Ladies and gentlemen,
As a saxophonist and improvisational musician, there’s so much to learn! From scale variations to rhythms to vocabulary to chord progressions to flashy extended techniques and on and on and on, any musician worth his/her salt will agree that it’s imperative to always push further and to break through your barriers. Of the flashy little tricks in my personal arsenal, though, one of the biggest crowd pleasers proves over and over to be the double saxophone. I have a hell of a good time doing it, but I’m far from the first!
Some of my biggest saxophone heroes have pulled it off, including Jeff Coffin and the legendary Rahsaan Roland Kirk, but the only other musician I’ve seen pull of the labor-intensive bari-tenor combo is the great Dana Colley of Morphine. Finding that band was a revelation to me as a musician and specifically as a baritone saxophonist, and it looks like we at the Dirty Bourbon River Show will have the honor of sharing the stage with the Vespers of Morphine (original members of Morphine with the slide bass and guitar stylings of the talented and capable Jeremy Lyons) on 5/30 at New Orleans’ own d.b.a!
I’ve seen them live, and it’s the real deal, people. If you’re in the area, do yourselves a favor and come check this show out, because I’m completely stoked for it! Not that you need any convincing, but if you want to see one of the videos that enlightened me to the greatness of the bari-tenor combo, dig this video from one of Morphine’s performances from back in the mid-90s. You’re welcome!
Also, tonight marks the end of our little run out in the Midwest, so if you’re in the area, come party with us in Detroit at one of the classiest of classy jazz joints I’ve ever been to, Cliff Bell’s! We kick off at 9:30 with three full sets of awesome. Be there!
~Slyfox
