The saxophone

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This is true. But I have a hunch it will. Trends go in cycles. Instrumental music ain't dead and likely never will be. It's just largely underground. I'll take instrumental jazz over vocal jazz any day. There are still plenty of New Age instrumentalists out there. And don't forget all the folk instrumentalists, like contradance fiddlers, bluegrass, jam bands, and so on. And EDM. Everyone knows how empty much of pop music lyrics tend to be, so eventually somebody will come along who is so good that people will start saying, "Hey, shut up, we want to hear the BAND!" and you'll have all kinds of stuff like that coming back. Now, do I know if that will be in my lifetime or not? No. But it's bound to happen eventually.

I don't have much credibility in my community as a vocalist. I'll sing every now and then, but it's not something I'm very good at, nor am I trying to be somebody as a singer. The people I work with recognize my ability as an instrumentalist, and I've got my second Christian worship leader building his career and standing on my back to do it. We just did a Christmas presentation that was driven by a Celtic theme, so I went out and bought a penny whistle. I also scoured google to find enough uilleann pipe material to build a sampler instrument. We have an antique piano in our choir room that I'm fond of, so I've sampled it and frequently use it in demos and live playing. My handbell room at church is my second studio, and I've gradually pieced together my own sound system so I can take my work out of the studio and on the road. Besides my church work, I'm heavily leaned on in a guitar-driven band for keyboard solos--and I do my own solos, I don't copy the original record. My schedule over last weekend was: Saturday--orchestra rehearsal from 4-6, rehearsal with orchestra/choir from 6-7:30, pack up immediately, run across town/avoid traffic cops, play gig at country club with band from 8-midnight, home by 1:30 a.m., arrive at church by 9 for Sunday morning soundcheck, worship service 11-noon, come BACK to church around 2:30, fix last minute tech issues, final run-through at 4, performance at 6.

And Monday, I'm back to work moving everything back into my studio, wiring it all back up, and trying to write some arrangements--one for a handbells instrumental at the end of December, an orchestra arrangement to start rehearsing in early January, and an as-yet unscheduled choir arrangement for, well, sometime... I'd rather work on originals, but there's just no time right now.

Point is, we instrumentalists are still out there and we stay busy--I just happen to be seeing more success in church music at the moment. If you're into that kind of thing, you just have to know where to look.

More on topic, though, I was sad to hear my hero Dave Brubeck died. I'd forgotten all about Paul Desmond, who was Brubeck's sax player for a long time.

I wish I could take up the sax again in 2014......... maybe I might.

this is what happens when some mad Frenchman scientist crossbreeds a saxophone with a bassoon-

What do you call that, exactly?

Aah. Pretty unique and amazing.

it does sound like a cross between a bass saxophone and a bassoon. nice it uses a double reed like a bassoon, though.

Show me a vid.

^ That sounds almost like the Australian musical instrument, the didgeridoo. My fave sax is the alto one, as an aside.

it does sound like a cross between a bass saxophone and a bassoon. nice it uses a double reed like a bassoon, though.

Was just gonna "whadathey call that thing? A 'saxaphoon'?"