Duke Ellington’s tune The Mooche, composed in 1928, belongs to an era that spawned many other atmospheric classics such as Luis Russell’s Call of the Freaks and Don Redman’s Chant of the Weed. Fifty years later the menacing undertone of The Mooche was seized upon by saxophonist Steve Lacy and turned into an unforgettably raw version on his 1978 album Points (which I bought on vinyl when it first came out) in which he duets on soprano with Steve Potts, delivering the haunting minor-key theme with a sound like knives being sharpened.
Archive for soprano saxophone
The Mooche – Steve Lacy
Posted in Jazz with tags Duke Ellington, Points, soprano saxophone, Steve Lacy, Steve Potts, The Mooche on June 15, 2024 by telescoperSax and the Single Man
Posted in Biographical, Covid-19, Music with tags soprano saxophone, tenor saxophone on March 16, 2020 by telescoper
I heard on Friday that my upstairs neighbours were going away for a few days for the St Patrick’s Day break, so I took the opportunity afforded by this solitude to take this baby out of its box and have a bit of practice.
I don’t have my usual tenor sax with me in Maynooth: it’s in safe (?) keeping elsewhere (that’s a long story). Here it is, pictured a few years ago in my house in Cardiff:
The soprano sax may be a much smaller and lighter instrument than the tenor but it is more of a handful to play in tune. I always thought this was my own incompetence but it seems to be agreed by proper musicians.
My usual practice is to warm up with scales and other exercises then play along a bit with some backing tracks made for the purpose with just a rhythm section. Playing simple riffs on the chords is a good way to settle in, then you can start to improvise properly.
I wouldn’t say my attempts to revive my long neglected musicianship have been very successful so far – not least because they were never very good in the first place – but it’s a nice diversion.
I suspect that many people will be looking for things to do to stop them getting bored over the next few weeks and months.
In the Dark 