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 Soprano Sax Talk. Sam’s output has been extensive with nearly 400 blog posts since 2010, most of which dealing with the peculiarities of pursuing the soprano saxophone as a primary instrument in improvised music. Near the bottom of one post from 2015 entitled “The Great Mouthpiece Fallacy”, which discusses the hang ups with playing into the altissimo on the soprano, Sam writes “Sidney Bechet will take you but so far. Sidney will teach you how to swing and how to play the blues. But he won’t teach you how to play Cs above high F. For that I listen to bansuri flute players, shakuhachi flute players, North African double reed instruments, you name it—anything or anyone thing that will give me a sonic reference” (Go read the full article Sam has some excellent insights that I won’t try to repeat here, dig!).

This got me thinking, who or what could influence my sound concept on soprano? I

decided I’d make a playlist of various instrumentalists who aren’t saxophonists who have had an impact on the way I think about sound production, not necessarily as it applies to range and altissimo per se, but rather tone, timbre, articulation and other elements of sound. My playlist includes cornet, violin, shakuhachi, oboe, clarinet, ney, and other instruments that have in some way had an impact on my ear and imagination. These selections aren’t necessarily influences on “what” I play as much as they are influences on “how” I play. Take a listen:

I think the exercise of identifying influences beyond one’s instrument (or even instrument family) can expand one’s imagination and introduce you to ideas that may not be idiomatic to your primary instrument. This playlist is not comprehensive and certainly leaves out many players and instruments that have impacted me and I will probably return to it and add to it over time. But I suggest you go out and make your own, if you do feel free to share it in the comments below!