Everything Saxophone Podcast

Our special guest for this episode is Paul Winter, best known for his environmental work, and his concerts with the Paul Winter Consort. From the early days of Paul Winter's college jazz sextet, which toured 23 countries of Latin America for the State Department and performed the first-ever jazz concert at the White House for […] The post Paul Winter Podcast; How Environmentalism Shaped His Work – Episode 154 appeared first on Everything Saxophone Podcast.

Matthew Alec is a jazz and popular music saxophonist, founder and Executive Producer at Cleveland Time Records, and bandleader for the high-energy jazz fusion group Matthew Alec and The Soul Electric. His debut album Cleveland Time featuring former Saturday Night Live Musical Director Tom “Bones” Malone was released in February of 2021. The album charted […] The post Matthew Alec Saxophone Podcast; Giving Back to the Music Scene in Cleveland – Ep. 153 appeared first on Everything Saxophone Podcast.

Donna Schwartz spoke with Classical & Jazz Saxophonist, Educator, Greg Banaszak. Greg Banaszak is one of the most sought after orchestral saxophone soloists of his generation. As one of the few saxophonists active in both the classical and jazz mediums, he includes a combination of concerto performances, solo and chamber music recitals, and jazz festival […] The post Greg Banaszak Podcast; Legendary Charlie Parker Stories – Ep 152 appeared first on Everything Saxophone Podcast.

Marco Pignataro is a multi-talented saxophone player, composer, and educator originally from Bologna, Italy. He is currently the Managing Director of Berklee Global Jazz Institute. He has shared stages with artists such as Eddie Gomez, Joanne Brackeen, Danilo Pérez, George Garzone, and Terri Lyne Carrington, among many others. Pignataro performs and tours internationally with several […] The post Marco Pignataro Podcast; Chant For Our Planet – Ep 151 appeared first on Everything Saxophone Podcast.

Odisei Music is a Spanish company based in Barcelona founded by Ramon Mañas (CEO). Their story began 5 years ago when Ramon was studying music in Berlin. At that time, he was sharing a small flat with 2 other musicians and began learning how to play the saxophone. From that point, they have been obsessed […] The post Travel Sax & Odisei Music Podcast at NAMM Show 2022 – Ep 150 appeared first on Everything Saxophone Podcast.

In this episode from the NAMM Show in June, Donna Schwartz spoke with musician and the founder of Victory Musical Instruments, parent company of The Growling Sax, Melvin Quinones. Melvin Quinones is a Hispanic American entrepreneur, engineer, musician and the founder of Victory Musical Instruments, parent company of The Growling Sax. With over 30+ years […] The post Growling Sax & Victory Musical Instruments Podcast at NAMM Show 2022 – Ep 149 appeared first on Everything Saxophone Podcast.

I spoke with Robert Schuenemann, Representative, Endorsee and Artist for Chateau Musical Instruments. These saxophones were the talk of the show! You'll want to check out the video for this episode, so you can see the beautiful hand-painted tenor and alto saxes. (See Link Below.) Chateau Musical Instruments was founded in 1979, making quality saxophones, […] The post Chateau Musical Instruments Podcast at the NAMM Show 2022 – Ep 148 appeared first on Everything Saxophone Podcast.

This week's episode from the NAMM Show features a personal friend of mine, Jim Scimonetti. Those of us that live near Los Angeles know how much of a monster player he is on all the woodwinds. He owned a music store and repair shop in Lancaster, CA for many years, and has been performing professionally […] The post Beechler Mouthpieces Podcast at the NAMM Show 2022 – Ep 147 appeared first on Everything Saxophone Podcast.

This was a super-fun interview with 2 people at the top of their game in music. Mindi Abair has performed with Aerosmith, the Boneshakers and was the saxophonist on American Idol a few years ago. You can read more of her Bio on her site below. Theo Wanne has been studying and designing mouthpieces for […] The post Mindi Abair and Theo Wanne at the NAMM Show 2022 – Ep 146 appeared first on Everything Saxophone Podcast.

Mauro Di Gioia is an entrepreneur, free-lance saxophonist/woodwind player, and the founder and President of ReedGeek, Inc. (which manufactures ReedGeek Products) based in Carson City, Nevada. For many years Mauro has dedicated his time to the betterment of reeds and reed performance for all woodwind players: publishing several articles on reed acoustics and adjustment in […] The post Mauro DiGioia of ReedGeek at NAMM Show 2022 – Ep 145 appeared first on Everything Saxophone Podcast.

