Everything Saxophone Podcast

Jody Espina is the founder, President and designer of  Jody Jazz  clarinet and saxophone mouthpieces.   Jody has extensive teaching and performing experience, having studied with such masters as Joe Viola, John LaPorte, Joe Allard and Junie Farrell. He performed with such artists as Mel Torme, Eddie Arnold, Lew Soloff, Dave Douglas and many others. He still performs with his trio, Tricycle, and hi...

Scott Robinson is a saxophonist and multi-instrumentalist that has been making waves in jazz and beyond for quite sometime now. Scott is releasing his brand new album,  Tenormore,  on April 5th and we caught up this week to talk about this and so much more. Robinson is well known for his playing on the more non-traditional saxophones including the bass and contra-bass horns but in this episode we...

Roberto's Winds, at 149 W. 46th St, New York City, is one of the very few music shops left standing today in the world-famous area that used to be known as Music Row. The link to his full biography, along with more Resources for this episode, is on our  website . In this episode, Donna chats with Roberto Romeo about: The history of the shop, and the many famous saxophone players that frequent his...

David Halliday is a seriously busy man. Whether it's playing, teaching, or producing, David really cares about the music and saxophone at the highest level. This week we sat down with David to chat about his career, his time spent studying with the great Joe Henderson and many other points that we know you'll find very interesting and useful to your own lives as musicians. David is the Director of...

Miles Osland  has distinguished himself as an educator, recording and performing artist, author, arranger and composer. Currently the Director of Jazz Studies and Professor of Saxophone at the University of Kentucky, he has appeared throughout North & South America, Europe and Asia as a guest conductor, performer and clinician for Selmer (France) Saxophones, D'Addario Woodwinds and Jody Jazz mouth...

Jeff Ellwood is an important voice in education and on the tenor saxophone. He is the director of jazz studies at Mt. San Antonio College as well as adjunct faculty at Cal State Fullerton. This week, we caught up with Jeff to talk about his development as a musician, his approach to education, and his amazing book, Developing Bebop Lines. Jeff has studied with some of the most important teachers o...

Consistently acknowledged as America's foremost classical saxophonist, Harvey Pittel has popularized the very concept of the saxophone in concert and has elevated his instrument to a new level of appreciation by lovers of fine music. His discography includes twenty-eight recordings of duos, trios, quartets and concertos with orchestra, and he has been featured on soundtracks of several films inclu...

Ian Hendrickson-Smith is on top of the musical world. He has one of the most diverse and amazing careers out of any musician playing right now. You can catch him on the Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon, playing with the Roots, at a jazz club in New York City, or recording albums for his label,  Rondette Jazz  on any given night of the week. Ian was also the longtime bari player for Sharon Jones and...

Steve Goodson has been involved in some aspects of the music business on a professional basis since 1963, when he started taking money for playing.   Steve  retired from active performance in 2003 for reasons of health. But prior to his retirement, he performed with Solomon Burke, Eddie Money, Dr. John, Marcia Ball, Chubby Checker, Vince Vance, and many, many other internationally known performers...

Sam Dillon is one of the top call tenor saxophone players on the New York scene. In this episode we caught up with Sam and our chat is both informative and inspiring to anyone looking to know what it takes to make it today as a jazz musician. Sam's approach to the music and being a musician is refreshing. He truly is in it for the long haul and genuinely loves what he does. Sam is also preparing f...

Steve Goodson has been involved in some aspects of the music business on a professional basis since 1963, when he started taking money for playing.   In Steve's words… "Quite a few members of my family on both sides played professionally, so it was a rather natural thing for me to pursue. I've been very fortunate to have had some excellent teachers over the years, and feel very strongly about pass...

Paul Haar is the creator of the online magazine TheSaxophonist.org and is also an Associate Professor of Saxophone and Director of Jazz Studies at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Paul is a mover and shaker in the world of saxophone and has some great things to say about teaching, performing, and the industry at large. We caught up with Paul as he is preparing to embark into his second year of...

