED with tons of sax lessons, pdf downloads and backing tracks HERE: https://bettersax.com/shed ===========================...

Jay Metcalf sits down with saxophonist Bob Rockwell, where they discuss his first steady gig in a Minneapolis strip club, his tenure with the Thad Jones/Mel Lewis Orchestra, what and how he practices the saxophone and lots more. http://bobrockwellsax.com 🔥 Join the Reed Revolution and try the new BetterSax Jazz Cut Reeds HERE ➡ https://geni.us/reed 🎁 Access the FREE BetterSax SHED with tons of s...

Jay Metcalf interviews saxophonist Patrick Bartley for a fascinating conversation about music and what it means to be an artist these days. @PatrickBartleyMusic Check out his YouTube channel for more. 🔥 Join the Reed Revolution and try the new BetterSax Jazz Cut Reeds HERE ➡ https://geni.us/reed 🎁 Access the FREE BetterSax SHED with tons of sax lessons, pdf downloads and backing tracks HERE: htt...

Jay Metcalf interviews saxophonist Andy Snitzer, known for is extensive session studio work and touring with legends such as Billy Joel, Sting and Paul Simon. Check out his latest release A Beautiful Dream available now. https://www.andysnitzer.com/ 🔥 Join the Reed Revolution and try the new BetterSax Jazz Cut Reeds HERE ➡ https://geni.us/reed 🎁 Access the FREE BetterSax SHED with tons of sax le...

Jay Metcalf interviews Tower of Power tenor sax soloist Tom Politzer after their show at the 2023 Nice Jazz Festival. https://towerofpower.com/tom-e-politzer 🔥 Join the Reed Revolution and try the new BetterSax Jazz Cut Reeds HERE ➡ https://geni.us/reed 🎁 Access the FREE BetterSax SHED with tons of sax lessons, pdf downloads and backing tracks HERE: https://bettersax.com/shed ===================...

The New BetterSax Burnin' mouthpiece for Baritone Saxophone is now available in 6, 7 and 8 tip openings click the link below for more info: BetterSax Burnin' Mouthpieces - https://geni.us/Burnin Other notable bari players mentioned at end of episode: Cecil Payne Sahib Shihab Hamiet Bluiett Joe Temperly Lars Gullin Ronnie Ross Currently Active: Gary Smulyan Jason Marshall Lauren Sevian Claire Daly...

Rick Margitza - https://www.booking.monartagency.com/artists/rick-margitza NEW BetterSax Jazz Cut Reeds - https://geni.us/reed The Geeklet Reed Adjustment Tool - https://bettersax.com/product/reedgeek-geeklet/ Ultimate Reed Case - https://bettersax.com/product/bettersax-deluxe-wooden-reed-case/ BetterSax Burnin' Mouthpieces - https://geni.us/6RcUMu The Better Sax Alto Saxophone - https://geni.us/B...

I met up with saxophonist, producer, composer, multi-instrumentalist Terrace Martin for an interview about music, saxophone and life. Enjoy. Terrace Martin's label - Sounds of Crenshaw: https://soundsofcrenshaw.com/terrace-martin Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/soundsofcrenshaw/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/soundsofcrenshaw BETTERSAX SHED - all my free lesson downloads https://bettersax...

I recently had the chance to meet up with saxophonist Immanuel Wilkins at the Nice Jazz Festival. We had a great conversation about what he worked on to develop such a beautiful sound, his backstory and how he started playing saxophone, the setup he plays on, and how he was able to get his career off the ground during the pandemic. http://www.immanuelwilkins.com/ https://www.instagram.com/immanuel...

I caught up with Jaleel Shaw at the Nice Jazz Festival 2023 to check out his performance with the Dave Holland New Quartet and talk about what it's like to tour internationally with jazz legends. Visit https://www.jaleelshaw.com/ for more info. Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jaleelshawmusic Instagram: http://instagram.com/jaleelshaw BETTERSAX SHED - all my free lesson downloads https://betters...

In this live interview/hang, Jaleel Shaw and I go through a rapid fire list of 20 questions about all things saxophone. One of the top saxophonists active in the modern jazz scene today, with three albums out as a leader. He performs with Roy Haynes, Nate Smith and a long list of other top musicians. Jaleel is also currently a professor at the New School and Manhattan School of Music in New York C...

Eric Marienthal is one of the all time great saxophone players and educators. He has won Grammys, he has recorded countless albums and soundtracks including 6 of his own as a leader. He has performed with many of the world's greatest musicians in a multitude of genres, and is also the author of several outstanding saxophone study books. In this interview, Eric shares the surprising stuff he practi...

