I’m gonna check them out too Johnny; my wife gave me to go-ahead to do what I want with my sign-on bonus that Arkansas Urology is giving me in May and I was seriously looking into the Trevor James line of Alto Saxophones; I’ve heard great things about them but have never had the opportunity to hear one or see one. The shop locally speaks very highly of this line of Altos but no one carries them. The closest place is 4 hours from me at a shop called SaxQuest in St. Louis; Saxophones is all they sell.

i’ve never heard a trevor james sax played in front of me, but my youngest daughter plays a trevor james clarinet to grade 4 standard, she has an intermediate model costing about the same as my intermediate yamaha sax, & the tone is absolutely beautyfull!!!

When I called they told me Sandro was at an expo show in Anaheim but would be back in a week or so, which is fine because I told him I get my bonus in the Spring, plenty of time. They have my e-mail address/contact info and we’ll be collaborating over the next few months. They really come across as some fantastic people. The price the guys are quoting me is great–we get what we pay for. Here locally the music shop could get me the Trevor James Alto I’m looking at but they’re not an authorized dealer and quoted me a price that was a few hundred dollars higher.

I have NO intentions on stopping to play the alto just because I have a Tenor now. There’s LOTS of songs that actually sound better with the alto–By the way Johnny; I’ve been working on “Take Five” note-for-note and taking my sweet time too and it’s coming along. My Sax solo will be similar yet a little different. Having the scale to improvise with included with your Sheet music really helps in playing with the Sax solo. Biggest challenge for me with this song will actually be the rhythm of it—I’ve been “humming” it to myself and this really is helping.

At the same time, I’m not worried about another Tenor anytime soon, Massullo Music said they wouldn’t either. 🙂 As they so well put it, it’s REALLY hard to beat the sound of the horn of the 1960s Selmer Tenors paired with a Guardala MP produce. They like the Otto Links too, said many famous Sax players over the years used Otto Links. I met someone who said he could modify an MP that would “blow away” a Guardala MP but I’m kind of weary about that. He’s on ebay and makes/modifies his own MPs for a living, has his own store and all.

I’ve been paying super, super close attention to Take Five on this 5/4 time and actually noticed exactly what you’re saying here, it’s way more simpler to break it up exactly like you described. I wouldn’t say that I “hum” it like other tunes in 4/4 time–I needed to rephrase this. Sometimes I’m not good with words on cpu.

That’s exactly the ticket: knowing I can trust someone reputable with the purchase of a $3,000 Pro Sax v.s. someone on ebay who I know nothing about. I could tell instantly that these guys know what they’re doing just from talking with them over the phone and we’re super cool. We all have to make a living but I don’t like the feeling of going into a music shop and the only thing the guy over the counter is concerned about is making a quick dollar if you know what I mean. They really love the sound of Vintage Selmers paired with Guardalas; just like the rest of us. I forget the name of the rep I spoke with today, but he says he plays a Selmer too but said he wouldn’t not hesitate at all to play the Trevor James I’m looking at–I’m not looking at one of their student models–but said that between the Selmer and Trevor James it’s basically like calling “heads or tails” on a Coin Toss.

On the funny side: They have problems pronoucing your last name too…..I say your last name like I speak with Castilian Spanish and they asked me, “Johnny who?” LOL Speaking of spanish, I will be doing some latin songs in alto sax this year…….GORGEOUS music!