Charlie Andrews - BBQ Smoking Hot

Charlie Andrews
was a fine gentleman from the Southern USA, and a friend of the Sax on the Web.

Charlie A, was a professional sax player and teacher since the early 1950’s. He was well known for his products that solved the sticky pad problem for saxophonists.

Mr. Andrews also introduced his BBQ mouthpiece product line. Kim Pelletier helped him by designing the cartoon above.

Charlie passed away four years ago, and was missed by many friends and business associates.

Improvisation Basics 4: Psyching Out Improv Demons

I participated in mid-1990s in Jazz Studio class taught by Roger Freundlich in Espoo, Finland. Roger later published an article in Down Beat Magazine (1998) about his teaching methods. Here is a summary of it:

Look the demons of jazz improvisation straight in the eyes and say, "I'm going to improvise - deal with it!"

That's the attitude I try to instill in adult jazz improvisation students at Jazz Studio, an adult-education evening class held under the auspices of the City of Espoo Adult Education Centre outside Helsinki, Finland. The participants, generally adults between 30 and 60, are seriously interested in unlocking the secrets of jazz improvisation. In the course, we investigate total musical discipline and total musical chaos to find the magic middle ground where the best music is created.

To supplement the systematic study of intervals, chords and scales, a series of simple group exercises can help adult amateur musicians overcome psychological inhibitions in their desire to become more comfortable as improvising jazz soloists. Developed to educate people in a culture where modesty is a virtue and the ability to improvise is not generally an inborn trait, the following classroom techniques can also be used by band directors to sharpen soloing skills in their big bands.

Some of the methods Roger is using:

• Talk/Play/Talk/Play
• Create/Imitate
• I Am the Greatest
• Ugly/Beautiful
• Verbose/Taciturn
• Guest Drummer

The SOTW Article:
Psyching Out Improv Demons by Roger Freundlich

Jon R. Smith: White Trash, Michael Brecker, Philip Glass

"I used to occasionally hang out with Mike Brecker in NYC. We would both be sitting in with Paula Lockhart who had Howie Wyeth playing drums…Brecker told me that two of his favorite players were Jim Pepper and Jon Smith."

John Firmin (aka Johnny Nocturne

“Jon’s sound is instantaneously recognized, something only a handful of players have, with a tone that’s as big as a house, and a big vibrato that’s characteristic of a gospel singers…If I were putting together a horn section, Jon would be my absolute first choice.”

Edgar Winter
Windplayer Magazine

In Part One of an exclusive interview with SOTW, legendary sax great Jon R. Smith discusses his career and influences, including the early days in New Orleans, great sax players from Louisiana and Texas, the formation of Edgar Winter's "White Trash", meeting Michael Brecker, group dynamics, ego and solos, Philip Glass and more...

This two-part interview is adding up to other Sax on the Web interviews by Neil Sharpe.
There are several mp3-files and music videos from Jon's early career. 

One tidbit from the interview:
White Trash

A lot of the music business is about being in the right place at the right time. Usually that means a lot of hard work to put yourself in that position but, sometimes, lady luck can make a big difference. I was coming out of a music store in New York City, when I ran into my old buddies Edgar Winter and Jerry Lacroix. Seems that Edgar’s brother, the terrific blues guitarist Johnny Winter, had got them an audition which led to a recording contract with Clive Davis and Epic Records. They asked if I’d be interested in joining the band. A three-story house had been rented in Woodstock, New York. Halfway through the question, I’d already started to pack!

“I have followed him since he left Edgar Winter’s White Trash…I couldn’t leave Antone’s until I knew he’d played his last note of the night.”

Will Lee
Late Night with David Letterman Band
Austin American-Statesman 

“Never mind the superlatives, [Jon Smith plays] some of the highest caliber blues to be found…One longtime blues veteran compared his playing to Cannonball Adderley, saying ‘Smith is so good, he’s almost out of control’.”

Austin Chronicle

Tipitina's, Tall Ships and Horses in the Lobby

"The Crossroads. That decision every musician must make.

It came while sitting in a ramshackle tour bus, squeezed in between the great drummer Jack Pedlar and a 300 pound entertainer..."

Part Two Interview Sonny Del-Rio by Neil Sharpe

You moved so gracefully across that smoky room,

You thought those saxophones were playing just for you,

We danced a fantasy in syncopated time,

This must be love, I felt that magic when your lips

Met mine.

“Say You Will”  
(Sonny Del-Rio from the album “40 Years of Rock n’ Roll”)

We got a red-hot band,

We’re gonna rock your blues away.

Sonny Del-Rio
Welcome To Saxland

Technorati Tags: Sonny Del-Rio,Sax on the Web,Rock and Roll,saxophone

Detroit Torino Jazz Project – Live Video Broadcast

Detroit Torino Jazz Project Live

in co-operation with Sax on the Web site

@ Dirty Dog Jazz Cafe
in Detroit area

Live Broadcast
Friday April 24 & Saturday April 25, 2009
6:00pm (18:00) EST

Featuring leading jazz musicians and photographic artists from Detroit, USA and Torino, Italy (AKA "THE DETROIT OF EUROPE").
Chris Collins (sax, picture right) and Emanuele Cisi (sax, picture left) will be joined by Cliff Monear (piano), Sean Dobbins (drums), and Nick Calandro (bass) in this live recording session.

