2014 Review Part 1 – The Gear

It’s been a long tough slog through this year following my wife’s illness and subsequent passing last year and I really haven’t kept up on things the way I was.  I’m hoping to be able to change that and I’m starting up front of the New Year so it’s not just another silly resolution. 🙂… Continue reading 2014 Review Part 1 – The Gear

Phil-Tone Theo Wanne Mosaic Review

I’ve been involved in quite a few mouthpiece pass arounds recently and most of them were from Phil-Tone (made by Phil Engleman). Previously I reviewed the hard rubber Sapphire and the metal Tribute (a collaboration with Theo Wanne). Today I want to talk about the Mosaic, another collaboration between Phil and Theo Wanne. Like the… Continue reading Phil-Tone Theo Wanne Mosaic Review

Phil-Tone Theo Wanne Tribute Review

Introduction I’ve talked before about mouthpieces from Phil Engleman. I wrote a review about one of his Equinox Dark mouthpieces and one of his original Custom mouthpieces has been my main piece for several years with the exception of a brief foray with a Phil Barone Super New York. Earlier this year, I saw Phil… Continue reading Phil-Tone Theo Wanne Tribute Review

Analog Dreams EWI Refill for Reason

I’ve mentioned Chris Vollstadt and EWI Reason Sounds before.  I’ve been using Chris’s sounds for my virtual EWI rig for pretty much as long as I’ve been using a virtual rig.  I decided to make Reason the main engine for my virtual rig in no small part because of Chris’s patches and wonderful website.  I… Continue reading Analog Dreams EWI Refill for Reason

Book Review – A Complete Approach to Sound for the Modern Saxophonist by Ben Britton

Ben Britton is a wonderful saxophonist who I met online a year or so ago. I listened to some of his sound samples and reached out to him because I loved what I heard. He’s a jazz musician, an educator, a blogger, and now an author. With this book, Ben is bringing many years of personal experience… Continue reading Book Review – A Complete Approach to Sound for the Modern Saxophonist by Ben Britton

Pete Thomas PPT Metal Tenor Mouthpiece Review

Pretty!

I recently had the chance to try one of these mouthpieces thanks to a pass-around that Pete put together through Sax on the Web Forum. I had practically forgotten that I was supposed to be in it until I started seeing posts from Pete on the forum and I thought I was going to see… Continue reading Pete Thomas PPT Metal Tenor Mouthpiece Review

News and Reviews in Progress

A couple of things to catch up on: I’m not quite ready to do a full review on my new Cannonball Big Bell Stone Series tenor but early reports are really good.  I would never want to do a full review without first playing it on the gig since for me nothing I do in… Continue reading News and Reviews in Progress

Review – Haynes Saxophone Manual

The Haynes Saxophone Manual

This is a book I had heard about for quite a while but had never taken the time to purchase even though I was very interested in getting it.  A couple months ago while researching for my recent horn purchase I stumbled across Stephen Howard’s website because he had some excellent reviews about some of… Continue reading Review – Haynes Saxophone Manual