How Much Did You Practice?! – Baptiste Herbin (en francais)

Jay Metcalf interviews saxophonist Baptiste Herbin (in French). #saxophone #bettersax #baptisteherbin https://www.baptisteherbin.fr/

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Here is the first video entirely in French from Better Sax As some of you know, I live in France and recently, one of the great French saxophonists Baptiste Herbin came to my house to discuss the saxophone, music, life. If you don’t speak French, you can read the subtitles in your language

Because you will love this interview. Not only does Baptiste tell us what he did to reach an incredible level on the saxophone, but he gives us a lesson on technique, sound and improvisation. And what’s more, he explains to us exactly what he does every day to practice on the instrument.

Enjoy my conversation with Baptiste Herbin how old are you 36 because you look young. Yeah. When I am 50 I will look 30 In my car. Did you tell me earlier that you lived 100 kilometers from Paris Yes in Chartres. But are there any great musicians or how did you manage

To play saxophone like In fact, in my region, there is Rambouillet. And from there. I don’t know if you know a tenor saxophonist named Julien Lourau. I have to make you listen. he’s one of my my favorite musicians and all the projects he’s put together. It’s still artistically artistic, it’s fabulous.

And so there was him who was a neighbor, a neighbor. There is Rambouillet, I was nearby in Epernon Chartres and he was very well known at the time, in any case, in the 90s. Now a little less, we see it a little less unfortunately. And then I went to ask him for lessons.

Can I take a class with you, sir? Then my mother was How old were you? Oh, I was 14. I started at 11 with a teacher who played the Classical musette ball. Did you already like jazz and already listen to this music? Yeah, a little bit. It was my father.

He was a sculptor and scenographer who worked in the Paris opera houses. He also worked for TV, game shows intervened in all that. He’s the production designer. It’s a bit, then my mother, she worked in television too, but she played classical guitar. So we listened. She was more the Beatles.

It was Pink Floyd, all that we listened to at home plus opera. Classical music, a little jazz, and especially with my brother, we loved it, we had an audio cassette, tapes in the car, then it was a compilation. Then we got this cassette there, we boiled it, we used it well, well worn.

It’s Coltrane who plays in a sentimental mood with duke ellington. That’s what else there was Louis Armstrong it was Mixture. It was a mix. It’s a mixtape. It was, it was a compilation. All right? And I fell for the sax in general and there was no altos

It was really the tenor that fascinated me. And so I definitely wanted to play tenor later , tenor tenor. And I started with this teacher who was really great and retired now, who taught me a lot about technique from the start. And what are the most important lessons for the technique that he

Gave you? Well, it was, we studied Guy Lacour and we took the metronome and the one that went the fastest. It has to be clear. Perfect. It may seem unmusical, but at least we really work on technique. And then immediately, the chromatic range that had to be perfected.

That’s a quick technical game thing. When you do very well when it’s that, as soon as you’re with At 11 years old, at 11 years old after jazz. So, thanks to Julien Louro at 14, I improvised a little bit. I have always improvised. I started with the piano.

I always, I would like to have a relationship with a natural instrument, not necessarily putting on a score or walking around, just seeing what happens in a natural way. And so the first lessons with Julien were on harmony. There’s something wild about it. There we are, we are on agreements on harmony,

Language, culture. I also say, it’s vast. It’s going to be hard. I say to myself, come on, let’s go. If you’re going to make this your career later, you’re going to have to work, my man. So I spent six hours a day. I was 15 years old. Wow. Already at that age,

Ok, after school, come home and instead of watching the tv and playing video games, you had the saxophone I played a little computer video games. I remember, but I played the strategy games, but there was the sax. That was really the most important thing. Then when I was in high school,

The grades went like that. Grades at school Did your parents support you for all that. Yeah. Oh yeah. Especially my parents, my mother. She took me to Julien’s house in Rosny Sous Bois while we lived in Peron. It’s still a good hour’s drive,

An hour and a half later she’d wait for in the park next door. Truly the sacrifices of the parents. Yeah, I was very fortunate and I’m grateful. Afterwards you went to the conservatory Afterwards, I joined, at the Chartres conservatory. There, I started with Jean-Jacques Ruhlmann and afterwards,

I was at the Conservatoire du 13ème in Paris with Jean-Charles Richard. This is who I play with now, as sidemen we both play in Leïla Olisi’s orchestra, we see each other again and we have always remained very, very close and friends. And he is someone who is formidable, humanly, musically.

And after that, I joined the Conservative CM of Paris, but for two years, I was also a deliveryman at that time, deliveryman, food deliveryman from Uber Eats At the time, that didn’t yet exist in two thousand two thousand eight and it was too hard to manage then

I went to jam every night. I was playing and you were on a scooter. No, I delivered on foot. I was too afraid to You made the deliveries on foot. Yeah. It’s in the neighborhood around everything around Place de la Concorde. So Faubourg Saint-Honoré makes me think of your story.

When you fell off a bike, I fell off a bike last year, The poor saxophone fell. Well, actually, I was playing in a club in Paris. I’m going to another one to see friends. Then there is a hand that does like that. I do worse. Who is Justin Faulkner?

No, it’s not possible that a great friend. He’s actually one of my favorite drummers. Justin is the one who accompanies, among others, Branford Marsalis and then many others. And so we go to the pied de cochon It’s the only restaurant that opens until six in the morning.

