I'm now accepting students who wish to study via Skype. I think it's a great way to connect with my fellow musicians who want to learn and who may not have access to a teacher who can show them what they want to learn. I have an extensive background in teaching at all levels and I always strive to tailor my methodology to what the student wants.

My knowledge of jazz, blues and R&B improvisation was learned mainly on the job from the wonderful musicians I have played with during my many years of performing and via my own study of the recordings of the greats. My background also includes a BA degree in classical saxophone. I mainly teach saxophone but will be happy to teach anyone who wants to study how to improvise.



If you are interested contact me here.

Some topics I like to cover....

JAZZ, BLUES, R&B IMPROVISATION: Perhaps you're a novice and you want to know how to start. Or you have reached a plateau and are looking for some new avenues to explore. For my own playing I'm constantly learning new concepts and refining the old ones. 

Some things we can get into...

jazz harmony  
transcribing solos from recordings
chords structures and symbols
different scales for improvising
intervalic relationships  
how to apply all this to real-world playing 


TONE :This is an extremely important aspect of anyone's playing. Someone can play all kinds of hip licks but if their tone isn't happening...well...on the other hand having a great tone can make a simple playing of a melody quite profound. We are in the world sound after all and a great tone will get you far! 

We will get into things like: reeds/mouthpieces/ligatures/airstream/tone production/embouchure/varieties of tone. I want to help you get the sound you hear in your head!


RHYTHMIC FEEL & TIME: Having an understanding and appreciation of different styles and "feels" is invaluable. It's something I have learned from playing with some real masters...some known and some unknown. This involves lots of listening to music which is a great thing!


REPERTOIRE: What tunes are important to know? What tunes would you like to know? How do you go about learning them? 

 

TECHNIQUE: I have written quite a few exercises for myself to practice which I will gladly share with you. I will show you how to isolate the problem area and even come up with your own exercises to solve the problems we encounter.

 

HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVES: It's always nice to know where things come from. The interesting
about jazz and blues is that there are tons of recording to study that show just how things have evolved.
I think most players will be interested in at least checking out some of the lineage. I have a pretty large collection of jazz records, cds and mp3s that we can use for  reference.



 

If you are interested contact me here.