Music

Music and Audio

Uncertainty is essential to creativity, right? Right? Well, I hope so, because I'm never sure anymore whether I'll be playing a lot, or not very much. For now, at least, it's decent amount.

I'm playing with a few different groups, and the variety keeps me happy.

Here's my audio page - you'll find some recordings there that span most of my career.

I play several different instruments (I only count the ones which I'm willing to play in public), but being Responsible Family Guy has really taken a bite out of my practice time, making it difficult to keep my chops up on all these. That's why I'm glad for the variety, it helps me to at least get to play some of these semi-regularly...

Saxophones: Alto and tenor; I've been playing saxes for about 25 years. Studied sax performance in college and play in most jazz/rock styles.
My tenor is a Selmer Mark VII, rebuilt by Ken Beason (sadly, I no longer have contact info for Ken since he left the DFW area). Ken commented that my Mark VII was odd - it was an early model from the early 80s and was apparently a bit of a hybrid Mark VI/VII. It plays like a VI (that's a good thing) but has keys like a VII (also a good thing).
My alto also has a story: it's really a mid-range Yamaha model that I picked up from a pawn shop. It had real problems - a thin, bright sound, and the whole right-hand key stack was a quarter-step sharp. I was going to get rid of it and took it to Ken Beason to pretty it up before selling it. He started looking at it more closely and decided it was not beyond hope and took it on as a project. In the end, he wound up ripping the bell entirely off the horn and re-seating to fix the intonation problems, he also did other marvelous things to the horn and installed his patented "beasonators". This alto now plays better than many instruments twice its price and gets a big, fat, bright, (and in tune) alto sound. I love this horn.
Clarinets: Soprano (Bb), Bb bass and EEb contra-alto. Clarinet was my first instrument 30 years ago. I also really enjoy playing low clarinets - they get such a fat sound. I play classical and jazz.
I play a LeBlanc L27 soprano (considered by some to be one of the most "in-tune" clarinets ever) and (yuck) Bundy bass and contra-alto clarinets (considered by some to be one of the most horribly out of tune clarinets ever).
Flute: I really hesitate to call myself a flute player. I'm really terrible and I keep vowing to never pick it up again, but then some gig will come up... I have a "cupid's bow" on my upper lip which makes getting a good tone almost impossible. I do, however, have an interesting story about my current flute. On flute I play jazz, and only jazz.
Irish whistles: These are such interesting instruments. The high whistles (tinwhistles) are what you'll generally hear in traditional Irish pub music; jigs and reels, etc. Lots of fast notes. The low whistles are what you've heard from Titanic and Riverdance. A very breathy, flute-like sound. For those of you who wonder about such things, Irish whistles are diatonic, non-transposing instruments. This means that you need one for each key in which you mean to play.
Guitars: I've been playing guitar for about 15 years. I taught myself, so I have a few bad habits. I tend to play more acoustic than electric and I really enjoy fingerstyle guitar. In spite of my jazz background, I don't play any jazz on guitar. I also don't play any leads. Rock, blues, folk, etc.
I play a Takamine acoustic and a Fender Strat electric.
Bass guitars: I started playing bass almost 20 years ago. That's hard to believe. I currently play a wonderful 6-string Alembic Rogue. Man, I love that bass, but I can't walk a line to save my life. What's up with that? Rock, blues, folk, etc. but obviously, no jazz...
Mandolin: I just barely feel like I can include mandolin in a list of instruments I play. I'm a decent rhythm player, but once again - no leads. You want leads on a wind instrument; I'm you man, but for mandolin, I'm like 'guitar George' - I know all the chords.
Voice: I sang for a lot of years before I learned to sing. I did a little bit of damage to my voice before I went to the man I credit with saving my voice and with recreating me as a vocalist: Larry Clark. Not only did he teach me to sing without damaging my voice any farther, he also freed me up physically such that my upper range increased considerably.
I used to sing (with some effort) from a C (octave below mid-C) to about an A above mid-C. Now, I sing fairly easily from an A a 10th below mid-C to a D a 9th above mid-C. I'm not kidding. At the time that I was seeing Larry regularly, he helped me get to where I could do my 4 hour shows living in that high tenor range all night. And all this without ever trying to make me an opera singer. If you are a singer, call this man.
Drums and percussion: I once told a worship music leader for whom I was about to play drums to think of me as a 3rd string catcher. I'm the guy who can fit the gear and will go behind the plate when you've batted for your first two catchers. i.e. I can play the instruments if you have a kit and don't mind no-frills playing, but you really want your starting drummer there...
I can also avoid embarrassing myself on auxiliary percussion (tambourine, shaker, etc. - I actually studied how to play these in college).