Everything Saxophone Podcast

Sax-Man, Elan Trotman, who has quickly become one of the fastest rising stars in jazz with over 10 Billboard topping radio singles in his young career. Trotman brings his tropical grooves and soulful Caribbean flavors to major festivals and cruises worldwide. In addition to a successful solo career, the Berklee College of Music graduate has also worked as a side-man with some of the biggest names...

You may not be familiar with Dana Robbins' name, but odds are you're already well-acquainted with her unique, bright yet smoky saxophone sound. The Nashville-by-way-of-Ann-Arbor (with a ten-year stop in Los Angeles) Robbins has been a featured player for superstars including Barry Manilow, Roger Daltrey, Frank Zappa, TajMo (Taj Mahal and Keb Mo), Aretha Franklin and can currently be heard in Gramm...

Danny Markovitch is the co-leader and founder of the jazz-fusion band, Marbin. Marbin is a progressive jazz-rock band based in Chicago, IL, with a unique story that stands out in today's music world. With a do-it-yourself approach, Marbin started touring extensively in 2011, bringing their original instrumental music to every part of the United States. Through word of mouth, Marbin has gained hund...

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 201...

Doug Levin started playing saxophone at the age of 10. His earliest influences were guitar players like Johnny Winter, Stevie Ray Vaughan, and Steve Vai, whose sonic explorations would inform his love of effects and pedals. His love of music expanded and his broadening musical capacity led him to play with such greats as The Manhattan Transfer, Buddy Guy, and many more. His musical journey eventua...

Grammy award winning baritone saxophonist Lauren Sevian is one of the most in demand musicians on the scene today.  She is the Winner of the "Rising Star" Baritone Saxophonist in the 67th Downbeat Critics Poll and  Winner of the Hothouse Jazz Awards Baritone Saxophone 2019. Ms. Sevian came to NYC in 1997 to attend the Manhattan School of Music, and soon thereafter began touring with groups such as...

Adrian Crutchfield has taken the world by storm in recent years, not only as the last sax player to perform and record with Prince, touring the world and being featured on Prince's last three albums, but also touring domestically and internationally with acts such as Lionel Ritchie, Bette Midler, and Cee-Lo Green — all the while writing and building his 2017 release titled 'Leap'. In jazz, Mr. Cru...

Saxophonist, flutist, and composer Laura Dreyer is a vibrant, creative voice in the New York jazz scene. Her catchy original compositions combine lyrical melodies with jazz, Brazilian rhythms, funk, and rock, resulting in an exciting, contemporary palette of sound with a strong rhythmic twist. A multi-instrumentalist, Dreyer performs both nationally and internationally with her Brazilian Jazz ense...

Kim Cypher is creating quite a stir on the jazz scene at present, emerging as one of the UK's most exciting saxophonists, vocalists and composers and firmly securing a reputation for top quality, stylish, accessible jazz and musical entertainment. Inspired by the funkier side of jazz and having studied alongside US saxophonist Pee Wee Ellis and internationally acclaimed jazz saxophonist Andy Shepp...

This episode is part 1 of a 2-part series with Doug Levin and Aaron Janik from Horn-FX.  In 2015, their love of effects and pedals had led Doug Levin and Aaron Janik to various corners of the six-stringed internet and back rooms of guitar centers, only to realize an unfortunate thing: There was nowhere to find information about effects and pedals from the perspective, or made for horn players.  In...

This episode is part 2 of a 2-part series with Antonio Hart. The 1st part, episode 86, was all about jazz history. You can check that out on our site saxophonepodcast.com or wherever you listen to podcasts. For this episode, we went deeper into Antonio's own story. His influences, thought processes and more. Antonio Hart is a Grammy-nominated Alto Saxophonist, Composer, and Educator, who regularly...

Multi-instrumentalist, Vocalist, Composer Camille Thurman is the first woman in 30 years to tour and perform full time two seasons as a saxophonist with the world-renowned Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra for 2 seasons.   Camille has shared stages with such jazz and R&B luminaries as George Coleman, Roy Haynes, Dianne Reeves, Wynton Marsalis, The Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra (JALCO) featuring...

In this episode, you are going to get a great Jazz History lesson. When I was getting my Master's Degree at Queens College, I took a Jazz History course that I never forgot. The Professor was a well-known, widely regarded Jazz musician even in his early thirties. Grammy-nominated Alto Saxophonist, Composer, and Educator, Antonio Hart, regularly performs with the Dave Holland Band and the Dizzy Gil...

