Contrabass Digest
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2000-07-18

 
From: LeliaLoban
Date: Mon, 17 Jul 2000 19:57:22 EDT
Subject: [CB] [Contra Digest]

Jim Lande wrote,
>I have never played a bari sax, but I recently listened to
>Hamiet Bluett in a club.

Color me green!

>My ear is pretty good if it is a clarinet playing but less good
for other wind instruments.

I've heard Jim play clarinet and think his ear is a whole lot better than
"pretty good."  :-)

Jim wrote that Bluiett said,
>he gets better reeds in Europe than here because they
>send their seconds to the states.  And, he said, sometimes
>the reed lasts one session and doesn't work ever again, just
>gets lifeless and limp.  Any of this ring any bells with you
>deep sax types?

That "send their seconds to the states" story sounds like a wild rumor to me,
but the sudden failure of reeds does sound familiar.  My bass sax reeds do
seem to "go" all at once, more often than not.

My soprano and alto clarinet reeds and soprano, alto and tenor sax reeds
usually wear out so slowly that I keep using them way longer than I should.
I usually don't toss them until they're almost translucent enough to read
through, and all raggedy along the tip.  Then I kick myself when I hear how
much better a fresh reed sounds, and I tell myself not to be so cheap next
time.  (Next time, though, I figure that reed's got to be good for a few more
hours....)  I don't have a baritone sax, but with the bass sax reeds, there's
no doubt about when it's time to retire a reed.  I expect about 20 playing
hours out of a good bass sax reed that starts out fresh enough not to be
brittle.  (When a music store manager gave me what was left of an opened box
he thought had been sitting around for about 20 years, most of those reeds
disintegrated in only a few hours each.)  When a bass sax reed is ready to
wear out, it can go from good to unplayably squeaky in the same hour.  I
wonder if the heavy-duty vibrations put more stress on the fibers and
separate them.

Lelia
~~~~~~~~~~
I used to have an open mind but my brains kept falling out.
---------------------------------------------------------

Date: Mon, 17 Jul 2000 20:34:35 -0800
From: Andrew Stiller
Subject: Re: [CB] [Contra Digest]

>Jim wrote that Bluiett said,
>>he gets better reeds in Europe than here because they
>>send their seconds to the states.  And, he said, sometimes
>>the reed lasts one session and doesn't work ever again, just
>>gets lifeless and limp.  Any of this ring any bells with you
>>deep sax types?
>
>That "send their seconds to the states" story sounds like a wild rumor to me,
>but the sudden failure of reeds does sound familiar.

When I was coming up 40 years ago, it was "common knowledge" that
anyone who went to the trouble of visiting the Vandoren factory in
France could pick out reeds right off the line, and that what was
left over got boxed for retail sale.  I always assumed it was true,
but really I don't know.
 

>My soprano and alto clarinet reeds and soprano, alto and tenor sax reeds
>usually wear out so slowly that I keep using them way longer than I should.
>I usually don't toss them until they're almost translucent enough to read
>through, and all raggedy along the tip.  Then I kick myself when I hear how
>much better a fresh reed sounds, and I tell myself not to be so cheap next
>time.

I still have, and use, a contrabassoon reed that I purchased in 1965.
I've never used any other.  Long as it works and sounds good, why
change?

--
Andrew Stiller
Kallisti Music Press

http://www.netcom.com/~kallisti

Ut Sol inter planetas, Ita MUSICA inter Artes liberales in medio radiat.
--Heinrich Schuetz, 1640
---------------------------------------------------------

Date: Tue, 18 Jul 2000 12:09:44 -0700
From: Grant Green
Subject: [CB] New Scott Robinson CD?
 

I was browsing through CDNow, trolling for more contrabass CDs, and
discovered that Scott Robinson has a new CD out: "Melody from the
Sky" (2000, Arbor Records 19212).  Dave, is it true that he plays
only C melody saxophone on this disc?

Grant

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Grant Green
ecode:contrabass       http://www.contrabass.com
Professional Fool -> http://www.mp3.com/ProFools
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
---------------------------------------------------------

Date: Tue, 18 Jul 2000 12:29:43 -0700
From: Grant Green
Subject: [CB] CD Review
 

CD Review

Just received "Counterpoints" by les joueurs de flûte (1996 Jecklin JD 707-2), via Muramatsu Flutes.  Another excellent CD!  The instrumentation ranges from piccolo to contrabass flute (including flutes in F, C, Bb, alto, bass, basses in G and F).  The tracks are:


A good mix of traditional and modern :-)

Grant

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Grant Green
ecode:contrabass       http://www.contrabass.com
Professional Fool -> http://www.mp3.com/ProFools
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
---------------------------------------------------------

From: "Merlin Williams"
Date: Tue, 18 Jul 2000 15:33:54 -0400
Subject: Re: [CB] New Scott Robinson CD?

I've heard it on CJRT here in Toronto, and according to DJ Ted O'Reilly, the
entire CD is on C melody.

Visit Merlin's Mouthpiece (http://www.netcom.ca/~merlinw)
A member of the Duke Ellington Ring, the Sax Ring, and
the Single Reed Webring.

-----Original Message-----
From: Grant Green
Subject: [CB] New Scott Robinson CD?

>I was browsing through CDNow, trolling for more contrabass CDs, and
>discovered that Scott Robinson has a new CD out: "Melody from the
>Sky" (2000, Arbor Records 19212).  Dave, is it true that he plays
>only C melody saxophone on this disc?

***End of Contrabass Digest***

 
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