Then we had a bit to drink and I took my bike to go home, Romainville. And then I put on my helmet. Fortunately, and I don’t know, I’m on the ground. There’s a bump, something, I don’t know, And in fact the sax. it fell, and I didn’t notice

I hurt my shoulder a little here. And the next day, it was special vando jam, 20 years including for vandoren and for vendo jam all the products, all the American musicians also playing vandoren. There was Mark Gross There were quite a few French artists and I hadn’t looked at the sax.

When I got home, I didn’t look. My shoulder was really sore the next day, I woke up in pain and took me to the hospital. It’s okay, nothing broken. Well, I arrive at the club to do the sound check, then I see the sax all messed up No, it’s not possible when

I’ve only had it for a year. So this is the supreme that I have developed that I have developed. It’s a big word, but I helped the Selmer company. We are going to say to guide in the choices at the beginning that which comes from the Mark 6 and the reference,

We started with something, a little hybrid, inspired, then in fact, finally, I believe that we started with something completely , totally different. And then we were with classical musicians too. Vincent David, among others. So. And in fact, the challenge is, as I told you, it was to make an instrument for all styles.

That’s not easy, but at the same time, that’s what the Mark 6 was at the time, that’s what it was. It was an instrument that was developed by Marcel Mule. And today, it’s all the jazz musicians who play it ironic, Ironic. in fact a sax It’s a sax. I see everyone asking me,

Is it good for playing jazz, this or that, is it good, it’s a, it’s a sax. You play whatever you want with it of course, of course, then we can, we can make small personal adjustments to the mouthpiece. Indeed, a classic mouthpiece that does more for the classic.

I may have a little more trouble, but the soloist at the start from Selmer is a classic universal mouthpiece. And after it has been played, It can be played. Lots of jazz. So. But basically, I think that was the concept. It was classical music playing.

Yeah, I think so. But the slightly higher openings, there was Coltrane who played that. There’s Jo Anderson, Kenny Garrett, And we can also do, as you said, make small personal touch-ups with the luthier and I have already asked to make plastic resonators. First it was the selection of the varnish.

I really liked mat. I think it changes a little bit. There you go, the sound is a little bit rounder, but it doesn’t really change. I don’t know, I should record it, but Me too, if I prefer plastic resonators, that’s already because they don’t rust and they last longer

And it stays cleaner and it lasts a little longer. It depends, but it lasts longer. And I also did the test without the resonators and just with the rivets. So there, it’s a little too dark for me, but it’s also nice sound for playing ballads and

All that, it’s really good for playing things a little faster or you need that. It’s a bit neutral. In fact, you can play all styles quite well. You can rub against everything a little bit and the metal, as you say it rusts and I had recorded it the difference between

The two, it’s a little more aggressive And the metal is a little more aggressive than the plastic If you’re looking for a more vibrant sound, this might help. they could have made a series. There was also the series. We also asked to do without high f#, because

I played that on the references and there is a big difference. Big, big difference without. And the sound and a little bit more You don’t use the F#? It’s funny because I had a mark 6. It didn’t have a f#, the reference too, This one sometimes I use it, but in fact,

It’s also for a little effect. There is a multiphonic that Vincent David showed me because I like to add some multiphonics I don’t know how to say it but double sound, multiphonics on certain notes, put them placed in musical discourse. there’s this one, it’s f with the high f# key

With that When he does for example. Yeah, what is it? So I’m keeping it. Yeah. Yeah. It is an instrument that is versatile it can play a bit of all styles. I don’t feel, I feel completely comfortable. I can modify my texture of the sound

A little like a chameleon . But did you study classical classical music too. You know this repertoire. A little bit Yeah. I did a year of study when I was in high school where I did both, I stopped after classical. It’s not possible. The two different embouchurs and mouthpieces.

It is too hard. I have friends who still do it. Yeah. And there who do it, there are those who do it. And very, very good. Yeah. Yeah. But that’s double work. I think of my friend Samuel Mingo. So. Hi sam, He plays in the Desaxés

I don’t know if you see this group of 5 saxes putting on a show. There you go, it’s comic poetic, fabulous already. It’s an old old band. I mean, it’s been around for a long time. They changed a few members and sam, they have classical pieces in there, then sometimes jazz.

So he has to master both a little. So your musical influences were, it’s old jazz and classical stuff from the 50s and 60s mainly? Do you have other influences? Others Already, I played classical music. So, as I said in Chartres, I started playing jazz a little,

But I stayed on the alto because at that time, I discovered on TV that I wanted to stay on the tenor. I wanted to play tenor. I didn’t want to stay on the alto and play the tenor. And like Julien Lou, by the way, who like me was a tenor fan of

All tenors. And then I come across Maceo Parker on TV. Then I said no, mom, it’s okay. I’ll keep the alto. I loved the sound and it transfixed me. What? I will do the same. So I started with the funk stuff. It was more in there. I went to funk jams.

I did my Maceo licks and everything Ok, I loved it. But but now, when I hear you play, most of the time, I really hear the tradition of Bebop. Yeah, that came later because Maceo. Parker I came through Grover Washington. Hank Crawford That’s it, but not the white ones. David Sanborn

I have great respect. It was less my thing Or Kenny G for that matter which I love. Someone who is a great friend. He lives in Paris? think he often goes back and forth to Paris. That’s quite recent. yes it seems to me that he has a family in Paris now.

All right. Okay, that’s cool, but really adorable. He wrote me a message on Instagram, saying can come to a concert. I was playing at the moment. He came, that’s it. Then we me at Selmer. We played a little bit after asking me for a lesson.

That’s it and it was great. A great guy. Ok, I would like to know, the lesson if It’s someone like Kenny G because you have to think. So what can I show Kenney? SO, Like, like everyone else, I say I’m going to do the lesson like any other.

