Julian Pressley

Ed

Ed

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I've been meaning to post this for the last couple of weeks but we've been busy with the move to the new forum software.

I had the good fortune of spending some time with and hearing Julian Pressley play some amazing alto when he was in Chicago with Sonic Liberation Front. Julian and I were able to grab some lunch one day and just chat about music and life. I came away with some great insights. On Friday night I was able to hit a local club where the band was playing. I can't say enough about what a wonderful and interesting player Julian is in the flesh! He's great on CD too (as I had previously picked up a copy of his solo CD).

The night was great and Julian laid down some free stuff that blew my mind. His solos had great energy and vitality. I was amazed at how effortlessly he played in the extended range. Just listening to him live was a great lesson.

Julian was a great guy to hang with and a wonderful musician as well. I'm looking forward to catching him in New York whenever I make it out there.
 
You sell yourself short. I thought the review was very well written and thought out.
 
Ed Svoboda said:
I've been meaning to post this for the last couple of weeks but we've been busy with the move to the new forum software.

I had the good fortune of spending some time with and hearing Julian Pressley play some amazing alto when he was in Chicago with Sonic Liberation Front. Julian and I were able to grab some lunch one day and just chat about music and life. I came away with some great insights. On Friday night I was able to hit a local club where the band was playing. I can't say enough about what a wonderful and interesting player Julian is in the flesh! He's great on CD too (as I had previously picked up a copy of his solo CD).

The night was great and Julian laid down some free stuff that blew my mind. His solos had great energy and vitality. I was amazed at how effortlessly he played in the extended range. Just listening to him live was a great lesson.

Julian was a great guy to hang with and a wonderful musician as well. I'm looking forward to catching him in New York whenever I make it out there.
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Ed, the pleasure was all mine. Man, getting to meet and hang out with you was a true blessing. Even in a great town like Chicago, I sometimes get the feeling that I'm a part, a piece rolling down an assembly line, a cold impersonal statistic removed from real life. But hanging with you and hearing your family stories grounded me, gave me some of the warmth of real life as I was jousting, jockeying for position about the most trivial aspects of road life. Hopefully, we'll do it again soon, so if you get here on my end, let me know.

And thanks for this thread, Ed. A very pleasant surprise!
 
rleitch said:
I'm a fan!

If anybody wants to read a very amateur review of Julian's solo CD:

http://forum.saxontheweb.net/showthread.php?t=82275&highlight=sidec

Cheers,
Rory

ps. Trivia: he was named after one of my all time fav tenor players: Julian Dash!
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Rory, thanks for your expertise, and for your sensitivity. I don't think that you know how close your review came to esp. Only a great set of ears and a great artistic sensitivity can read the mind of a player, to gauge his or her thinking by listening to what he or she is playing or has played. Case in point, what you wrote about how I was using altissimo. That's what I used to try to tell a student of mine a few years back when he was trying to do altissimo for it's own sake. I kept trying to tell him to go up there if that's where your ear takes you, if the line you're hearing takes you up there. I told him not to do it just to be showing off. So Rory, that was a great catch! By the way, my student has leveled off nicely.

Another thing that amazed me in your critique was that you picked up the Art Pepper thing. I've always loved his playing. I never formally listened to him, but when I was coming up I heard him on the radio semi regularly. So when I was listening to some session playbacks and I seemed to be picking up a little bit of Art here and there, it was a very pleasant surprise. He must have taken some kind of residence in my subconscious. I never tried to copy him, but I don't think that he can be consciously copied. He's too damn subtle! But I'm happy to sound like him a little bit.

So Rory, as Ed says, don't sell yourself short. You're very perceptive, man!
 
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sideC said:
Ed, the pleasure was all mine. Man, getting to meet and hang out with you was a true blessing. Even in a great town like Chicago, I sometimes get the feeling that I'm a part, a piece rolling down an assembly line, a cold impersonal statistic removed from real life. But hanging with you and hearing your family stories grounded me, gave me some of the warmth of real life as I was jousting, jockeying for position about the most trivial aspects of road life. Hopefully, we'll do it again soon, so if you get here on my end, let me know.

And thanks for this thread, Ed. A very pleasant surprise!
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You get back out this way and we'll get you over to the house for some good food and maybe even a T-ball game!

Like I said, it was a pleasure getting to hang out with you and I'm sorry we couldn't find a bit more time.
 
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