I remember once, when I started writing for the alto saxophone, a saxophonist told me to think of it as being like a cross between an oboe and a viola, but louder.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
Saxophone is one thing, and music is another.
My central quest was to have a piece played on the saxophone sound like more than one instrument, exploiting different registers and wide interval leaps.
As a horn player, the greatest compliment one can get is when a person comes to you and says, 'I heard this saxophone on the radio the other day and I knew it was you. I don't know the song, but I know it was you on sax.'
The other saxophones, except as solo instruments, really don't have much point in the orchestra.
The oboe is the most maddening thing of all time. I'm struggling to play something that my oboe teacher was doing when she was much younger than I am.
I like what Oliver Lakes does on the saxophone. The saxophone comes pretty close to the sound of the human voice and when Oliver plays with other sax players, it's like a dialogue.
Actually, when I was in elementary school, I saw a saxophone. A band came to my school, and I saw this guy get up and play this solo. And I said, 'Oh man, what is that! That must be fantastic!'
I like to hear melodies that go from one extreme to the next- saxophone to a bell to a whistle, for instance.
I love the sound of the saxophone. It became my singing voice, and it sounds so human. The saxophone could carry the words past the border of words. It can carry it a little bit farther.
I understood that if I wanted to work, the saxophone was the main instrument. The clarinet was what we call a double.