Tag Archives: Masterclass

Chris Potter Masterclass

I’m a big fan of Chris Potter, like many contemporary saxophonists I can be inspired and intimidated by his incredible musicianship, technique and command of the saxophone.

I really enjoyed watching this masterclass from a Jamey Aebersold Summer School, (that’s Jamey of the 1, 2, 3, 4 on piano at the start.)

I’ve been to a number of classes that Chris has given and I’ve been VERY fortunate to share a few beers with Chris at Ronnie Scott’s and backstage at various different gigs over the years, (check out my review of this gig with Chris, Joshua Redman, Mark Turner and Chris Cheek.)

Some things I wanted to draw your attention to from this Masterclass,

  • Have a clear idea of what you want to achieve
  • A good tone and good time will see you through most situations.
  • Music, especially jazz is self-expression.
  • Be able to melody VERY WELL!
  • Whatever you can find that makes it fun, do it and keep on doing it

IT IS SAID TO BE ‘PLAYING MUSIC’ SO LET’S PLAY!

The big ‘take home’ for me out of this was recording myself when I practice.  I’ve advocated this for a while with students, but I’ve been a little reluctant to do it myself.  However, last night I setup a folder and tried to put into practice some of the ideas that Chris talks about.

What do you think about Chris Potter’s playing and what he says in this class?

Chris Potter, Joshua Redman and Chris Cheek with Dan Forshaw of Cambridge Saxophone

Chris Potter, Joshua Redman and Chris Cheek with Dan Forshaw of Cambridge Saxophone

Masterclasses

Quite possibly the greatest gig ever for a saxophone player – four of the modern day greats all playing together.

I was delighted to hear Chris Potter, Joshua Redman, Mark Turner and Chris Cheek performing at the Wigmore Hall, London, as part of the Axis Saxophone Quartet. They all played tenor at some point (check out this video from their gig in Moscow playing ‘Tenor Madness’, just as they did in London), but then they also divided duties across the three other main saxophones. Chris Potter and Josh played soprano and alto (Potter is a beast on the alto, even though he doesn’t really play it much any more), Mark stayed mostly on tenor, whilst Chris Cheek kept the low end going on baritone.

Chris Potter told me his alto mouthpiece was an exact copy of Charlie Parker’s Brilhart and had been moulded from the original, now in the possession of Parker’s daughter.

I was thrilled to meet all of the guys backstage afterwards courtesy of Yanagisawa UK, who lent Chris Potter and Joshua a 991 alto and soprano (watch my reviews of these horns here).

Some of their words of wisdom that I wanted to pass on to you:

  • ‘Keep working on your sound as much as you can’ – Chris Potter
  • ‘What you do outside of your music has as much effect on your music as practice’ – Mark Turner
  • ‘Wow, is that the new iPhone?’ – Joshua Redman (seriously, we spent ten minutes chatting about my new phone before we got near any saxophone talk!)
  • ‘Don’t just play digital patterns in 4s, work on them in 3s, 5s and even 7s’ – Chris Potter

It was a great thrill to hear all these guys in one place, in a fully acoustic setting. I had a long chat with Josh about bringing the event to Cambridge at some point in 2015/16 – let’s hope we can.

 

RICO Reeds Masterclass at Southport International Jazz Festival

Here’s a 10-minute video highlights package from my RICO masterclass at the 2013 Southport International Jazz festival.

Some of the questions are:

1. How can I follow the changes in a standard?

2. How do you improve playing by ear?

3. What is the best method to keep my reeds in working order?

and much more …

I hope you find this useful!

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