September 2006

A New Tune a Day for Tenor Saxophone
Book 1 DVD Edition
Ned Bennett
Boston Music Company, ISBN 1-84609-622-7, £14.95

A New Tune a Day for Tenor Saxophone is unique as far as I know, I cannot think of another tutor book specifically geared towards the tenor saxophone and I was curious to see what the author had done that was different to the alto version I reviewed in a previous issue of Music Teacher. The book is divided into 20 lessons each with a set of goals; learning a new note, a new time signature or a new technique, interspersed with simple tests. I liked the helpful hints and encouragement towards good posture and good practice technique and I also liked the choice of tunes, mostly well known melodies and not too many original pieces. This version comes with play-along CD and a DVD. The demonstrator on the CD is Ollie Wilby who has a classic, warm-toned tenor sound, a great example of what the instrument can sound like in the right hands. The DVD covers most of the material just up the end of the first lesson using two young presenters one of whom played the examples on the tenor saxophone. The material is well presented and clear however I feel the DVD is an expensive addition under-exploited and it will inevitably have a short shelf life with pupils as it covers so few topics. Perhaps the publishers could have added more extras, what about a short history of the saxophone or a bit of footage of some of the great players. So, overall not much is different from the alto book but where it scores is the CD demonstration with Ollie’s great tenor sound so probably worth consideration just for that.

Creative Saxophone Workbook
Techniques for intermediate saxophonists and jazz improvisers
Kellie Stantin
Oxford University Press, ISBN 978-0-19-322369-4, £12.95

Creative Saxophone Workbook is another book in the “Creative” series from Kellie Stanton for jazz saxophonists. It covers the basic donkeywork type of practice that any budding, intermediate saxophonist needs to tackle in order to develop a really professional sounding technique. She covers all the basics, sound warm-ups (long notes), gets stuck into harmonics, a good section on vibrato (which worked well with my pupils), alternate fingerings, lots of scales and modes and an introduction to altissimo fingerings. To this point in the book the topics are applicable to all styles of players but in the last chapters Kellie finally introduces the jazz specific stuff, pattern playing over basic chord progressions and transcribing short phrases off the CD. It covers a lot of territory in a slim volume but it is none the worse for that and makes it a good introduction to more rigorous techniques. There are whole books out there that cover just one topic but some are terribly dry and off-putting to the younger player. If one has a really motivated pupil then one can point them towards the more advanced books after working through Kellie’s workbook. The two CDs, one for alto and one for tenor, are excellent. Kellie thankfully employed real musicians and she herself ably demonstrates the techniques.

Jazzamatazz
Jazz Solos or Duets, Eb Alto Saxophone
Steve Bulla
Curnow Music, CMP 0972.04, £10.95

This is a great collection of twelve pieces that I will definitely be using with pupils. It can be used as solo or duet material with a really excellent rhythm section that swings like the blazes. The material uses well-known rhythmic and harmonic material from the swing era and I had fun working out what tune the changes come from. The CD has as full version of each piece with both of the duet lines played, a second version has one line and a final one has just rhythm section so it couldn’t be more flexible. The demonstrating soloists and rhythm section who unfortunately don’t get a credit are great, the book is published for a variety of blowing instruments and they all get heard in various combinations so with a full set a music department would get a lot of mileage out of this collection. Highly recommended.

Campfire Classics
Easy instrumental solos or duets for any combination of instruments.
Eb Instruments
James Curnow & Paul Curnow
Curnow Music, CMP 0936.04, £10.95
Piano accompaniment sold separately CMP 0939.04.401, £6.95

This is another publication from Curnow music this time by the Curnows themselves. I know of James from his wind orchestra writing and these pieces are typically well constructed. The solo lines keep things simple but musically interesting and even if it is an American publication most of the tunes are well known here too. With the accompanying CD however the cheese meter goes onto the red. It is clearly created on a computer and the Curnow’s had far too much fun finding sounds on their synthesiser module. It is not to say the arrangements are not good, they are but I found them too sugary and overblown. The piano accompaniment might be the tasteful route for a performance and that will cost you extra, reducing its value for money.