Rovner Products started as primarily a ligature company, but over the years has expanded into mouthpieces and elegant saxophone stands. With the Rovner Deep-V Mouthpiece Collection, there are 2 offerings: the Avatar and the Aviva. Through extensive mouthpiece innovation, these pieces look and play like nothing you've seen before, with the main focus being on […] The post Meet the New Avatar; Rovner Products at NAMM Show 2022-Ep 144 appeared first on Everything Saxophone Podcast.

Originally from Houston, Texas, Jason Whitmore has been a resident of San Diego since 1996. As a graduate from the University of Houston with a degree in Saxophone Performance, Jason holds a deep appreciation for live performance that spans across all genres of music. Jason has been performing professionally in a broad range of musical […] The post Ep 143 – Jason Whitmore at the NAMM Show 2022 appeared first on Everything Saxophone Podcast.

Here's a little background on SYOS Mouthpieces… SYOS, which stands for Shape Your Own Sound, mouthpieces was founded by Pauline Eveno, a musician with a PhD in Acoustics. In 2015, she printed the first mouthpieces and some famous French saxophone players were using them. SYOS constantly incorporates feedback from musicians to improve their mouthpieces. And […] The post Ep 142 – Maxime Carron at the NAMM Show 2022 appeared first on Everything Saxophone Podcast.

This week, a podcast favorite stopped by the Legere Booth at the NAMM Show 2022. Donna spoke with saxophonist, Matt Lee, who now has a new single, Panama City Groove, which is streaming now. His prior single, One More Kiss, was #1 for 7 consecutive weeks in the Groove Jazz charts. Matt also has a […]

Danielle Walker has been playing saxophones since age 11. She performed in all ensembles offered at her school, an at age 16, was the youngest and only female member of the group, The Jekyll Island Big Band. In 1998, as a sophomore in Brevard College, she was featured on the baritone sax with that college's […]

In our 6th interview from the NAMM Show 2022, Donna interviewed Joel Pekin and Bob Sheppard, from Retro Revival. The Retro Revival company is known for their vintage replica mouthpieces, and are committed to making mouthpiece dreams come true by making exact Replicas of the classic mouthpieces from the Golden years, from the highest quality […]

The saxophone and jazz communities suffered a HUGE loss on July 21, 2022. Tim Price, a phenomenal woodwind artist and educator, who has been featured many times on this Podcast in recent years, passed away on that date. He had been suffering from a brain tumor for many months. How Donna Met Tim I had […]

Jody Espina is the founder, president, owner, and designer of JodyJazz Saxophone & Clarinet Mouthpieces. In 2018, JodyJazz acquired Chedeville and Espina and redesigned the entire line of Clarinet and Saxophone Mouthpieces while using all of the best elements of Chedeville's glorious past mouthpieces. In 2020, JodyJazz Acquired the famous Rousseau Music Products. Jody Espina […]

In this episode, I interviewed Four time Grammy® Award-nominee, world-renowned jazz organist and Saxophonist, Joey DeFrancesco. He has more than 30 recordings as a leader under his belt, and has recorded and/or toured with his own groups as well as numerous renowned artists that include Ray Charles, Van Morrison, Diana Krall, Nancy Wilson, David Sanborn […]

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Jeff Antoniuk has such an interesting background, having been born in Canada, and growing up in Nigeria. He's performed with Tim Hagans, Sherrie Maricle, Ingrid Jensen, Walt Weiskopf and Marcus Miller. He has fronted his own bands as a performer and composer, winning accolades from JazzTimes Magazine. Jeff is a well-respected educator, and currently is […]

[iframe style=”border:none” src=”//html5-player.libsyn.com/embed/episode/id/23492681/height/100/width//thumbnail/no/render-playlist/no/theme/custom/tdest_id/3528512/custom-color/87A93A” height=”100″ width=”100%” scrolling=”no” allowfullscreen webkitallowfullscreen mozallowfullscreen oallowfullscreen msallowfullscreen]In the second episode from our Live From NAMM Show 2022 Series, Donna interviewed Saxophonist & Educator, Chika Inoue. In this episode, we talked about

In this episode, I interviewed classical saxophonist, Chika Inoue. Chika has been a guest on our show before – links to those episodes are in the show notes below. Chika has performed with Los Angeles Philharmonic, Brooklyn Metro Chamber Orchestra, and many other orchestras in the United States, as well as internationally at Festivals in […]