Tim Price is a Roberto's Winds endorsing artist for all their saxophone and clarinet reeds. (Roberto's Winds is under the direction of the world famous icon, Roberto Romeo.) Tim is a world-class artist, performer and educator worldwide, a Berklee College of Music graduate and one of the country's foremost woodwind artists. Tim has played with musicians like Bennie Green, Hans Dulfer, Lew Tabackin,...

Jack Finucane is the owner of the Boston Sax Shop, a full service horn repair and retail shop in the heart of Boston. Jack is making waves in the saxophone world by creating his own extensive product lines, curating some of the best saxophone products and accessories for sale in his shop, and generally being one of the best repair techs in the world. Jack works tirelessly to bring awareness and cl...

Encouraged by his parents, Alex Han began playing alto saxophone at the very young age of 8.  By age 11, he performed in front of legendary jazz man, Paquito D' Rivera, and formed a lifelong friendship.   A year later, he was performing at major jazz festivals all over the world. At age 17, he won the Yamaha Young Performing Artist Competition for Saxophone, and won a 2006 ASCAP Foundation Young J...

This week we had a great conversation with Marco Pignataro. Marco is the director of the Berklee Global Jazz Institute in Boston as well as holding numerous high level positions in jazz festivals, organizations, and institutes across the globe. When you combine that with his amazing ability as a saxophonist, you get the total package! Marco is a true ambassador of the music and we speak at length...

This week we got a chance to speak with the immensely talented young saxophonist, Alex Hahn. Alex is based in Los Angeles and is doing really big things in the music world. He has performed with some of the best musicians in the business during his career including, Hancock, Esperanza Spalding, Bob Mintzer, Peter Erskine, John Clayton, Russell Ferrante, and John Daversa. He also recorded on Michae...

Phil Rovner founded Rovner Products in 1974, when he created the Original Dark ligature. To this day, that ligature is still one of the top sellers in the entire Rovner catalog.   Over the years, more Classic models were developed, such as the Light, the Eddie Daniels (the Versa replaced this one), and the Mk III.   When George Reeder, current President and Co-Owner of Rovner Products took over in...

With his first note on the saxophone, Cleveland native  Riley   Richard  has blazed the contemporary jazz world with his first EP titled "Evolving". The first single "Family Ties" climbed up the Billboard charts topping out at #18, his next release "Between You & I" charted at #3 while climbing the American Music Chart hitting #1 several times.   Riley   Richard  has graced the worldwide stage wit...

This week we caught up with Canadian saxophonist, composer and band leader, Allison Au. Allison is busy taking her quartet all over Canada and the US getting her music into the world and doing a lot to advance this music we call jazz. Allison is a native of Toronto and still makes her home there where she is playing gigs, teaching, and composing on a regular basis. Watch out for Allison's tour dat...

Daniel Bennett is a saxophonist, woodwind artist, educator, and band leader based out of New York. Daniel has been hailed as one of the most original and unpredictable voices of his generation. Daniel leads his group all over the country on a regular basis, spreading his music to fans of creative music far and wide. This episode will be eye opening in many ways for all of the musicians listening t...

Stephen "Doc" Kupka is best known as the foundation of the horn section for Tower of Power, having performed on Baritone Sax with them for 50 years and running. Ever since co-writing  "You're Still a Young Man,"  he really has enjoyed songwriting. He wanted to showcase the many songs he has written over the years, so he established Strokeland Records in 1998. Doc's longevity with performing and so...

Multi-instrumentalist, composer and arranger, Sylvain Carton has performed with a number of groups in a variety of genres.   Born in France, and having lived in various parts of the U.S., Sylvain was exposed to many types of music growing up, in particular Bluegrass, folk and world music.   His current endeavors include performing eclectic original music with such groups as Japonize Elephants and...

Miguel Zenon is an alto saxophonist, composer, and band leader hailing from Puerto Rico. Miguel has been featured on over 70 recordings as a sideman and is about to release his 11th album under his own name. Miguel is a multiple Grammy Nominee and is also a recipient of the MacArthur Fellowship also known as the genius grant. Miguel lives in New York and also teaches at the famous New England Cons...