Question:
Late Bloomers In Australia?
Hi there,
I have taken up the Alto Sax in my early 40's, having played Clarinet at school. I'm keen to chat with other mature aged sax players in Oz.
Suggested topics:
- range of sax music available (not much of the stuff you read about on this site is for sale in Australian shops!!!)
- inspirational players/CD's worth checking out
- ensemble music opportunities in your area
- practice regimes, finding a spot to let rip etc...
Cheers!
P

Answer:
G'day Pete,
Where are you in Oz? I'm in Canberra, turning 40, hooked on alto, have been serious for about three years and regret (there's that word again) that I didn't keep playing when I was in my twenties, like to practise either inside without caring who hears or up in the bush somewhere - that's good fun, in fact that's why I play the nice and portable alto and gave up playing electric bass.
I could go on all day about inspirational players, but have you checked out Jaco Patorius' Birthday Concert?
Dave

Answer:
Late Bloomers
Hi David,
I'm in Perth. Great to hear from another 40+ late bloomer !
I'm now 42, and have to admit to being slack about practice for the past 18 months since I took up Alto. But then, we did paint one house, sell it, buy another, then renovate it, so hey! I've been busy.
I've also played electric bass over the years, but yeah, got sick of lugging the heavy amps around. When looking for a new instrument with which to fill up my post-40 spare time (?!) I chose the Alto sax because
(a) I figured the clarinet embouchure would have stayed with me since school
(b) It was a versatile instrument
(c) It was portable!!!
Practising is indeed a problem. I feel I can't "let it rip" too much at home as the neighbours might complain. In fact I've just found a rehearsal studio not too far from home (the kind normally hired by teenage Metal Merchants in smelly black T-shirts) where I can take my sax and didjeridu and blast them both to my heart's content.
In terms of style, I am certainly drawn to the classical sax. I like a bit of the smooth Stan Getz material, but have NO ambition to play Take 5, Pink Panther etc. I was very impressed by the albums that Jan Whatsisname did with the Hilliard Ensemble. Very imaginative stuff.
So what sorts of music are you into?
Cheers,
P

Answer:
Hi from Port Macqu`rie (known locally as "Heaven's Waitingroom")
What is it about old bass players that makes them take up sax? I played bass in a rock band in the sixties. My biggest regret is never having learned to read music. It would have made things so much easier.
I took up alto sax at the end of last year. (I just turned 50)
I know it's not quite fashionable but I became enthusiastic about sax after hearing KennyG. I don't know whether I would want to play his stuff, I just like to listen to it.
I'm very much into Blues and the New York and Chicago styles of jazz so I'm just starting to learn some blues scales.

Answer:
Ah yes, Perth and Port Macquarie, both very nice parts of the country. I've had the pleasure of surfing in both those places.
re: what kinds of music I like, Pete - pretty much jazz, especially when it gets really bluesy like Ray Charles or funked up like James Brown. I have few classical leanings - closest I get would be this awesome English alto player called Freddy Gardner, who could play anything, and as well as jazz used to improvise over all kinds of music, with a beautiful vibrato that sounds really old fashioned now.
As for Kenny G, yeah, I never listen to him, but whenever I hear him I think - I'd like to be able to do that on alto (even half as good would be fine!)
Dave

Answer:
Oz Late Bloomers!
Hi Adrian, and welcome to the Over 40's Sax Late Bloomers Club!!!
Yeah, this pattern of ex-bass players taking up sax is amazing....
Maybe we just get/got sick of lugging the big amps. I must admit, even my guitar amp (Laney 40W) is feeling a bit heavy these days, and when I simply plonk my sax case on the back seat of the car, I think "Hmmmm, if only every instrument was this easy!".
Maybe it makes a difference to play an obvious melody instrument, after all those years of playing the bassline.....?
Anyhow, I'm still keeping the fretless bass I made from an old heap of junk, but am really enjoying the Alto sax. Am having difficulty finding a teacher in my area, but I guess that's more a matter of perseverence.
BTW, I used to play Clarinet at school, and the old lines are coming back:
"Long Note Practice"
"Articulation"
"Warm up the whole of your body"
I can still hear my old teachers saying that stuff!
Little did I know I had mild asthma, and THAT explains a lot of my previous breathing difficulties!
Cheers all, and keep the anecdotes coming.......
P

Answer:
Very interesting Pete, especially "warm up the whole body." I'll have to remember that one, especially as I've been getting RSI-type twinges in my left hand and arm and have recently read (in this forum somewhere) some horrendous stuff about stress injuries from playing.
Re: the bass. I always wanted to switch to sax because of a band I used to play in - I would get there hours before the gig, do a huge lug, set up the PA, etc. Meanwhile, the sax player would just stroll in minutes before we started, sax hung over one shoulder, then tear the place apart with his playing and get all the applause.
Also, as a bass player you're stuck in the band, whereas sax players move around more - play with different groups, the band can still go on if the sax player has another gig that night, but it's a big drama if the bass player doesn't show.
Dave
Mind you, I think my bass training has helped my sax playing - even though the two are completely different, in that I can nail rhythms easily. This is important if, like me, you can't play that many notes!
long notes, articulation, warm up the whole body.

