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I Asked Classical and Jazz Pros What They Practice and Didn't Expect This

Better Sax

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00:00 Intro
00:30 What do You Practice?
00:53 Use Your Ears - Not Your Eyes
02:38 Practicing Secrets
04:07 The Only Answer Is - Scales
04:46 Good Sound Requires Patience
05:53 We Need To Be Unhappy
06:31 Flexibility, Voicing, Overtones
07:30 Sub-tone
08:10 The Difference Between Classical and Jazz Sound
08:54 When Do You Practice?
09:27 How To Practice Scales
10:10 My Early Scale Books
10:41 Classical vs Jazz Approach
11:12 Don Sinta's Jazz Sabatical
12:29 The Fear Factor
14:10 Details are Lost on The Average Listener
14:52 A Crowded Field of Greatness
15:54 You Guys Really Care About This Sh*t!
16:39 Just One Take?!
17:10 The 7 Times Rule
19:18 How Do You Introduce New Material Into Your Playing?
19:57 On Making Progress
20:42 How Jazz Helped My Classical Playing
22:05 Divisions Between Classical and Jazz Worlds

20 Comments

@Capcoor 5 months ago

There was a percussionist by the name of James Blades. He was playing in an orchestra conducted by Igor Stravinsky. Stravinsky stopped, pointed to Blades, and said, “You have played in a jazz band!” Blades said, “Yes. Do you hold it against me? “ Stravinsky said, “No, no. It is very good.”

@jonjames7113 3 months ago

The musicians that have a gift are the ones that love to practice 😂

@jackcrawford304 5 months ago

It was great to meet you at NASA… you’re taller than I thought.

@leange04 4 months ago

Jay is such a good listener too 😊

@codswallop321 5 months ago

I love that the classical chap is in a dapper suit and the jazz dude has a baseball cap

@86larsonrd 5 months ago

OK, that part about patience really hit me. We never learn patience. And that reflects what I learned back in school. Great stuff.

@adrienvonfeld 5 months ago

So true. My first improv class was literally just playing one note in rhythm—way harder than messing around with a blues scale. Really humbles you and makes you realize complexity doesn’t always mean quality.

@furtherdefinitions1 5 months ago (edited)

There are several common denominators. For example, Dizzie Gillespie said that he was practicing classical etudes and exercises from old books, and he started thinking how this would be applicable to jazz. So did Charlie Parker, and when you listen to Paul Desmond, you can hear baroque patterns. In fact listen to his solo "Blight of the Fumble Bee" on Two Of A mind with Gerry Mulligan, and if you listen carefully, he quotes Bach's 5th Brandenburg Concerto so seamlessy that it was a dozen hearings before I picked up on it. My father was trained in a conservatory and he taught me to concentrate on long tones not only to develop a stronger emboucher, but to listen and develop your tone and what you want to sound like. Then start learning solfeggio so you can hear the notes correctly. In his school, they had to learn to hear and sing the notes properly before they could pick up their instruments. Then the scales and patterns.

@zangsax 2 months ago

Tim has an amazing understanding of saxophone playing

@BrianBurgess-jg6bs 5 months ago

A brilliant interview added to my list of favourites~excellent stuff Jay cheers

@DaveTownsend 5 months ago (edited)

My wife and I saw Tim McAllister when he came to Nashville. EXCELLENT SAXOPHONE PLAYER. we really enjoyed it. Bought the tickets for Holst and came away talking about McAllister!

@DavidBeecroftMusic 5 months ago

This is a really great interview!

@mcape441 5 months ago

What a great and interesting conversation, thank You Jay.👍

@Captain_Jack514 12 days ago

I love both. Playing classical helps my technique more than Jazz does.

@iainctduncan 5 months ago (edited)

Great interview! Love that he calls them the Coker patterns. The OG pattern book! It is interesting he uses it for classical students. ("Patterns for Jazz" for those who don't know it) I would love to to see the unedited full conversation.