He’s also the one who’s going to ask me the questions. What were His question? It was in relation to improvisation and time. And in fact, he doesn’t do improvisational jazz at all. Yes. And so we took Autumn Leaves and then we started on the guide tones on the harmony and the language.

I don’t know his music well, but I watched the film that was released, oh yes, I didn’t see it. I think he talked about that a little bit. Yeah. That he does his thing. It’s a bit, auto, He Do eseverything by ear. Yes, by ear. And it’s clear.

Sometimes he uses jazz vocabulary, you know, but he doesn’t know how to analyze it. How to use it? So it’s a little bit He knows lots of patterns and I told him how he could use those How to use this on this chord and, this chord?

And already with that alone he said I have had 10 years of work and really like him since he is someone who is very humble a worker. He works his sax every day. And then who criticizes no one and who is in his corner, he does his thing.

I saw the post where you played together. Yes. Then everyone also laughed a little bit without making fun gently, but saying he is so, there are so many saxophonists like that. Who? Who? Who, as they say, everyone speaks, speaks, speaks who judges don’t criticize others.

So it’s the same thing for the famous Jimmy Sax. I don’t know this gentleman anyway. Well, it’s not necessarily the music I play. And then for me, what I play may not necessarily be his music either. And then it doesn’t matter. He’s a lovely guy. And I’m sure. And

Then I have all my respect, all my, my admiration for him and I wish you a great trip. And then if one day, we play together. There it would be, yeah, Well, it’s good that you have this spirit. I always had or always had,

But that’s because I think that when we talk about that, that that’s something in music with saxophonists, but in jazz too All walks of life. And yeah, yeah, classic and I think that’s something that, the teachers who give the students this spirit of that, because it’s Possible.

That comes from somewhere Or there is also frustration at times I analyzed that often people who criticize a lot are people who don’t necessarily play very well, but be careful, not everyone, No ? But it’s a way to protect yourself A little or You feel better if you criticize others

, because you know that you can’t do what you want. It’s human. This is human. Eh, but it’s good to show that there isn’t really room for that in music. Yeah, it’s, it’s a journey. What? And everyone is at our stage, but we can never reach the end of this journey anyway

. Well yes, it’s endless. And then for me, I see it especially after which I am in the United States quite a few times, is that everyone really has their own thing. And checking out the others a little. And, and like in the old days, Coltrane who goes to see

Sony Rollins and vice versa, Powell and Monk, there is a really strong respect and at the same time, they have something of their own. Very, very, very strong. When you seeLee Konitz it has nothing to do with Vincent Herring or I don’t know. Then in addition we mix eras of generations and me,

Both, it delights me each with their own thing, it’s their models, their favorite music, their voice and then their concept. So. So, after I moved on to the alto, I got things a little funkier and inevitably, that leads me towards Cannonball Adderley. You know, it’s When you heard Cannonball

That’s it, I want to play like that And one, another person also very, very, very influential. And then who is a friend and whom I respect enormously, it is Stefano Di Battista whom I had also seen on a video vhs that in this video, a friend

At college said I found a sax player it’s jazz in Nice plus a live in Nice. It’s crazy, we are not very far from nice. And so I look and then I do what is this thing, this old sax, I talk about the instrument with this wonderful Italian who

Is beautiful and resplendent and who plays music. But it’s alto soprano. I want to play like him, then the same after, when I saw Michael Breker Step Ahead the first time, my father who told me the day you play like that, okay. And it’s interesting, because now

when I listen to you, I’m not going to say, ah yes, yes, he plays like Cannonball or whoever because you play like you It’s Baptiste when you play Now ? Yes, but it’s but that’s thanks to all these influences. And that’s the thing, it’s good.

I think it’s good when you have lots of different influences. Yes. And then in the end, A synthesis. Yes, you have to become yourself. It’s the most difficult mission, especially in France, because, as I said earlier in the United States, there is this tradition of doing your own thing.

I don’t know why, every time I hear a new saxophonist like Immanuel Wilkins, for example has a sound like nobody else Miguel Zenon it’s very personal. It’s the inflections, the music, the concept, I find it fascinating because we, with our musical tradition which is a little less in

France, still have to admit, even if there is, is very, very good musicians. I find it harder, in any case. For me, it was harder. There are people for whom it is innate to have their thing. I have my thing, I had to ask questions. Do I play like Paul Desmond

Do I play like Maceo Parker. It’s still really different. And then we are also in an era where we find everything on the internet, today we have the bop which has passed. There is hard bop. There’s funk, soul and contemporary hip-hop, a mix of all that. Wow It can hurt your head.

Because at the time of bird, he only played that, Not much else. Well, yes, there was only that. So that’s if to specialize in something, so I think the best, I think I did that. I continue to do it, it’s that after having, I talked about Cannonball and then I also loved

Kenny Garrett stefano, I transcribed a lot. And then, I went back in time and there Charlie Parker, and who I liked less at the very beginning. It affects me a little less. And there, my ears were a little sharper, cultivated to be able to really understand his music.