Answer:
Hello All -
Tried to post a reply earlier, hope this one gets through. Goodonya'll (a twist of vernaculer from the states) for getting into/back to the instrument. It's never, ever too late. I was a trumpet player until I was 21, (45 now) switched to tenor, never looked back. I'm totally self-taught, and taught at Adelaide Uni for two years, left four years ago (to unload the now x-wife back in the states..), and am returning back to Adelaide to the same post soon, I'm never going back to the states again. There's an incredible level of musicianship in Aussie, stunning sax players everywhere, Dale Barlow (may now reside in Holland), Tim Hopkins, and dozens and dozens of others. Hope to see some of you someday along the way, if you're ever in Adelaide, stop in, we'll go hear some of the great local sax players, Bob Jeffrey, Mike Stewart, Pete Raidel, Chris Soule, Tom Pulford, etc., etc. cherrs, DC

Answer:
...one more thing...
Forgot to add, I've always wanted to pick up electric bass....something fundamental about the fundamental, and never having to work with lousy reeds again........

Answer:
Bloomers...
Hi DC,
Many thanks for the comments. Regarding taking up the electric bass - it's great to feel the "fundamentalness" of the bassline, but they're heavy (if they're good quality) and reeds are a damn site cheaper than bass strings!
Having said that, I love my old fretless (homemade), but the sax is much groovier to me now. I also concur with David's coment above about the sax player being able to just turn up 10 mins before the gig!!! It sounds very comfy.
Are you from DC by chance? (Only asking cos I've actually been there)
Cheers,
P

Answer:
G'day DC (Pete, Adrian, Ralph if you're reading this, etc.)
DC - you don't happen to know an ex-Adelaide trumpet turned tenor player, just like yourself, about 45 years old too, named Ralph Franke, do you?
Ralph rips on tenor or soprano. He used to be in a circus in Adelaide, on trumpet I think, before taking up sax and moving to Sydney. He always thought he could play better than the Sydney Conservatorium graduates who end up getting all the gigs in Sydney. I agree, he absolutely burns on sax, he's just not part of that conservatorium scene.
It's possible you might know him from Adelaide days. (Ralph - login and reply!!! - I know you're out there somewhere.)
Dave

Answer:
Ralph Franke
Hi David,
I don't know Ralph, but he sounds like an interesting charachter. And, anyone that runs away from trumpet is alright with me. It sounds like your aluding to young guys getting all the work in and around the local academic music scene, it's true, happens everywhere, and really shouldn't. A school of music and it's graduates tend to dominate local scenes over time, and sometimes those that are not a part of that (i.e., not so young, un-academics), get passed over. That's of course, nonsense. There's a guy in Adelaide, Bob Jeffrey, 60-ish, an amazing talent, on all the saxes, woodwind doubles, and upright bass, that should be a millionaire for his many talents, and a tremendous person as well. He's self-taught, and very musical. He's my continual example for young guys how to conduct themselves musically, personally, and in any/every other manner as well. cheers, DC (from Oklahoma, not DC)

Answer:
Alexk from the Northern Teritory here. I've been playing since I was 10 on trombone, took up the alto sax at 13, picked up a tenor at 16, gave the 'bone away at 17 and switched to tuba. Played around the traps for years doing all sorts of gigs. Brass Bands(Tuba), jazz, blues, rock'n'roll, big bands, all kinds, all around sunny Queenslaand. I have never stopped playing, only stopped gigging about 5 years ago.
I reckon at 47 I am a "late bloomer" because of this forum, I thought I roughly knew my way around a sax until last year when I found this site. I have now included multi-phonics, subtones, proper altisimo and a bunch of other stuff into my self-improvement routine. The hints and information on this site is extremely good. The people that write in are terrific.
As I work for a mining company, I don't seem to get stationed too close to major centres to do gigs these days, so amuse myself at home. When I was kicking off on alto Freddy Gardener was a big influence on my alto sound. When I took up tenor, I listened first to Coleman Hawkins and Ben Webster. Then later, found Grady Gaines, King Curtis and Boots Randolph. Developed a more edgy raw sound.
Sax music is hard to get up here; reeds, well, thank heavens for the internet and business trips. Gigging, I am "bandless" at the moment.
And I had a flirt with electric bass as well for a few years!