Practicing the technique in this video will greatly speed up your ability to improvise over chord changes in any style of music. It's just a small part of a new course that can transform your playing. Adam Larson's Rhythmic Pyramid Course https://bettersax.com/course/rhythmic-pyramid/ BETTERSAX SHED - all my free lesson downloads https://bettersax.com/shed ♫ BETTERSAX COURSES ♪ https://bettersax.c...

Art cannot be studied absent the context of history. Jazz music is part of the enormous cultural contribution of Black Americans and racism is a big part of that history. Enjoy the art form, but also acknowledge the reality of racism past and present. BETTERSAX SHED - all my free lesson downloads https://bettersax.com/shed 7-Day Free Trial of BetterSax Studio https://bettersax.com/products/studio-...

My guest today is Nathan Graybeal otherwise known as Saxologic on YouTube. He has amassed a following of over 188K subscribers and went viral with the Mario Kart Lick. He is currently working on his doctorate in saxophone performance at the University of Memphis. In this interview Nathan and I talk about making the tough choices all young musicians are faced with when starting out their careers, t...

My guest today is the world renowned pianist, educator, composer and author Kenny Werner. His landmark book Effortless Mastery has been revelatory for musicians around the world since it was published more than 25 years ago. His latest book Becoming the Instrument guides us further down the path of liberating the master musician within all of us. I consider Kenny’s teachings to be some of the most...

Hey BetterSax players I’m very excited for this podcast, my guest is Donny McCaslin one of the most exciting saxophone players of our generation. He’s been making incredible music for quite a while now having recorded more than a dozen albums as a leader and several dozen more as a sideman, he is perhaps most well known for his work on David Bowie’s final album Blackstar. In our interview we talk...

Tips on how to play sax in the pop genre from a master... In this discussion with Michael Ghegan(Elton John, Justin Beiber, Supertramp, Jamiroquai...), he shares his insights on how to effectively accompany singers on the saxophone and a lot more. MICHAEL GHEGAN on INSTAGRAM - https://www.instagram.com/michaelghegan/ http://michaelghegan.com/ BETTERSAX SHED - all my free lesson downloads https://b...

Practicing visualization can help musicians increase their skills when away from the instrument. So much of playing music happens in your head so it makes sense that practicing entirely in your mind can be extremely beneficial. BETTERSAX SHED - all my free lesson downloads https://bettersax.com/shed ♫ BETTERSAX COURSES ♪ https://bettersax.com/products BetterSax Burnin' Mouthpieces - https://geni.u...

My guest today is an amazing saxophonist, composer and educator Tim Armacost. In our conversation we get into a topic all musicians will find incredibly interesting that Tim calls the Inevitable note. That’s also the name of his latest album which has just been released. Tim is also the author of the Jazz Saxophone book available from Sher music. Later on we even get into one of the most controver...

My guest today is one of the most exciting saxophonists right now in the music world, Braxton Cook. Not only is he an outstanding sax player in the jazz idiom, but he has created his own sound and style combining elements of multiple musical genres. In this interview he shares with us his musical influences, what inspires him to create his unique sound, the things he encourages his own saxophone s...

My guest today is Jess Gillam who is a young saxophonist from the UK who is Getting a lot of attention these days by making classical saxophone fun again. let’s be honest, Not sure how much fun it was before actually, so let’s just say Jess Gillam is making classical saxophone a lot of fun. She recently performed the world premiere of the saxophone concerto Glasslands with the Detroit Symphony Orc...

If I were to start all over learning to improvise from square 1 today, this is what I would do. There are a lot of traps people fall into on this journey and a lot of dead ends we typically go down that make the process take a lot longer, lead to a lot of frustration and sometimes make people give up all together. But if you follow 7 part framework I’m about to share with you, you should be able t...

In this week's video I take you with me to several different concerts I attended last year by some of my favorite saxophonists. As an extra bonus, I managed to get these artists to share with us some of their valuable insights on how they got so good at music.

BETTERSAX SHED - all my free lesson downloads https://bettersax.com/shed BetterSax Burnin' Mouthpieces - https://geni.us/6RcUMu The Better Sax Alto Saxophone - https://geni.us/BKIGTw Awesome Backing Tracks - https://bettertrax.com 7-Day Free Trial of BetterSax Studio https://bettersax.com/products/studio-free-trial/ ♫ BETTERSAX COURSES ♪ https://bettersax.com/products ★ Other Sax Gear I Love ★ Ree...