And there until today I remain. But I think it’s, it’s not just you, it’s me. The same. It’s everyone, everyone, because it’s very sophisticated. His music is, you can’t come out of nowhere to listen to that and understand right away, no, I think except It’s a certain culture, it’s sure that Maceo,

It’s more Maceo it’s more that’s it . We need less. This is, we understand it straight away. He knows it moreover, he touches everyone right away. And after the Bebop saxophonists But so more on the alto, Phil wood, but also good, there’s bird, I said Cannonball,

Gigi Gryce all the saxophonists of the time. Then of course the tenor players Sonny Rollins Do you think it was more difficult to get to this level in France Yeah, it’s not easy. It’s a certain pressure. And then, because I travel a lot, I was able to meet a lot of musicians

And actually learn with them. For example, Roy Hargrove, I had jammed with him. Once I even replaced Antonio Hart in the big band. It’s Mark Gross that I love who called me We both love Cannonball who is a great musician, has just been great.

And so I find myself with Eric Alexander tenor and Cyrus Chestnut on the piano and then Roy conducting. And then we had the jam. That was in 2011, we jammed in Clermont-Ferrand, Clermont-Ferrand, with jazz en tete. It is the festival of the year which takes place in October.

Besides, it’s in a few days. And there, I met all the musicians. It’s my producer, who is the programmer. I met lots of musicians. I was able to jam with, ah, if I mention the names, there was James Carter. So there was Roy, Craig Handy, this pianist who died too.

American pianist , there were a lot of them, huh? That was really the first time that you, you met all these people and you played with them. Or was it, what was it for you? It was impressive. And then at the same time, they accepted me because they thought I played well.

And then I have, that’s the challenge. Then afterwards, I felt like a fish in water because I was working. And then I know quite a few standards. Is were any of them a little surprised that Some yes, there is James Carter, he says to me ah,

But you, I don’t remember what your name is but we have already seen each other , you had a you had another sax, you had a Mark 6 at the time. And actually, we met in Thailand for the saxophone conference I will remeber this for the rest of my life.

We did a version of Stomping at the Savoy which lasted 30 minutes. Sax Battle It was great. Surprised. So yes, there were definitely some. Then others that they weren’t at all. Then others, he goes to see me at the bar. Why do you play so many notes? It’s not like that.

Jazz, Craig Handy, he’s coming now, hold on, he’s young because it’s 2010, But you play more notes now or Less? no less or less me now. Because because my playing matured, then in 2010, it was a while ago anyway 13 years ago, I imagine, in this situation with,

As you said, there is a certain pressure. You’re going to play more, Ben. Yeah. You’re going to play more sometimes a little less well. So that’s the experience, actually. But in 2017, I was able to meet a drummer who influenced me a lot, a lot in music.

This is Ali jackson. So he told me stop playing, sax play music please Oh yeah. And there that was heavy He showed me concepts but very simple ones on how to make it resonate, how to build a solo with the drums, for example, how since we were talking about silence, it’s not silence.

It’s space. You have to give space to your playing. And thanks to that, it was, I can play a note or a group of notes and bam it was great It was monstrous. Like Miles a bit I’m not saying I’m like Miles but it could have that effect.

And I go, oh yeah, I can have this ability to touch people like that, by playing rather than before where I played a lot before I played a lot. I still do, huh? I like too. We are saxophonists, we like the notes, we love them. But then, it’s a lot of notes

To tell a story too. Ali Jackson said use your skills to construct, construct a story. And there, I believe that it really belongs to 2017 where my playing really found a another direction. Then also I became very interested in a slightly different repertoire, whether it was Lee Konitz or Ornette Coleman,

But also after a lot of pianists, which I play a little piano too. So it goes from Bill Evans, brad meldau and then bud Powell, my favorite pianists, these three and then were interested in the other instruments, because always on the sax, listen to the trumpet, the drummers, the double bass.

Also try to play them yourself, it has already happened to touch others a little. Yes, of course. And we learn a lot of things. But yes, you say afterward, you start to listen more. Ah of course, that’s the important thing, But of course, And you can for maybe you won’t

Think like a drummer, but a little more like a drummer, a little bit more put yourself in their place and saying and then hearing it in another way, you also start to hear the differences between the drummers He plays the ride more like that the sound difference in sound approaching,

Or then listening to the music. Really, sometimes we just want to listen to the saxophone but it’s very important. Sometimes I forget the sax and listen to what the musicians are doing behind it . What I listen to, I like to listen to, is piano trios.

So, for example, brad meldau trio I’m a fan. And then I imagine, I imagine myself playing in there. The pressure that it would be like Joshua Redman who does stuff But imagine here such idea. Such thing as listening to piano trios. Yeah. And you imagine yourself playing a little in there.

You worked on saxophone at the time, it was six hours a day. Yeah. Six hours a day also when my father died I was a bit the Angry Man So that was what I was 18, 18 19 years old. So there it was nine hours, 12 hours of sax

Even more Well where was my refuge. Music was a refuge for me to heal from the loss of a father. Yeah. And then find a reason to live and continue. All right? And I think it’s, it’s using these phenomena of life. It’s, it’s these somewhat sad and

Difficult situations that will give you the strength to continue and then be positive and say to yourself, I’m going there. So. And now you do you work as much or you have less time because I have a little less time because I move a lot, but in fact, there is work and

Working on the instrument. And there’s also, when I’m not inside on the plane, I do a little harmony thing. Or otherwise, as you spoke earlier, it’s working with your fingers with the sounds with you making the sounds in your head or there they are. You work on chord progressions.

It can also be listening to a lot of music. It can be composing. Yeah, you take a sheet and then you say to yourself, there you go. I may have a melody without piano. The composition is a bit difficult. Yeah, I compose a lot with the piano itself.

It is a form of work. In fact, it’s You are a musician. You’re breathing music all the time, which can be dangerous. I also like reading, going to the cinema Sometimes you Learn languages ​​languages. So. It helps refresh the brain so that music, ultimately, is linked, everything is linked.