Answer:
DC hits the little smoke
Hey DC, it's TP from Adelaide!
I stumbled upon your posted message when I put my own name into google and searched. Thanks for the write up, I'm sure the phone would be ringing off the hook with gigs if I wasn't on the internet looking at nude women. :oops:
I didn't know you played trumpet.
You know you should take up electric bass - I did and it's great fun. I play in a band that does Beatles and Kinks covers now, it's a ball.
Well anyway let me know when you get into town - my email is
Cheers, TP

Answer:
Long Tall Tom!
TP - is that you? How are you? I hope to see you soon, my visa paper chase is nearly done, I hope. Let me know what/when/where I can hear you, looks like you're playing with Dave McEvoy & his trio? I thought I saw that on the calender at the Gov. I look forward to hearing your great playing! Anyway, it's been a wild number of years since I left, and am looking forward to being back. Say hello to anyone, and I'll buy you many Coopers in the near future....
cheers Mate, Dusty

Answer:
Cooky_manau
Hello all,
I am from Perth. I too am a late starter. I am not sure that I have actually started to bloom yet, although I live in hope. I played cornet, flugel horn and E flat in brass bands from about 13 to 17 and then sat my matric music exams with a trumpet, in Adelaide. The day the exam was over the trumpet went onto a shelf and was never opened again for about 30 years.
At 46 years of age I decided that I would have a go at Sax after wishing I could play one for the past 10 or 15 years, but never actually getting around to it. A Perth company was canvasing around my daughters' school looking to hire instruments, and although my daughter was not interested I decided to rent a Tenor Sax through them. I found some one willing to put up with the terrible noises that I produced and have been hacking away at the sax for the last couple of years. I went and purchased a Yani last year of my own.
My current music teacher believes very strongly that rythm and timing are most important parts of music and regularly gives out exercises for sax of Bass lines. So there I am trying to play the bass line on Sax (suitably transposed of course) to all sorts of interesting tunes. It is actually very good for timing and as some one else said for nailing the rythm. So there is the bass thread again!!
Finally - it is great to see a thread based around an OZ theme. I hope we can keep it going. So that we have something to discuss perhaps the following ideas could be used -
practicing habits and routines
playing - where, how and when.
gear that is we see as useful
etc

Answer:
Late bloomers in Australia
Hi, or is it G'die, mite,
New kid on the block, do I get bragging rites for being silly enough to buy atenor at age 56 with absolutely no previous experience ( play a mean stereo!)
This was my Millenium resolution and if I had any idea how hard it was going to be, I would never have started. My first teacher found it hard to relate to somebody who had never read music until I suugested it was akin to his learning arabic(nothing recognisable on the page)
I joined an Adult learner band, which was appropriate, but humiliating and then by luck came across the" amazing" John Zappia, who worked on teaching Coltrain riffs rather than "reading between the lines" This has given me the inspiration to learn the basics without the humiliation and I would recommend it to other "old rank beginners."
Ifound I couldn't play the tenor in an armchair, so I bought a curved Yana soprano, Then I tried, and loved' a Yam bari (at USQ summer school) I didn't realise that I wasn't immunised against aquisition syndrome, which probably explains the Conn bass that I have just bought
nicko

Answer:
G'Day
Greetings Tensopbass,
Wow, you really get around!
It's been good to hear from a few Aussie players though......
I'm dying to try a Tenor, now that I think I have the Alto under control.
Cheers,
Pete

Answer:
Hey Dave, Ralph Franke here! A friend called me and told me about this post on SOTW. I've been playing professionally here in Sydney for 19 years. Left Adelaide in '84, moved to Melbourne for a year (recorded an album called "Movin' In" with a band called Strange Tenants) then moved to Sydney.
Although I've done some unusual gigs, I've never played in a circus - especially not on trumpet! Played trumpet as a kid, moved to guitar as a rebellious teenager, then took up sax when I was 20. Iquit my job, took some part time work as a cleaner in the evenings, and practiced 8 hours a day - that's the best way to get things moving quickly.
I don't remember saying that about the Con students, but I had a few hazy years where I sometimes said silly things. Suffice to say that I now have lots more things sorted out, including my ego!
I met DC in Adelaide in January in a sax store and we spent some time comparing different tenors. That man sure can play - a really nice person too.
To everyone of all ages, KEEP ON PLAYING! Best Wishes to all, Ralph

Answer:
late bloomers in australia
Thanks Pete from Perth
I see lots of downsides from learning late in life, like everybody's expectation that old equals experienced, but there are upsides too.
I'm glad I waited until the kids and wife left, because then I could build a shack on top of a mountain.Of the six houses in earshot, five are owned by divorced males(must be the isolation) and the sixth owns a jet-powered drag car!
For an anectdote, my neighbour took time off from his boatbuilding to leave a bottle of Margaret River Red with a note saying "I finally recognised something you played" I took it as a compliment!
I can (and do) wail at any time of day or night and nobody cares. This means I leave the horns set up and I blow a few bars whenever I pass.
Without a formal education I am not stuck with the idea of being limited to one horn, though I tend not to mix horns on one practise session.,and I am learningwhat sounds good on tenor doesn't ness sound good on soprano or bari
nicko