In early June, I attended the NAMM Show in Anaheim CA. NAMM stands for National Association of Music Merchants, an organization started in 1901 for companies in the music industry to connect, network and further their businesses. Music companies often show off their latest products, and endorsed artists appear, sometimes giving impromptu concerts right on […]

Winner of Horn of the Year from the Blues Music Awards in 2008, 2009, 2010, and 2015, Deanna Bogart has been electrifying audiences with her soulful saxophone playing, singing and dazzling keyboards for over 40 years. She is a bandleader, songwriter, arranger, and produces festivals and other artists. Deanna is also a sought-after educator/mentor/master classes/creative […]

A veteran of the international jazz scene, Max Ionata emerged in the early 90s and has performed with many modern greats including Robin Eubanks, Billy Hart, Joe Locke, Mike Stern, Bob Mintzer and compatriot Stefano Di Battista. For this episode, we did our interview over email, and Donna read the answers aloud for the audio […]

Today's episode is about playing in military bands… For this episode, I spoke with Larry Weintraub, saxophonist and clarinetist who has performed with Army and Navy bands from 1978 – 2005. He was first introduced to military bands by his teacher at the time, Ron Diehl, lead alto player for the US Navy Jazz Commodores. […]

You may be wondering why we devoted a whole episode to saxophone necks? It's because this part of your instrument is more important than you think. If there are problems with your saxophone's neck, not only will your tone and timbre be affected, but also your intonation, ease of blowing, efficiency and more. For this […]

Grammy nominated saxophonist Tim Armacost has established himself as one of the most distinct saxophone voices on the New York scene today.  Touring regularly around the world both as a sideman and a leader, Armacost has worked with a phenomenal number of jazz greats, including Al Foster, Jimmy Cobb, Kenny Barron, Tom Harrell, Billy Hart, […]

Jamie Anderson has been playing professionally for over 25 years, and is the founder of the online saxophone website, getyoursaxtogether.com. He has performed at venues like The Blue Note Tokyo, Glastonbury Festival and Munich's Olympic Stadium with artists such as The Four Tops, Frankie Valli And The Four Seasons, The Temptations, Joan Armatrading,Chaka Khan, the […]

Tomplay is an interactive sheet music app which is used by more than one million musicians across 72 countries, and by hundreds of schools and conservatories worldwide.  The interactive sheet music scrolls automatically on the screen synchronized with high-quality recordings of professional musicians. Musicians can access a catalog of over 40,000 sheet music arrangements for […]

Tenor, soprano and alto saxophonist, bandleader and composer, Pernille Bévort is a graduate of the Rhythmic Music Conservatory in Copenhagen, Denmark. After completing her degree, she has become increasingly in-demand as a member of various jazz ensembles in Denmark and Sweden. Apart from working with small ensembles, Bévort has performed with several professional Big Bands […]

Paul Cohen is one of America's most sought-after saxophonists for orchestral and chamber concerts and solo recitals.  Dr. Paul Cohen has rediscovered and performed lost saxophone literature, including works for saxophone and orchestra by Loeffler, Florio and Dahl as well as chamber works by Grainger, Ornstein, Sousa, Cowell, Siegmeister, and Loeffler.  He has published more […]

Paul Cohen is one of America's most sought-after saxophonists for orchestral and chamber concerts and solo recitals.  He has appeared as soloist with the San Francisco Symphony, New Jersey Symphony,  and the Charleston Symphony.   His many solo orchestra performances include works by Debussy, Creston, Ibert, Glazunov, Martin, Loeffler, Husa, Dahl, Still, Villa-Lobos, Tomasi, and Cowell.  […]

London-born saxophonist Alex Hitchcock is regarded as one of the UK's most virtuosic young jazz musicians. His group AuB, which released its debut album on Edition Records in 2020, was described as ‘ready to make cataclysmic waves in the sound of UK jazz' by Jazzwise. His quintet's critically acclaimed 2018 debut on Barcelona-based label Fresh […]

Matt Stohrer has been repairing, selling, and trading saxophones for a long time. He takes pride in his work, and cares deeply about what he does. He learned his craft in New York City, working for Sam Ash Music on the famed Music Row, 48th St. in Times Square, Manhattan where he started as a […]