Everything is connected. Memory also interests me because I see the link between language and improvisation, because that is language too. Oh yes. And and I find that people who have learned a second language later, when they are adults, it’s like, learn jazz because you don’t learn jazz when you’re

Three years old or when, when you’re a baby, what? How do you learn a language? Yeah. Yeah, yes. You learn that if you wear Charlie Parker at three years old. Yeah, but except you can’t, you don’t have all the dexterity to play. Ah No, yes, that’s for sure.

Do you see what I say to him? But you learn this language. Oh. And you need a method. It’s not automatic when we babies and we learn it Yeah. You have to digest a lot, listen to a lot in an analytical way.

That is to say not while doing the dishes or anything else can really get into it and then look at the scores and then analyze and then take solos like like Learning Portuguese. Exactly. You need a method. And then you explained that you wanted to learn Portuguese like that.

So you worked like music. You applied the same a bit of the same thing, The vocabulary. When you work on the sentences in all the keys, it’s as if you were working on the verbs grammatical grammar And our another side, it’s the accent too. That’s like the articulations or the time-feel,

The little nuances Or then also imitate a sax when we transcribe Imitate the sound So, yeah. There are a lot of parallels between the two things. And it’s true that people find it very difficult. They say it all the time and it’s very difficult. learning another language. It’s very difficult.

So that’s yet another question. It’s even in relation to music for beBob I’ll never arrive or I don’t know what, if we start like that and say to ourselves I won’t arrive well or you won’t arrive. And yes, these things are difficult. But in the end, you speak differently, bebop or Portugese.

And that is, there is, There is always more work, because if it is not our mother tongue, Portuguese, I would always have to work on the g. Everyday words, street language, it’s the same for music. We will say, it is endless without end,

Even if we really want, for example, to speak French well, specialists in the French language who will read Paul El Éluard, Paul Éluard du Molière. It would be possible to make poets. For example, I imagine that they do the same as us in music who will study a lot of poems,

A lot of French literature or others. There is another thing about this that is quite important and a little strange. So it’s motivation and optimism. It’s, I’m going to play like him. You, as I said earlier, I will play like him and I will arrive.

Then maybe I will even be able to play better, you really have to trust. You have to have a lot of We say self-confidence. Sometimes it can be difficult because you can be too sure of yourself. And there we can get a big head or criticize others.

And say Well, I’m the best or it’s humility at the same time. It’s important, but it’s also good to mark yourself, to stand out, to say, there you go. I play. I showed that I think it’s quite strong since everyone tells me so. But I don’t try to look behind me or what

I’m doing, I look at others and say to myself, you have plenty of work to do. You have to work. I must not stop analyzing where I am at last, but rather the musical order. The overall is what it pleases and what the age could be.

I ask a lot of myself every day, but you have to, you have to ask yourself that others like it ? To the people who listen For example? Or do I like it? Because before we please others, we have to like it first. Yeah, because if we like it, well,

Obviously we’re going to spread this love that we have there of ourselves. Ultimately, it’s a very, very difficult job, because we are, it’s very egocentric. We work on the sax, we are always in front of ourselves. We are, we are listening to ourselves all the time.

It can be dangerous. You also have to listen to others, dissociate yourself a little from what you’re doing, and you have to stay humble. It helps, but at the same time to say to yourself I will get there. I’m the best saying just that.

Even if you know that deep down, it will never imitate Cannonball perfectly. But if you say to yourself, it’s at the beginning, that, of course. I told myself I’ll be able to play like him, I’ll be able to do it until it really happens, you have to believe it. Yeah, otherwise

Yeah. And of course. And then sometimes when I listen to other colleagues or other friends who have projects of all the instruments combined and I follow, it’s magnificent. What? It is superb. But you, you talk earlier about your students and that you always give lessons . Yeah, because

Not just to Kenny G but lots of students, so maybe you can share a little about your philosophy of sharing music or even things that you like to work with Students already often the student, it happens. He has to come up with something that he really wants to work with questions.

This is often the case. They have lots of questions and it begins. How to play Quick? No? So there are times, there are times on the sound, sometimes there are on the altissimo. So the high sura, the high notes. Sometimes it can just be on time, building a solo.

It’s most of these five things that come up quite often Already. I think it’s good when people ask about the time, because It’s not the first question that comes up, but there are some, but yes, But that means who knows what that is? This is the stuff you have to work for.

But actually, it should be the first. The first thing, even before working on the sound or the time, what I do is that I work on all of that at the same time. So that’s how difficult it is. We must also isolate the five in time. You must first feel it for time.

What do we have to do? I’ll want to learn bebop already. It’s as if you wanted to learn Portuguese, but you’ve never heard of it and finally Portuguese, I m. Have you ever heard? You have to listen to it. You put on the radio, turn on the TV, watch films, etc.

Books, you have to read a lot of magazines. Well, it’s the same with music. So, and then it’s also take me. I remember for example this disc by Males Davis MileStones. I think it’s the disk that I listened to, but 1000 times and sometimes I played it 10 times during the

Day and then the same song or the straight no chaser with it is great. The three solos or four actually, there is it begins with Cannonball miles and then after Coltrane, then on the piano what is his name forgotten. Anyway, it’s, it’s a great great album,

But as I listen to it, listen to it, listen to it, and then until it became familiar and I could sing all the solos, sing like that and they feel also the pulse. How it works? Like, ah yes it’s red Garland on the piano, how does that work? How the bass the drums

And feel the pulsation and the how cannonball places in relation to the tempo. Miles the same And so already this work without taking the sax and then feeling it when we play, but it is analyzing how it happens. How is this happening? Why does he do that? That’s about time.

