top of page
Sean McCarthy Music


In The Shed: Extended Techniques
A while back I had my saxophone adjusted by the great Montreal saxophonist and repairman Al Mclean and one of the things he did was...

Sean McCarthy
Mar 30, 20233 min read


The Pee Wee Russell Quartet's 'New Groove'
This weekend I thought I’d publish something a little different that I wrote a while back as I finish a longer piece I’m working on....

Sean McCarthy
Mar 26, 20233 min read


Findings #3 - Intervals (part two)
This post was intended to come before my previous post as a primer for Steve Lacy’s ‘Intervals’ exercise but the other post just came out...

Sean McCarthy
Mar 23, 20234 min read


Saxophone Spotlight #1: Benjamin Dousteyssier
This week I wanted to spotlight a saxophonist who I’ve enjoyed for a while for his work with Collectif Paris Swing primarily on alto, but...

Sean McCarthy
Mar 19, 20232 min read


In The Shed: Misrememeration
Recently, I was catching up on Catherine Sikora’s excellent blog where, each January, she posts a practice idea every day for the entire...

Sean McCarthy
Mar 16, 20233 min read


Swinging on the Straight Horn
“Swinging on the soprano can be one of the hardest things to do and not have it sound like a high pitched alto or tenor” - Sam Newsome,...

Sean McCarthy
Mar 12, 20233 min read


Findings #2 - Intervals (part one)
“The saxophone is an interval machine” - Steve Lacy I thought I would make this blog post to follow up and go a little deeper on a...

Sean McCarthy
Mar 9, 20234 min read


instrumental inspirations
When I began my exploration of the soprano sax in earnest back in 2020 I spent dozens of hours reading and rereading Sam Newsome’s blog...

Sean McCarthy
Mar 5, 20232 min read


Findings #1: Steve Lacy's Book 'H' of 'Practitioners'
This week I wanted to highlight a rather obscure set of compositions written by Steve Lacy in 1983 that I’ve been checking out called the...

Sean McCarthy
Mar 2, 20233 min read
bottom of page