The evolution of Sax on the Web logos

The Sax on the Web site has been around for more than twelve years now, and the Discussion Forum turned ten years old last fall.

The first logos portrayed on the site were pretty rough, produced with rough tools and with minimal graphic design talent (mine). Please, do not use any "way back when" searches, I am not too proud of my renditions.

Then I turned to some people with more talent. Here is the first outcome.




After that I contacted my ex-colleague Heikki Luhtala. The logo he designed (on the left) was around for a long time. A T-shirt and a Messenger bag sporting that logo are still available from SOTW Gift Shop as "nostalgia items".




Canadian graphic artist Kim Pelletier, who is also a saxophonist, has been around Sax on the Web as long as the SOTW Forum existed. her contributions to the graphic image of the SOTW site has been significant. Besides designing cartoons for the SOTW front page she came up with a logo design that has been around since then. The SOTW Gift Shop has many items with the SOTW logo that Kim designed.


Last fall when the SOTW Forum celebrated ten years anniversary, Kim designed a new logo to commemorate that significant milestone. She started from sketch sporting the saxophone characters which have become her signature.

And the final result is below, thanks Kim.



Added later:
The latest development

Sweet Blues in New Orleans

Sax on the Web is proud in cooperating with The New Orleans Musicians Relief Fund in providing a benefit program to help out Musicians who suffered from Hurricane Katrina.

Sax On The Web (SOTW) has curated this amazing selection of 17 tracks from early rock and roll saxophone masterpieces to acoustic folk songs about the effects of Hurricane Katrina. All proceeds from these donated tracks will help musicians displaced by the storm.

Says Neil Sharpe, the SOTW chief editor:

"An international tribute to The City That Changed The World. Jazz, blues, funk, early rock n’ roll, Cajun, Creole, Zydeco, and Swamp Pop, all found their inspiration here. These 17 great MP3s celebrate the rich, vibrant, musical heritage of The City Lights - New Orleans.

SaxontheWeb.net (SOTW), founded by Harri Rautiainen, is the ultimate saxophone resource, featuring the world’s largest, interactive Discussion Forum and marketplace, utilizing state of the art software and technology. Lessons, tips on technique, articles, and interviews on every aspect of playing, equipment and repair (e.g. jazz, classical, blues, rhythm and blues, sacred, and rock n’ roll) are provided, free of charge, by leading professionals and technical/trade specialists.

Saxontheweb.net is proud to support the wonderful activities of The New Orleans Musicians’ Relief Fund."

---

Lionel Prevost playing "Closer walk with thee"

New Orleans Musicians Relief Fund: Jazzfest in New Orleans: Showing Up for the Party

Sax Site improvements

Sax on the Web Forum platform software update

The SOTW Forum was successfully upgraded from vBulletin 3.6.9 to version 3.8.1.

The new version contains bug fixes, but also significant new features over the old one. There is a possibility to add Facebook-like social groups and blogging to the forum. (Perhaps moving this blog there?) I will currently study their feasibility.

There are some SOTW-specific items which do not necessarily work on the new version, yet, but they will be addressed shortly.



Old SOTW Archive revived

Some of the forum messages from 1999-2003 were lost forever because of the service provider used then. What was salvaged is now found at: www.saxontheweb.net/SOTW_Archive/index.htm

I will brush up the appearance soon and fix some crossed links.

Building a web site over time

An American tourist was visiting an English castle and admiring the superbly well cared for lawn.
Approaching the tour guide: "How can I get such a lawn to my mansion?"
Answers the tour guide: "First of all, you'll start four hundred years ago."

That's the answer I give to people asking an advice after Sax on the Web (SOTW) reached the first page (now #6 when using key word "saxophone") in Google search. You'll be advised to start twelve years ago. Ten years ago my good friend, guitarist and now my band-mate Robert Rasmus directed me to a book about building loyalty in WWW. The key was not providing only static web pages, one-directional information, but adding interactivity, getting visitors involved. Then Sax on the Web Forum was born to form a community for saxophonists to discuss topics of interest. The membership varies from beginners and "late bloomers" to more advanced players and even to top-notch professionals.

The SOTW Forum had several incarnations and the current platform has been in use since 2003. There are now over one million posts, 25,000 members from all over the world out of which 30% are considered active. (Some of the older posts have been archived and available separately.)

The forum gets 8000 visits per day whereas the "static" pages get more than 3000 daily visitors.

The Sax on the Web site looks like its membership which will set the tone and also provide the vast contents available for everyone on the WWW. Running the forum would not have been possible without volunteer administrators. Now I only want to single out Kim C. Pelletier who participated from the very beginning as a moderator and admin, and also designed logos and cartoons for SOTW. The above 10 year celebration logo is also from her pen.

I will be giving credit for all significant contributors later on.

The Sax on the Web site has many followers who benefit from the contents, but do not want to necessarily register as forum members. Now I added a Google friend connect application to the Front page. Now visitors can inform their friends about SOTW and possibly connect with other members.


Thanks for your support during all these years,
-Harri Rautiainen