Afterwards when we pick up the instrument, actually the sound, everything that is embouchures, the column of air, some exercises on the flexibility of the embouchure. I work quite a bit. I show from time to time. Some exercises with just the neck. You see, for example, in this exercise, I”ll show you,

Yeah, that’s really good. It’s just with the neck and do an octave Almost. But that’s really hard. This is to really work on flexibility and the diaphragm and to open up here. The opening is not in the mouthpiece and it is not the opening of the mouthpiece that makes you have more sound.

It’s you here. How are you going to open and there, and also the diaphragm And then the larynx will open, the throat will open and the breath will also get louder, think like that. So think about cool air and warm air. So it is more hot air that must

Be conveyed into the instrument. But hot air that moves quickly. So it’s not, what’s the placement in that of the tongue, A bit of all that, And I just do it with the mouthpiece. So with the mouthpiece, it’s easier. It’s more, ah well or ah, well completely, it’s easier.

Yeah. So here is. There is this exercise there, for example, a little daily afterwards on the technique, as soon as we take the sax, the pure technique that we say to play quickly, but for me, it always started with the chromatic scale. So it’s more working on the digital

Sax stuff which is a little more annoying and all the passages like that, which are less obvious. Ok, well not just the chromatic scale, it’s just that, it’s the beginning. But if you can come and do that, that’s good. And then all the chromaticism stuff, there’s also working slowly since that’s faster

, but working very slowly and on the dynamics too, is to make it musical. This exercise, Working on sounds, always mixes something. There has to be something musical in everything we do every day. You have to make it fun and musical. And if you go to work, maybe two hours of work.

How are you going to divide this So it depends a little bit on what I have to do. If I have repertoire work, I’ll take the repertoire. I’ll stick to it directly , then I’ll work on it. If I have a little more time, then it’s a little bit of that,

But above all it’s starting with long notes, with all kinds of possible timbres and there, I made it purer afterwards with a little breath close by and then only with long notes. And then I’m still going to work with the tuner, okay? A brother who is a tuner so look out

But you work with a sound or just with visually. So with the sound and then by force, it becomes and visually too, but by force now, I hear when I am out of tune. Yes, that’s really good. As if, while I don’t have their, I don’t think I have perfect pitch,

But I think we all have it. This story of absolute pitch is a bit strange, because in fact, it’s a story of ability. Some people have an ear more than others, that’s all. And in fact, you have to cultivate it, you have to work on it.

So there are some who will have to work more than others. And once again, each time, I tell my Hélènes, I can’t play fast, but if you can play well, you don’t have to play fast. I have friends who don’t play fast and who play very, very well.

If I say we’re all superheroes, do you want to be a superhero? You’re going to be spider-man or you’re going to be Hulk we cannot be all at the same time. Or I went that way because I have this love of fast tempos, but that comes naturally to you too. Or

, well, I started with that with my teacher. As you said earlier, I think it’s the influence. I can talk about teachers, the influence of teachers, even whether on the instrument or in musical philosophy. My first teacher was all that. So working with tuning with machine tuning and then a lot of fifths.

So I’m starting to sub tones, that’s going to help make the instrument resonate and make the bell resonate. Have you seen when I stop playing, what does it do or what does it mean? Yeah, yeah, there’s a little resonance at the end. So. It is being aware of sensations.

When I go from the bottom to the top, it ‘s Ste Bless who did this a lot, sometimes for hours. I think it’s an interview I saw with Stanley Thorin. He said in an interview that he worked for an hour, just one note to find his teacher made him do that

To find the right tone. It’s So that, I like it because and then on all the notes to really find each note is unique and the feeling, The sax. So. And besides, I’m sitting I often prefer to work standing. You really feel like a singer. We really feel all the sensations and

The intervals and working very slowly and with all the dynamics, there is a book too, which I love Jackie mclean on this and it starts like that with long notes with there are also volume stories . So I played very piano after playing mezzo forte fortissimo, for example, to get to that.

That’s pure technique, but I do that every session. I try, I try. Yeah, I try and you start with that. You start before doing unless it’s urgent. Yeah, that’s it, but the long notes. Ok. But before doing the chromaticism and all that, I do the blues in all the keys and afterwards,

It’s to help me. It’s because music is fun. He says you have to have fun. I take the sax, don’t want to work on something straight away. So the long notes. Yes, so that it all warms up so that the reed gets wet OK? Blues in all the keys and you,

can show us how you do that? There? I did the cycle of 4ths I wanted to ask you if sometimes you, you do it like that. Sometimes you do chromatics, sometimes you change Sometimes, I change there. I did the Charlie Parker blues. Bird blues.

This is bird blues which we call here Swedish blues. Ok, why I don’t know in my opinion, I think it’s because Parker, he often played in Sweden. I don’t know. Ok, I didn’t know that now, but it’s like, There are terms like that in French, l’anatole, Anatole. This is Rhythm Changes So

I don’t know anymore, I think it comes from a song. Ah, I have a guitarist friend who had me for a long time, but I loved Le Christophe too. The end of Saint Thomas in French. We call it a Christophe. A Christopher. Ok, I didn’t know that. OK it’s cool.

Christophe l’anatole, Swedish blues. What else is there for now? there is plenty of stuff, that’s for sure. There is plenty of vocabulary. That changes a lot Thanks for that. I like playing that. So obviously she plays full of notes. I play a lot of stuff because I,

I make all the chords. Yes, but also because there is no piano, there is no piano. But then, I like it there, for example, I made all the chords. I actually have the thing and I also try to have fun with the tempo with the phrases, playing it.

