jazz
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Saxophone Mythbusters: Ibert’s Concertino da Camera is NOT Bebop
In the saxophone world, I sometimes hear saxophone professors proclaim ideas that are based on questionable knowledge of the history of saxophone literature and performance practice. After recently hearing from not one professor, but two, that Jacques Ibert’s Concertino da Camera is bebop I feel the need to provide a quick refresher of the relationship…
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Nazis, Napoleon and the Saxophone, pt. 2, how Nazis weaponized gender to change the image of the saxophone
In a previous post on the opera Napoleon by Edmund von Borck, I made the argument that this opera works as a piece of wartime propaganda. The only piece of the opera that doesn’t fulfill the propaganda use is the style of the music and the use the saxophone in the orchestration. Wasn’t the saxophone…
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Saxophonist Steve Lacy’s opera “The Cry” is now in the database
Saxophonist Steve Lacy (1934-2004) is one of preminent players of the soprano saxophone, first starting in Dixieland then branching out to the works of Thelonious Monk. Later in his career, he traveled extensively focusing on chamber works and free improvisation. In 1996 during a residency in Berlin, he wrote The Cry, a jazz opera based…
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The Jazz Problem: the shifting image of the saxophone in the 1920s
A couple of years ago, I picked up an old copy of The Etude from July of 1924. The editorial in that issue promised the next issue would be dedicated to jazz. I was one month too early. Luckily, the August 1924 issue is archived online. This issue is a great resource for jazz and…
the Operatic Saxophone 