Tonight I played bass saxophone with a big band in a 6 piece sax section. The Florida Atlantic University "Jazz Rats" is the University's big jazz band, made up of FAU staff and local professional players.
Bandleader Tim Walters found some Bob Florence arrangements with 2 baritone saxophones, including "Pumpkinette," which featured a baritone battle between me and Woody Herman baritone player Mike Brignola.
Since we had six saxes, and since a lot of the charts were custom written for the band, Tim Walters and trumpet player/arranger supreme Dave Gibble wrote me a couple of bass sax parts.
It was my first chance to play in a modern sax section on bass - no solos, just try to blend with the section. The other saxes were typical south Florida players, powerful, with a contemporary jazz sound.
In that environment, I had previously used a middle-of-the-road Link or Gregory baritone mouthpiece on my old Conn stencil bass. This time I tried the Zinner B bass sax mouthpiece on my Eppelsheim. I'm happy with the result. It took some effort and some air to match the section, but I could do it and the really, really deep bass sax sound was still there.
The concert concluded with "Hallelujuh Time" by Oscar Peterson - the Woody Herman 1964 chart. It was a tenor battle between me (I was Carmen Leggio) and former Airmen of Note tenor player Jim Hayward, who played the Sal Nistico part.
Bandleader Tim Walters found some Bob Florence arrangements with 2 baritone saxophones, including "Pumpkinette," which featured a baritone battle between me and Woody Herman baritone player Mike Brignola.
Since we had six saxes, and since a lot of the charts were custom written for the band, Tim Walters and trumpet player/arranger supreme Dave Gibble wrote me a couple of bass sax parts.
It was my first chance to play in a modern sax section on bass - no solos, just try to blend with the section. The other saxes were typical south Florida players, powerful, with a contemporary jazz sound.
In that environment, I had previously used a middle-of-the-road Link or Gregory baritone mouthpiece on my old Conn stencil bass. This time I tried the Zinner B bass sax mouthpiece on my Eppelsheim. I'm happy with the result. It took some effort and some air to match the section, but I could do it and the really, really deep bass sax sound was still there.
The concert concluded with "Hallelujuh Time" by Oscar Peterson - the Woody Herman 1964 chart. It was a tenor battle between me (I was Carmen Leggio) and former Airmen of Note tenor player Jim Hayward, who played the Sal Nistico part.