With something like that. I free myself. Go on as if warming up, what? Afterwards, if I really wanted to do more musically, I would do a bit with more space. I would pretend there was a drummer. I play something like you, something more. I build, I do and that,

That’s what I ask every time when I have a student. So, to continue on this, I ask to take a piece and we will work. We’ll work on it, we’ll stay on it. For example, I don’t know what standard you want. You said Autumn Leaves. We will learn.

Autumn leaves. So already, this is the melody that you need to know well. Then it’s harmony analyzing how it goes. And then afterward, what’s that? I kind of want the guide tones guide tones so the exercises like then singing the thing and invoking the degrees. You have to know these degrees really, perfectly.

You mean all the chord tones Yeah. Six, it’s at the end that I did, but right away, that six for me, I see with and me manage to do that by playing these guide tones and of thinking about which one there I I’m going to do well

Yes, in any case, all the fives, all the sevens and like that, this Ear. And then you see with the tempo, we hear the progression or we really hear the progression. So that’s already a first step which is not easy. Yes, after that, and after developing a little more,

We will work on substitutions. We’re going to get into the topic a bit. There is this famous substitution, But you, It is always the tempo. You must always feel. So you think that or you like it if you can, if a student, can manage to play a piece

And knows the melody, the chords and perhaps all the intros well. And things. Ah Bah, you also need to know several versions. So for me, I love it when I take a standard, it’s taking Sinatra orElla FitzGerald or Sarah Vaughan mostly singers And then after instrumental versions,

But knowing a little bit about what this song is talking about in English. It is important. Learn the lyrics too. It’s good because it was Sonny Criss who said that in an interview, he learned all the lyrics to the ballads that he played I love how he plays the melodies Yeah. So,

And then, to take a piece in all the keys, that’s, do you do that with lots of pieces? Yeah, not bad, not bad. I started at the very beginning. My first piece was All the Things You Are with Julien Louro. And so I transcribed my first solo.

It was Paul Desmond in the album Two of Mine with Gerry Mulligan without piano. I don’t know if you know this version? It’s a bit Bach because they do the two voices Oh, exactly. Same time with baritone and alto. I like the sound. Yeah. you do it well

To imitate a bit of the woody sound like that and there were several versions. And then you have to make your own version. Oh yes. So yes, you were talking about transpositions. It’s good to take it in the original tone, then we go to the cycle of fourths like that,

Like I did on the blues and then we try to do it in this cycle or chromatic, eh? And you think it’s important to do this without accompaniment. So it might be good. The accompaniment is a bit, we can do a bit as we want,

I used Aebersold a lot at the very beginning, one to. And then well, yes, today. Now, there is the famous ireal pro which I find a little polluting because now in the session, we see people with it. I did masterclasses on this not long ago on the jam session.

So the mouthpiece ligature reed vandoren vandoren because in fact vandoren has been a bit of a daily partner for many years . When I arrived in Paris, I didn’t play vandoren at all. I played another brand. And then in fact, I met Jean-Paul Gauvin. There was the famous vando jam which,

At the time was around midnight which a club which unfortunately closed behind the Moulinrouge rue, le pic. And it was Michael Cherre, who is a great friend who hosted the jam every first Monday of the month, I think. That was it. After moving to Sunnyside,

And now it is done periodically in different places, it continues. And in the United States, Mark Gross that did that every month too. Now, I think it’s turning a little. Brief. And so vandoren, I discovered them in a jazz club. So that’s already, I found that it was healthy.

I had heard about it, but not necessarily well in the conservatories, it was vandoren who was for classical, not really for jazz. That was the speech. Then in fact, I already started playing the reeds. So I, the angerls go to reindeer for classical, but not for jazz.

And I found the reeds really good and java. And at the time, it already green and there was v16 later the zz came out that I played for many years. And then the mouthpieces I found the v16m at the beginning, then there was the s which I liked less.

And then I played for a very long time, I made my first record with v5 I played the 55 and the 45 and the 35 equivalent of roughly the opening nine, eight and seven. So I was going down, I was going down. And then one day it was during the

Jam session with Roy HarGrove. So that was in 2010. I feel pain there in my line. What is that? I go to see the doctor says it’s an hernia, sir. It’s small but it’s a hernia, I, but how does that happen? What do you do sports? Otherwise I am a saxophonist.

Well, that’s it. You’re probably playing too much. I was putting too much pressure on my instruments. What strength at the time, it was three, three and a half, but with eight, nine, eight or nine, I said to Jean-Paul, Jean-Paul Gauvin, can you find me a mouthpiece that is the same

Result but much more closed so that I put a little less, I have to blow less. What did you tell me we’re going to take one, we’re going to take one a five and we’re going to do the same the same chamber. In fact, that’s how we are the concept of s plus.

So. It’s a s, it’s a small that has been improved a little inside. The chamber and the bore are a little longer. And I don’t know after that, I don’t know anything about it. I don’t know anything at all. Me, I went to the factory several times

With Jean Barely and Guy Barber, it’s the two, my two contacts that I have there who are fantastic since each time we work on it started with the mouthpieces after doing blind tests also in relation to the reeds, the ligatures, we tried a lot of things.

