Saxophones Make My Day

by: Ellen Geisel -Art Times-

There used to be a promotional clip for the now - defunct television series "The Days and Nights of Molly Dodd." It showed Molly, played by Blair Brown, dreamily reclining as she mentally waxed poetic about just how "saxophones and rainstorms" made her feel. It was a seductive promo, designed as all good advertising is to snare the watcher and hook him or her to the program. I haven't a clue as to how the show's Nielsen ratings fared when this teaser ran, but I do know that to harness my attention, the creators-that-were could have eliminated the precipitation part and given me sole images of perhaps the quintessential musical instrument - the saxophone.

The sounds coming from various saxophones can be raucous or moody; aggressive or reflective; passionate or sullen. It is an extremely ingenuous, mass-appeal type instrument, I think because the different kinds of saxophones - soprano, tenor, alto - corresponds to a singer's voice. Listeners are given the choice of the all-out rock and roll of Springsteen back-up man Clarence Clemons, or the middle ground traversed by David Sanborn. Actually, Clemons' wailing sax solo on Aretha Franklin's "Freeway Of Love" ends up being the ultimate turn at the "everything" that a saxophone can provide for a musical piece. Here we have Clemons giving this brief moment a taste of what rock and roll is truly all about, without, amazingly, ignoring that rhythm and blues attitude that Franklin has made her life's work.

I find myself craving Sanborn's 1991 Elektra Musicians release Another Hand. This is a collection of jazz tunes, with Sanborn on alto sax, where strict attention is paid to melody and the various atmospheres run from sprightly to reverent. Look at the popularity of Kenny G. His Breathless has been at the top of Billboard's Contemporary Jazz Chart for a whopping 78 weeks. I always cringe when someone says, "Oh yeah, I love Kenny G. He is the best!" While I acknowledge the inherent appeal is there, Kenny G. is actually the white bread side of sax playing, concerned with a mundane top-40, mall-infused ethic. There are infinitely more fibrous qualities to this instrument.

One player who gets right down to the true nitty gritty when it comes to playing the saxophone is Monticello, New York resident Hugh Brodie. Here's an artist who coaxes every ounce of emotion from his instrument as only a true jazz player can. He is spiritual beyond words when it comes to his approach to his craft. Even in very brief conversation, Brodie emerges as a courteous and affable gentleman. He is "cool" in the context of the old-school jazzmen who know their stuff like the artisans of another time - the carpenter who can almost taste the sawdust and who accurately senses that this is the project that will ends of being his work of art; or the gourmet cook, who no more needs the aid of a printed recipe than a skilled race car driver needs a road map.

Brodie's Unforgettable Sax (Fortress USA Records) has him in a consummate vein for his jazz stylings; highly tributary in an individualistic sort of way on tenor sax for the classics "Unforgettable" and "Strike Up The Band;" sublimely esoteric on soprano for his own compositions, "The Crow", and "Utopian Chant" - the latter an intriguing title for a swirling rhythmic mass of jazz perfection. The liner notes say that this is music for "lovers and friends, dancers and singers, listeners and thinkers..." Taking it one step further, and really condensing those concepts into a nutshell, it is for a discerning crowd who instinctively knows the proper moments for both intellectual pursuits and all-out guilty pleasures. Brodie and his saxophones can win over even the staunchest of holdouts - the ones who cling to the idea that jazz is too "nonstructural" a form of music. One listens to Unforgettable Sax and these pursuits will develop as amazing acceptance of a some very pure sounds. Suddenly,.........[more general info about saxophones]