Alto saxophone

But yeah, when did you start in music? Because maybe saxophone wasn't your first instrument.

Yeah, Alto was actually my first instrument, straight on to Alto at seven.

At seven? went to a carnival band in my local area so i'm from a very very small town in cumbria the north of england and it's kind of the bit that sticks out of the uk so it's by the sea and also by the lake district very very beautiful and um there was a carnival band i went along and my dad taught drums there and i picked up the saxophone there and learned mainly by ear playing in parades um playing across the country.

And I didn't start classical music, written music, like exams for a few years after that.

for being able to get the edge and the warmth and the roundedness and that little bit of, yeah, hard edge I like as well.

Oh, cool, cool.

And for the Alto, is it something similar?

Yeah, almost exactly the same apart from it's a Selma S80 with a Van Doren Optimum and then Van Doren V12 3s.

PNC Bank, National Association, member FDIC.

Rudresh Mahanthappa is an acclaimed alto saxophonist, composer, and educator, widely recognized as one of the leading voices in contemporary jazz.

Raised in Boulder, Colorado, he studied at the University of North Texas, Berklee College of Music, and DePaul University before emerging on the New York jazz scene in the late 1990s.

He's earned numerous honors, including nine Alto Saxophonist of the Year awards in Downbeat Magazine's International Critics Polls.

And he currently serves as director of jazz at Princeton University.

His collaborations include notable recordings with pianist Vijay Iyer and saxophonist Bunky Green.

So recording that tune was special to me.

I'm Kyle Long, and you're listening to Cultural Manifesto.

You heard music by Ernesto Savini's Turbo Prop, a Canadian songbook is the name of the CD, and the name of the cut is entitled Stuck Inside.

Turbo Prop is Tara Davidson on alto sax, Joel Fram on tenor sax, William Karn on trombone, Andrian Ferugia on piano, Dan Loomis on bass, and Ernesto Cervini on drums.

Ernesto Cervini, this guy is a Canadian jazz drummer, composer, bandleader, and educator.

And we began this set with music by longtime Ray Charles Sideman, Mr. David Fathead Newman.

Not at his own making, but it was... of his common-law wife's making.

Anyway, that's music from one of his more popular albums.

Cornbread, Sior is the name of the cut, Lee Morgan Trumpet, Jackie McLean, Alto Sax, Hank Mobley, Tenor Sax, Herbie Hancock, Tinkling the Keys on piano, Larry Ridley bass, Billy Higgins on drums.

And before that, you heard music from The Sidewinder.

It was one of my altos.

Alto, I nearly got it.

Yeah, and so I went to play it and I was like, oh, something's a little bit.

A little bit off.

Life is a band.

Alto, bass or baritone.

Come add your voice, let's make it grand.

Life is a band.

Grab a uke or saxophone.

Life is a band.

Alto, bass or baritone.

Come add your voice, let's make it grand.