Chris Potter Masterclass

Wednesday night it was off to PM Woodwind, hosts of a masterclass by Chris Potter (who was in town with Pat Metheny's Unity Group).

Unsurprisingly it was a full-house (they took advance bookings for this event). Potter kicked off the evening with a solo rendition of "Invitation" and then launched straight into questions. Here's the video that PM Woodwind posted.
Thankfully the audience was willing and there were plenty of raised hands.

There wasn't too much gear talk (he got that out of the way early) but plenty about life on the road and spending time on the horn. The emphasis was on self discovery and finding your own way with music - getting the simple things together and working from there.

When it came to saxophone specific information, Potter was an advocate of working on overtones to help open up your sound and stressed trying to remove physical tension as much as possible when playing. Potter said he records himself often as a way of evaluating the effect changes (physical/mental) have on his tone.

He described working on harmony as a series of moving voices rather than a set of vertical chords - demonstrated playing "Invitation" on piano and then on the saxophone.

On composition, he encouraged people to dive in - the more you write the easier it becomes and if you write enough, eventually you will write something you like - was the gist of it.

For those interested in odd-meter playing, he recommended playing them a lot and suggested feeling it as a groove rather than counting it out. Learning how to phrase the melody before delving into improving - playing a chorus of "All The Things You Are" in 5/4 to demonstrate.

Over recent weeks his listening has included Bill Withers, A Tribe Called Quest and Gyorgy Ligeti. And every couple of months he revisits his old favourites such as Charlie Parker (probably the player he talked the most about), John Coltrane and Duke Ellington.

Potter finished the evening with "My One & Only Love."

It's great Paul organises and hosts these masterclasses (added bonus…. they're free!). I've tried to get to as many as I can since I have been in town and posted about the Bob Sheppard & David Liebman Masterclasses. If you are in or around Chicago, be sure to get along to them.

Bob Sheppard Masterclass

I hopped on the red line and headed up to Evanston on Saturday afternoon. Work on the lines made it slow going and it cut into the time I set aside for trying out soprano's before the Bob Sheppard masterclass hosted by PM Woodwind.

The turnout was ok - less than I expected but respectable. Sheppard had a nice relaxed, free-wheeling style of presentation. He started things off with a bit of background on how he came up in music - plenty of on the job training and learning what you need to know by failing. "It's all about not sucking" (as he put it).

Four main points go plenty of attention:

• Fun: It's always easier when you enjoy what you are doing.
• Tone: Develop a sound concert. Emulate the greats. "All the chops in the world don't mean a thing if it doesn't sound good." He talked a bit about some of Joe Allard's methods though I have heard them explained and demonstrate better by others - namely my teacher Richard Tabnik. In fact he said a couple things about facial muscles that seemed to have very little to do with Allard's teachings (as I understand it). He did emphasize staying relaxed to allow the reed to vibrate to it potential.
• Play Melodies: Any melodies - tunes, melodic fragments, intervals. Different Keys. Move them around the horn by ear. Develop the connection between your ear and the horn. A few attendees had a crack at this with some success.
• Play along with recordings of your favourite players: Emulate their sound, articulation, lines, and nuance. Sheppard mentioned over the years he has done this with artists such as Cannonball Adderly, Sonny Rollins, John Coltrane, Joe Henderson, Stan Getz, David Liebman, Steve Grossman, Michael Brecker & Jerry Bergonzi.

Everything was presented with a demonstration and there was a solo performance of "I Can't Get Started" as well as "It Could Happen To You" with a young guitarist and tenor player (sorry guys I didn't get your names).

Sheppard made the excellent point that all the answers are in the recordings and your imagination - there is not need to rely on books for practice ideas/chops/transcriptions etc.

When he mentioned (while on the subject of sound and blending I think) Lee Konitz wasn't hired to play in big band saxophone sections - I had to interject.... "Yes he was. Claude Thornhill... Stan Kenton." I couldn't let that pass.

It Could Happen To You

Added bonus was Sheppard had reed samples to hand out (he's a Rico endorsee). I grabbed some Rico Select Jazz (Unfiled) 3 Mediums - the only soprano reeds he had with him. I hadn't tried Rico Jazz on soprano for quite some time (Lately I've had some luck with Rico Reserve) and from the few I warmed up yesterday they are playing a bit soft for me. 

It was refreshing that someone who has a couple of endorsement deals and a new album due out wasn't trying to sell them to you for two hours. He mentioned those things in passing but for the vast majority of time it was all about playing. Very little shop talk. He did have some of the Macsax Bob Sheppard Signature Edition mouthpieces for people to have a play on after the masterclass.

It's great PM Woodwind hold these masterclasses - this was the 3rd  that I have been able to get to (Ernie Watts and David Liebman were the others). I look forward to future events they hold.

For those after a bit more from Bob Sheppard check out the audio interviews over at the Best Saxophone Website Ever - here & here

David Liebman Masterclass

Last weekend PM Woodwind hosted a master class with David Liebman. A good turn out - pretty much a full house - but (surprisingly for me) less than at the Ernie Watts master class late last year.

Mouthpiece Exercises!!

He spoke about touring as a single and playing with local pick up rhythm sections (as he did the previous night at the Green Mill) and finding common ground with musicians around the world via the jazz reportoire that he broke into two categories: Standards (Great American Songbook/Broadway Tunes etc) & Jazz Standards (works by Miles, Coltrane, Monk et al).  He also spoke about the legacy of the jazz masters and the STANDARD they set when playing the standards - a nice point. 

When the conversation turned to the saxophone the emphasis was on sound. No surprises there for those of us famlilar with Liebman's books and DVDs. Demonstrations of various long tone, overtone, mouthpiece, and oral cavity exercises that Dave came to via Joe Allard's teachings. I explored many of these during my time studying with Richard Tabnik - another saxophonists profoundly influenced by the teachings of Allard. I find working on tone a lot of fun most of the time - The exercises Richard shared with me have stayed part of my ongoing work. They will be with me as I ease back in to regular practice. 


It made a change to hear (and see) someone demonstrating overtones and mouthpieces exercises on soprano - Dave.... you don't need to be so apologetic about sounds emminating from the soprano during these exercises!

Earlier in the year I got up close up view of Sam Newsome playing at smalls however some of the nuance was lost in amongst the quartet. Sunday was a different story  - up close (front row) with his soprano just a few inches away, unaccompanied, everything was clear and present.

He's quite the storyteller too.... the crowd favorite being a recollection from his early days when he headed to Philly and sat in with Rahsaan Roland Kirk's group.... "All The Things You Are, first note is F#, 1,2,1,2,3,4....."