Fun with Folk and Alternative Rock
Eb Alto Saxophone
John Hosay
Curnow Music, CMP 0961.04, £10.95

The final submission from Curnow Music is a collection of twelve original tunes with CD accompaniment. I think there was a problem trying to find a title for this book. It is not really what I would class as “Alternative Rock”, rather I would class the tunes as folk flavoured with a rock backing. I’m afraid I found the tunes rather repetitious, not very engaging and by the time I reached the last one I was definitely not having fun. One can tell that the composer is no wind player; the lines are very long, with no rests for easy breathing for younger or less experienced players, the target audience for this book. The backing band on the CD is obviously real and they play well but they have to work terribly hard with harmonic progressions that vary little from piece to piece.

Super Studies
26 Progressive Studies for Saxphone
Phillip Sparke
Anglo Music, AMP 113, £6.95

This is the final book of studies written by Mr Sparke for the saxophone, the previous two have been favourably reviewed here. This one is for fairly advanced students, they start at about grade seven standard and go up to close on diploma level. Each one has a particular musical or technical challenge, typical ones like flexibility, breath control, and dexterity, and two which I particularly enjoyed for the four Bb fingerings and alternate C and F#. Mr Sparke is a skilled composer of this kind of material and it works well. They remind me very much of the Klosé studies, rather Victorian and I suppose old fashioned in a way. I really enjoyed playing them and I will certainly use them with students. For me the only gripe I have is that Mr Sparke has, it seems, quite deliberately left out any dynamic markings and staccato marks. My guess is that he wishes the teacher to add their own interpretation but personally I think the student observing all the markings is part of the training and would have preferred to see them on the page.

Football Crazy
Footie Songs arranged for Alto Saxophone and Piano or CD, Grades 1-4
Edward Maxwell
Spartan Press, SP843, £9.99

Creating a set of pieces around football songs is a novel idea. Many children, boys especially are interested in football and I would have thought this would work. To a degree Mr Maxwell does make it work. The first section relates the names of football teams to rhythms, which works well. Twelve tunes then follow. Each one is stated in a simple and very short version to begin with but can be extended with a more complex variation that can be played in duet form and improvisation suggestions are also made. This is all demonstrated on the attached CD. I’m afraid it doesn’t really work for me. The tunes are fine in themselves but the variations don’t work as duets. The accompaniment is heavily computerised and so devoid of all emotion and gets downright irritating by the end and the arrangements are rather safe and uninspired. Perhaps it will work better with a live piano accompaniment and a teacher who can razz it up a bit.

The Concert Band at Home
Alto Saxophone
Jan Van der Roost
De Haske, 1043744, £10.95

This seems to be a unique offering from De Haske, an opportunity to play along with a professional wind orchestra. First off, how many people have heard a professional wind orchestra? They are a very rare beast in this country and that is a great shame for if you have ever had the opportunity to hear one of the good ones you will be blown away. Unfortunately the band on this recording is not credited which is a great shame, they play really well and I would like to know who they are. Doing this reviewing job is quite an education; it is a real pleasure discovering new music and being introduced to composers and performers I have not heard before. Jan Van der Roost is probably really well known in Wind Orchestra circles but he is new to me. His pieces are accessible, engaging and well constructed. Eight whole pieces are offered with the full 1st alto part to play. It is progressively graded too, the latter pieces being technically demanding. I can see great value in working through this with certain students, like the Gordon Goodwin Big Phat Band playalong I reviewed last issue. A recommended book and excellent value too.

Switch on to Jazz
16 fun pieces with piano accompaniment
Alto saxophone
Andy Rogers
Fentone Music, F866, £20.95

This collection of original pieces is designed for use as extra material along side a tutor for a pupil at about grade 3. I liked the pieces; they are well composed with memorable tunes and well set out with appropriate dynamics. There is a good mixture of swing and rock feels, a Japanese sounding piece and I particularly liked the 7/8 tune, “The Seven Card Switch” which is harder than it looks. The piano accompaniments are good too. Mercifully the CD that comes with the book is a recording of just the piano parts on a real piano but it is a shame the musicians are not credited. The solo lines might be played Andy Rogers himself, if so he does a good job, quite a bright jazz alto sound which some may baulk at but it is musically played, good tuning and all the articulation and dynamics are rigorously observed. Some tunes he records on flute, some on clarinet so I assume the collection will also be available for these instruments. I would just query the title of the collection, the pieces certainly include jazz styles but there is much more to it than that, it deserves something more descriptive.