D.C., SAN ANTONE AND THE LIBERTY TOWN: Jonah Weiner explores the return of the saxophone to rock music.
Related: Steve Hyden explains how Huey Lewis and the News's Sports hit number one in 1984; our 2007 post on Ten Great Songs Nearly Ruined By Saxophone; the (moved) 80s Sax Solos Page. Below the fold, "The Curse":
So, is good sax better than bad sax?
ReplyDeleteAll I know is that everything is better with "Yakety Sax", and that might have been the soundtrack for the Flyers post season run.
It doesn't happen often enough for me to consider it as part of my "sound," but we have a guy out here named Chuck Hancock who sometimes pops up at my shows and ends up laying down some sick sax stuff for a set or two. It's always a great surprise when he shows up, but I'm not ready to push it over to the recording side of things at all (on the 2008 album, we came thisclose to putting a brass section on "Sad Songs," then reconsidered it once the lead guitar parts changed the overall texture of the track.)
ReplyDeleteMy roommate, on the other hand, employs a sax player for a few of his more regular solo gigs, and seems happy with the choice. Of course, he tends to go for a more 'classic' feel than I do, as a general rule -- he favours '50s and '60s influences while most of mine stem from the '80s and '90s.
And who can forget:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/v/GaoLU6zKaws" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="170" height="140
The king of the world! The master of the motherfucking universe! The Big Man, Clarence Clemons!!
ReplyDeleteTangentially and threadjackily related to the post title, I find myself in DC at this moment with about an hour to kill before my train. I'm in the lobby of the St. Regis and have a 4pm train out of Union Station. Suggestions? You can email me at adamcutler at verizon dot net.
...if you like saxophones.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8QPoBHX82uw&feature=related
As a sax player, I (unsurprisingly) think that it is a great ingredient to add to the mix of rock and pop music. But I'm not a big fan of the [insert completely random sax solo into pop song] usage, but prefer songs where the sax is part of the overall sound or comes in sort of as an outside element of anarchy (rather than melody).
ReplyDeleteOne of the better groups using sax today includes my [and Stephen Colbert's] favorite Swedish jazz-pop combo, Movits!
<span>As a sax player, I (unsurprisingly) think that it is a great ingredient to add to the mix of rock and pop music. But I'm not a big fan of the [insert completely random sax solo into pop song] usage, but prefer songs where the sax is part of the overall sound or comes in sort of as an outside element of anarchy (rather than melody).
ReplyDeleteOne of the better groups using sax today includes my [and Stephen Colbert's] favorite Swedish jazz-pop combo, Movits! </span>
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