Kansas City Multimedia Anniversary Card For My Wife

[Keith Taylor]

Hey y’all. Haven’t been very active here on the forum due to reasons I mention in this video. This is the best I was able to get Johnny’s version of Kansas City by this past Thursday, which is when I had to record this. It is the third of a yearly series I’m doing for my wife, Julia, for our wedding anniversary each year. There is still lots and lots of room for improvement regarding my sax playing on it. It’s not all that great really, especially when you compare it to Johnny’s recording of it.

I’m still putting it out there for the world to see and hear because this project is really more about my love for my wife – which is pretty great – than my playing. I aspire to sound as awesome as she makes me feel one day, which is a tall order. In the meantime, I’m just going to keep on loving her and hope that she’ll do the same for me.

Please help us celebrate today by watching this, and then letting your significant other know they’re loved in your own unique way.

[Simon]

Great Keith. I love it.

[Pete]

Well done Keith, that was great attempt****

[Mel]

Nice one!

[Michael Bishop]

Way to go Keith! Very nice video 🙂 Congrats on your wedding anniversary. My wife and I celebrate our 22 year anniversary on April 12th. You’re making fine progress, so feel good about the progress you have made and don’t worry about comparing your playing with someone else’s playing. Johnny is a pro and he’s been doing it for many years. Sometimes we just don’t see that we’re progressing. Others see it, but a lot of times we can’t see our progress. So look at the progress you have made, feel good about it, and let that encourage you to keep progressing. If you’re having fun with it, good things will happen for you 🙂

Just as a kind suggestion (and it could be my computer/the speakers) if you could up the recording volume a bit so we could hear the Sax playing a little bit louder and lower the volume of the backing track just a tiny bit. You’re getting a nice tone, but the recording volume on the Sax sounds a little low. But again, it could be just the speakers on my computer that’s the problem. Keep up the great work Keith 🙂 Congrats on your wedding anniversary 🙂

[Keith Taylor]

Thanks y’all. I appreciate you all taking the time to check it out.

And Michael, my mix may very well be off. I did deliberetly back off the volume a bit on my track due to feeling like maybe should blend it in more due to me feeling like my intonation and playing was a bit off.

It shouldnt be as bad as i think it may he coming across on your system though. If it is, I didnt intend to bury it in the mix THAT much.

I had a few technial issues with the post production on the music and video though. My video is slightly off sync with the audio track, and there is one part where my audio has some weird happen to brighten it briefly.

It’s filled with stuff that id prefer been better.

Thanks for taking the time to check it out and give the feedback. I really appreciate it.

[Michael Bishop]

You’re making great progress Keith, keep it up 🙂

[john]

way to go Keith! hey that’s a nice looking horn.
I have a small feeling that your head position might be a little low.
Try playing with your chin up a bit more, that would mean pulling up on the neck strap a bit.
I’m not 100% sure but this low position might be blocking your air a bit.

also, I will do some lessons on those multiple trills going up that you were asking about…
you hit the notes alright so that’s a start, now it’s just getting those trill movements in there.

[Gary Deripaska]

Very Nice Keith And congrats on your wedding anniversary. Great job on the playing.

I had the same issue on the back ground track vs my playing on this album I’m recording for my parents, about 8 songs. The studio that is recording me, on the first few songs had me pretty much just barley out in front of the back ground track. I asked them to bring my playing, a lot more out front, and after a couple of times of not hearing what I wanted to hear. I pulled up one of Johnny’s video’s and one of Boots Randolph and told them “This is what I’m needing” like really out front. Now they have it dialed in.

Like Michael said, it’s hard not to compare your self to Johnny, Boots Randolph Michael Becker, and many other greats. It’s truly hard not to do that and our desire to play like Johnny and some of the other greats is only natural. Just remember Johnny, has been playing since he was 19 years old, do I try to Emulate Johnny’s playing style, sure I do, but it still comes out the way Gary D. plays, it sounds good but is it Johnny’s or Boots Randolph,s or Michael Becker sound , NO , it’s my sound. There’s always room to learn new techniques and improve, and thank goodness for guys like Johnny who is willing to share his skills and experience to help us all improve.

I know when I play the slow songs, IMAGINE CAN’T HELP FALLING IN LOVE, etc, My wife and My German Shepard fall asleep. Wife says it’s soothing, so I guess I’m doing something right.

Again , Keith it sounds great job.

Take Care,
Gary D.

[Keith Taylor]

Thanks so much for the kind words y’all. I do appreciate them, and realize I’m pretty hard of myself regarding a lot of things music included. I am enjoying playing – and the process of getting better though. Regarding comparing my playing to guys like Johnny. To me, I feel I’d be doing myself a disservice not to. I get what you all mean, but it’s the players that have a great sound and style that gives clarity to where I’m trying to go from a sound and style perspective. They give an idea of what to reach for. I’m going to keep at it. I’ve been having the itch to transcribe stuff from some of my favorite players here recently, so, I plan to dig into that pretty soon.

Johnny:

Thanks so much for taking the time to check it out and to give me some feedback on my playing. It was a thought to try and get a Skype lesson with you prior to recording it, but I just ran out of time. I’m sure it would have helped though. I will pay attention to keeping my head up a bit. I’ve noticed recently that I haven’t found really a sweet spot for the hight of my mouthpiece or if I have it rotated more clockwise or counter-clockwise on the mouthpiece. I think I like it more at the one to two o’clock position. The thought has occurred to me that I should try and be more consistent and deliberate with it. Your advice for me to stand up while playing after I posted Skylark last year did help me a lot. I hadn’t realized how sitting down was really hindering my ability to hit altissimo G. Standing up helped with that a lot. And yes, the trill lessons would be great.

Thanks for the compliment on my tenor too. It’s a Cannonball Global Series that I bought used back in 2016 when I got this whole idea in my head to Dream a Little Dream of Me for Julia (my wife) for our first anniversary. Paid $1600 for it and it was money well spent. I say that because I have since played brand new top of the line Selmar’s and Yamaha’s – as well as a Mark VI, Super Balanced Action, and 1939 Conn 10M – all of which were in great shape – and I felt my horn held its own against them all, and I actually kind of preferred it over them all. And that’s saying something considering a pre WWII Conn 10M is my dream horn. I assume I prefer mine over all of them because it’s what I’m familiar with, but it plays better than it looks to me. I didn’t really care for the finish on it when I bought it, but it has since grown on me.

Gary D:

It is tricky getting the balance right for sure. My ears will start playing tricks on me and I then start second guessing myself. Really by the time I finalized the rendered the track for this, I was feeling so stressed and pressed for time that I had to just let it go and move on. You can get totally lost in programs like Reaper tweaking various things. It’s much like Photoshop to me in that regard. I’m pretty new to the whole mixing thing, and I’m learning it’s just as much of a process as learning to play to begin with is.

And if your dog is sleeping while you’re playing – you’re definitely doing something right. Mine (the one you see in the video) will often give me a look of total dread when he sees me pick up my sax, clarinet, or guitar. He’s a tough crowd. Probably is why I’m so worried about my intonation being off – and not sounding as good as I’d like to yet.

Thanks so much y’all. I’m now about to have to bury my head in a book for the next week to prepare for am exam I have next Thursday. Wish me luck with that.

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