Hi Jake,
Yeah, I remember you sending me an mp3 sample of putting your Tenor MP on the Alto…. 🙂 Rumor has it that Earl Bostic used to do the same thing. He had such a fabulous tone on the Alto, you would think he was playing his songs on the Tenor and he wasn’t, it was on the Alto! Whether he used a Tenor MP on the Alto or not I don’t know if that’s true or if we’ll ever know, either way he was an amazing Alto Sax player. Have a listen to him playing below on his song “Flamingo” He’s playing it on the Alto Sax:
it’s funny because when the music starts the sax he is holding is a tenor. LOL.
Anyways for me the tone seems a little darker (lower) like the tenor. I think its because of the mouthpiece size. I can push more air through a wider area which definitely alters the sound. I like Earls’ rasp to his sound. He must hum the whole time while playing to generate that buzzy sound. That’s something I’m starting to work on now. I’ve never really hummed while playing, takes a little for me to get used to. I want a little to get a nice raspy sound but def don’t wanna over do it. It’s funny because I learned the rolling my R’s growl before the hum growl. The rolling the R’s is easy for me in comparison, I thought it would be the other way around.
Yeah I know it shows him using a Tenor for some reason, but he played mostly on Alto–Johnny wrote about Earl Bostic playing the Alto Sax in this article he posted on his blog a couple years back, here’s the link below. Keep working at it, let us know how it goes for you. When you’re ready post something with it.
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