And so it’s a mouthpiece for me, S+ I chose the five because I’ve already gotten used to it sometimes the seven, I achieve the same result, but with more effort. So it’s useless. So I stay on the five, not long ago at the factory there, I tried an opening 6

With table of five. It didn’t produce anything conclusive. So with them, I share experiences and it’s superb . That’s a five, that you play? That’s it. It’s a five, not modified at all at the very beginning at the very beginning, it was the mouthpieces which were modified.

Then in fact, I’m going on the series. And then we improved a little bit. They have me, I didn’t do anything. They have improved a little. It’s mouthpieces for me, it works very very well. I’ve already tried old Meyers or soloists in fact, everything pretty much works.

Even there. We’re going to try things. I think I have the ability to play a little bit of everything. So for reeds like that, I play a little bit of everything there. I have my reed box that I love from v 16 3. I’ve been playing this for, I’ve been playing this

For a very long time. I have stabilized on this since I need to play the high notes. And then he is low notes, quite imposing. You need one in which the reed is woody But I know I can play a little bit of everything. There you go, it will react a little differently.

It’s not necessarily the sound. Sometimes I want, I have another box where there is an I have another box there, a little bit of everything, a little bit of all the brands, because I also like to work all the time. When I work, we talked about this earlier.

Tried a little other gear it’s not the mouthpiece, but sometimes the ligature, or even a little, how did it react, then the other reeds, but without getting crazy we’re just going to try that. Here, we’re going to taste or What’s happening is What’s happening

With the music musically since I’ve always thought about the music, if it makes me play better or worse, that’s it, Maybe that gives you a another, direction another exactly other. It’s with that, it’s right And you have to record yourself with good equipment because what you hear from this side

Is not the same as what you hear Exactly. So, sometimes we say to ourselves, ah, it’s going to ring. Great. GOOD. Then we’d say to ourselves, that’s really good. It’s really, it’s great. And then we listen to the v,5 I had chosen it like that.

It was Michael. He tells me but you should play this. I try, I say no, it doesn’t work. You’ll see, we’ll try it. We’re going to record it. I listen, I do, that’s what you made me try. But it’s really good. So you really have to be very objective.

To have a step back from playing the volume, you have to record yourself. And that will also help us guide the recordings. This is essential to be able to progress in all areas , particularly hardware. So after, the ligature is, we did that with vandoren in carbon.

I find that in fact, the principle of that is that there is nothing, it’s very light. There is no contact. As if there was nothing touching the reed at the same time. It is well plated. It gives a rounder sound that if I know, again, I recorded.

Then it’s my personal feelings that if I used another ligature, but to finish on the ligatures, except that it’s not really worth spending hours talking about that, everything works. Yes everything works. There are small differences, small differences in timbre, but not in the playing. Really. Yeah.

So we can try things if you want, but it’s always going to be me. What? Yeah, always. Yeah. But I think you also have to have a certain level afterwards to start looking for equipment. And then you really have to know what you want. So. Yes, it’s difficult to know what you want

If you’ve only played a mouthpiece or a sax, a reed in your life, right? Yes that’s it. You have to push One. You have to experiment. Then there are several concerts. It’s done in the recordings. Concerts. When you’re there in the room, in the store or at the vandoren factory

It sounds really good. Then in the evening, we have the concert. I don’t understand. It’s a little different. Yes, you have to try it on the ground where you go, you are used to hearing that. And if you have gigs that you do regularly,

Then you know the sound that you have in that room. Yes. And there it is obvious. Ah Bahu, it’s right away. We still hear sometimes that it’s friends who will stain me with something. It’s so cool. It’s very rare. It’s happened to me before, but it Happens. It even happens to drummers.

I was going to say the drummer drummer who told me my reference at the time was under repair. I had taken up mark 6, then it was Thomas Delor did you change something. The sound is more precise. it’s my mark 6 wow it’s much more precise, he said

But there is a break-in that absolutely must be done daily. You musn’t play the reeds right away. That, that’s obvious. You should not play for more than 30 minutes. The reed, even if she sounds great. And there a super good reed.

No, no, you have to play it for two minutes and you leave it for tomorrow and there it goes. It is yellow and then turns white. And then it will turn a little brown, as if this hip is ready and which I have had for quite a while and

Will also stabilize in terms of strength. I don’t tamper with reeds. I add a little natural preparation. And then I keep them in reed guard vandoren and i rotate them a little every day when I work. So. So you have something with several reeds and you don’t play the same reed every

Day. So it’s going to be my thing is not there you try to play all the reeds a little every day, All the reeds, a little every day. This is the reference angel. Number one, I’d rather do concerts with it. And then I’ll play it for about half an hour every day.

The second one, I play for a quarter of an hour. The third five minutes. It lasts much longer. Les Ah, that Les always a little bit. You’re not going to play the best for three hours, right? Because it’s after, you can after, she ‘ll do it like that. You have to rotate.

And then when I work, I take different reeds. Sometimes other brands, sometimes a vandoren a little different, like z, z or another model or then one with a sound that I complain a little less. And then, I work with it so as not to ask myself the question.

Then sometimes I do two hours without changing but it’s an reed of work or it has to be separated. Working reed and concert reed, I agree. And then sometimes, when there’s an reed who’s really great like that and let’s imagine, there’s a funk jam or something, it’s a bit of a fight.

I’m afraid of breaking it. I take another reed that I like too, but I know that if this one, if it breaks, it doesn’t matter, but it will sound good all the same. There you go, these are the little hacks that every saxophonist has. But I think it’s quite healthy.

I don’t, don’t worry too much about it. What you need to do is find the right strength that goes with the mouthpiece. the sound what we want. And then mix the comfort and the comfort of play. And then the vibration of all that where we feel comfortable .