About two weeks ago I started working on a couple of Charlie Parker tunes: Donna Lee and Ornithology. I was going through a lull in my musical growth. I was a bit frustrated with feeling like everything I was playing was the same. My thought…

When life gets too busy or travel keeps you away from your instrument, you don’t have to stop making progress. Learn how active listening and mental rehearsal can help you “download” new techniques, master tricky passages, and continue improving—even when you can’t pick up your…

Getting back into music after years away is an exciting journey, but if you no longer own an instrument, finding the right gear can feel like a massive hurdle. The good news? You don’t need to spend thousands of dollars on a professional setup to…

Want to learn jazz standards without the stage fright? Think of your backing tracks as a flight simulator. Here is what happened when I tackled Sonny Rollins’ “Oleo” after a break, stumbled into an unexpectedly fast backing track tempo, and used the “sink-or-swim” method to…

How do today’s top professional tenors stack up against a century of saxophone history? As a vintage Buescher player, I headed to Nashville to put five modern horns from Yamaha, Keilwerth, P. Mauriat, and Cannonball to the test. Here are my honest thoughts on tone,…

Stepping away from your instrument is easy; stepping back is where the real work begins. Here is the exact practice routine I’m using to rebuild my saxophone chops, endurance, and tone after an extended break.