​Born and raised in Lima, Perú, Lucia Sarmiento has been influenced by classic jazz players like Sonny Rollins and John Coltrane, as well as modern players such as Chris Potter and Michael Brecker.  After graduating high school, Lucia moved to Buenos Aires, Argentina to study at the Conservatorio Manuel de Falla, where she studied jazz […]

Saxophonist & educator, Godwin Louis, was born in Harlem, New York and began playing saxophone at age nine. Godwin grew up in Bridgeport, Connecticut and Port au Prince, Haiti.  Godwin was a finalist in the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz Saxophone Competition, and has performed all over the world. He is a graduate of Berklee […]

Saxophonist and mouthpiece creator, Matt Lee uncovered his passion for music when his grandmother bought him his 1st alto saxophone.  From that point, he knew he found his calling.  Matt followed his dream from California to Nevada, and writes most of his own music and produces from Las Vegas.  He is a self taught saxophonist […]

Saxophonist, composer and author Walt Weiskopf began his New York career performing with the Buddy Rich Big Band in 1981 at the age of 21.  Since then, he has made an impressive mark as both a leader and sideman with over 20 critically acclaimed CDs and countless sideman credits, including performing and recording with Frank […]

This episode is super special because I have not just 1, but 2 guests with me. My first guest is Stefano Bedetti, the Italian saxophone phenom.  (In the beginning of this episode, you heard an excerpt of him playing Shiny Stocking.) Stefano is a self-taught musician who began to play tenor saxophone at the age […]

Mention the Beets name pretty much anywhere in the world, and any jazz enthusiast in the room will know what you're talking about: quality, and a strong brand of bop and swing.  And swing… that's one thing tenor saxophonist, Alexander ‘The Hurricane' Beets brings each year to the Amersfoort World Jazz Festival and every festival […]

One of the most decorated saxophonists of her generation, Nicki Roman, has won prizes at prestigious competitions such as the North American Saxophone Alliance (NASA) Solo Competition, Music Teachers National Association Young Artist Solo Competition, William C. Byrd International Competition, Fischoff, and the Kate Neal Kinley Memorial Fellowship.  Her latest album, Unquiet Waters, features expressive […]

Chances are, you've heard the sound of Tia Fuller before. If you saw the blockbuster Pixar film, Soul, Fuller served as the sound behind the music of animated character “Dorothea Williams,” the sassy saxophonist (voiced by Angela Bassett). If you've caught any of Beyonce's tours, Tia was part of an all-star All-Female Band, that also […]

Ramon Manas, Founder of Odisei Music, and Creator of the Travel Sax wanted to find a way to practice his saxophone more. His time was limited and his living situation didn't allow him the freedom to practice whenever he wanted. Because of that, he was starting to get self-conscious about playing at all. Having an […]

Billboard charting saxophonist, Chris Godber has become a highly sought after performer in both the Smooth Jazz & Gospel Jazz realms.  His 2015 album “Starting Over”launched him into the Smooth Jazz spotlight with the chart topping hits Rain and Chill.  HIs goal when he performs is not to just entertain, but to inspire. At an […]

In Part 2 of my interview with Steven Banks, we talked about: Tips and recommendations of pieces for Classical saxophonists What made him decide to go the classical route instead of jazz Steven talks about his equipment in detail, and the research he's done A key question to ask when thinking about your set up […]

Saxophonist, Composer, Educator, Advocate, Steven Banks is an Assistant Professor of Saxophone at Ithaca College in NY. He is the first saxophonist to earn a place on the Young Concert Artists roster in its 59-year history, capturing First Prize at the 2019 Young Concert Artists International Auditions. He has won numerous other awards, including Korean […]

Matthew Steckler (aka Matty Stecks) performs and composes in several musical settings internationally. Primarily a saxophonist/woodwind specialist, he also performs on vocals, keyboards, percussion and electronic media, bringing a dynamic, holistic approach to the live musical experience.  As an artist, Matthew has appeared at prominent festivals and concert series, and has received commissions from Chamber...

Jennifer Price, creator of Vigilante Mouthpieces,  attended Berklee College of Music where she was a flute major. After graduating, she left Boston for NYC, where she worked on 48th Street in the music district by day as a woodwind buyer for various shops and played all sorts of jazz and classical gigs nights and weekends. ...

Today’s episode is going to give you some insight into one of the best resources for saxophone players at any level. Harri Rautiainen is the original Founder of the Sax on the Web Forum, a website created over 20 years ago that not only has a vibrant Discussion Forum on a wide range of topics,...