Doug Webb, a great saxophonist based here in Los Angeles, is featured on hundreds of recordings for artists including Horace Silver, Freddie Hubbard, Sal Marquez, Stanley Clarke, Brian Bromberg, Quincy Jones, Mat Marucci, Bobby Caldwell, Kyle Eastwood, Rod Stewart, Carly Simon, Art Garfunkel, Queen Latifah and Cher. He played for fifteen years with the Doc Severinsen Tonight Show Big Band.  He has...

New York Born and raised multi-instrumentalist, vocalist, producer, and songwriter, Augie Bello's musical style is distinctly eclectic and incorporates elements of funk, pop, r&b, jazz and electronic music. Taking influence from artists including, Allen Stone, Michael Brecker, Mura Masa, Amy Winehouse, and multiple others has given him an extremely unique sound.  Soon after starting college at The...

This week, I had the pleasure of interviewing saxophonist and author, Katja Rieckermann. We had done an interview at NAMM, but the noise level was so out of control, we decided to do a separate interview now.  Katja, originally from the northern part of Germany in a small town called Luebeck, did not start playing the saxophone until age 21. It took a number of years and a bit of a struggle until...

Today's guest is non-other than the young phenom, Alex Hahn, a multi-award winning saxophonist, educator and composer based in Los Angeles, California. He recently won 1st place at the Michael Brecker International Saxophone Competition, graduated with his 2nd masters from the prestigious Thelonius Monk Institute, performed and studied with Herbie Hancock, and recorded on Michael Bublé's last two...

Author, businesswoman, composer and top-level saxophonist, Mindi Abair, has defined her own niche in the saxophone and music world. She debuted her solo career with her first album in 1999, and has recorded 11 more albums since then, and garnered 2 Grammy nominations. Mindi has performed with Aerosmith, Bruce Springsteen, Smokey Robinson, Trombone Shorty, the Backstreet Boys, Teena Marie, Rick Bra...

Having been born in Canada, grown up in Nigeria, studied music at University of North Texas, and touring in places such as Siberia, Jeff Antoniuk, truly brings a world-wide experience to his performance and teaching.  Jeff has performed with Tim Hagans, Sherrie Maricle, Ingrid Jensen, Walt Weiskopf and Marcus Miller. He has fronted his own bands as a performer and composer, winning accolades from...

Saxophonist, composer, educator Derek Brown, has performed over 200 international shows and in every state in the US as part of his Fifty-Fifty tour. He has well over 30 million social media views of his unique and revolutionary way of playing the saxophone, and has been featured on NPR's Weekend Edition.  We featured Derek for our very first episode here on the Everything Saxophone Podcast. You c...

Saxophonist, composer and educator, Rajiv Halim, performs regularly with his Rajiv Halim Quintet in the greater Chicago area. Rajiv was the saxophonist for the eclectic band, Kids These Days, and released an EP that garnered praise from the Chicago Tribune, NY Times and Huffington Post. Rajiv has also won awards as a solo artist, having placed 2nd in the Saxophone Idol competition sponsored by Kei...

Jody Espina is the founder, president and designer of JodyJazz Saxophone & Clarinet Mouthpieces. He is a highly regarded Jazz saxophonist, clarinetist, and flutist with a unique and personal sound and is also a respected Jazz educator. He has taught in High Schools and Colleges in the United States and Spain, but because of the tremendous success of his mouthpieces, had to give up full-time teachi...

Chika Inoue, has been praised for her beautiful tone, acute sensitivity and virtuosic technique. She has received numerous performance awards in competitions, lavishing praise as a soloist and chamber musician. Chika has performed internationally at major venues, appearing as soloist and chamber musician in the United States, Germany, Italy, China, and Japan. Chika transcribes and performs works b...

Meet Saxophonist, Author, Producer, Composer and Arranger Caleb Chapman. For the past 22 years, Caleb has run CC Soundhouse in Utah. His bands, comprised of musicians ages 12-18, are regarded as some of the finest in the world, and have  received dozens of awards , including a combined 52 of the prestigious DownBeat Awards and many more. Caleb's flagship ensemble, the  Crescent Super Band , has a...

In our latest series of interviews from the NAMM 2020 Show in Anaheim, Donna interviewed Saxophonist, Producer, Composer and Arranger Darren Rahn. Darren has had multiple #1 singles on the Billboard Contemporary jazz charts over the years, and has produced artists such as Najee, Dave Koz, Riley Richard and many others.  The link to his full biography, along with more Resources for this episode, is...