Want to play the sax? Read my ultimate guide to getting started for under $350.
Yours portly is playing saxophone for a client and his wife this evening; the happy couple is celebrating their first anniversary, and the client has booked me to play a song or two as a surprise for his wife.
Naturally, he asked for videos of me playing two pieces so he could get an idea for what he will be getting, and just as naturally, I turned those into YouTube videos for my subscribers.
Now you, my dear readers, will get to hear some sensual, soulful saxophone solos:
I’m a tad late posting today because I was up quite late last night digging through some old computer files. I’ve been cleaning out my Drawer of Forgotten Technology, and stumbled upon my old SanDisk Sansa c250 MP3 player (which I am currently selling on eBay, if anyone wants it). The battery doesn’t hold a charge, but it will play when connected to power directly via its USB cable connected to any charging block that accepts USB. Even more intriguing is that it will interface with a PC when that same cable is connected to a USB port.
I uncovered a treasure-trove of music, basically the stuff I listened to in college and graduate school. Among the random bits of novelty music and 80s hair metal I found a track from long-forgotten musical project, Säx.
Säx was my first attempt at recording anything solo. I’d composed a number of saxophone quartet compositions specifically for me to record them. Each piece consisted of two alto sax and two tenor sax parts, and ran the gamut from blues to gospel to rock to circus music—pretty much anything I could think of to demonstrate my composing skills.
I recorded Säx in 2004 at a friend’s house. He was learning audio engineering at the time (and I believe he now does it for a living), so he was willing to record me and mix my tracks for free so he could get the experience. We were both 19 at the time, and home from our first year of college, and it was a period in my life when everything seemed possible.
To put things into perspective, this pre-dated YouTube, Spotify, Apple Music, etc. Getting music out there still pretty much meant burning CDs on your computer, then distributing those in jewel cases with homemade art to your friends and family. You could get them done professionally, but as possible as everything seemed at 19, yours portly didn’t have the money to make everything possible.
Säx was fun, though. I remember my buddy and I in his little attic space, which he had refurbished into a tiny recording studio, figuring out how to get the click tracks at the right tempo. There was one piece, an Irish jig in 6/8 time, that I just could not get down, so we axed it entirely (I love 6/8, but back then, I struggled with figuring out whether to set the metronome to duple or sextuple, something that seems laughably embarrassing to me now).
These recordings are not great, with the exception of “Middle Class White Kid Blues,” which actually came out pretty nicely:
The other recordings are a pretty good example of my composing chops at the time (which, I think, were not that bad; I can definitely hear my influences in these pieces, and composing elements I still use to this day, nearly twenty years later). My playing is often sloppy, with lots of intonation and pitching issues. Some of the examples are really bad—I end one of the pieces on what should be a beautiful chord, but it’s nasty thanks to bad tuning and intonation. But it’s still fun—albeit a bit cringe-inducing—to go back and listen to these pieces.
I’ll be re-releasing Säx at some point on Bandcamp and, ultimately, various streaming platforms, just for the completionists out there who want to hear everything I have ever recorded (I also uncovered some other synthesizer pieces I played and recorded in college under two project names, “Blasphemy’s Belt” and “Fat Guy in Boxer Shorts”; I’ll be releasing those pieces at a future date, too).
For now, my faithful paying subscribers are going to have access to all seven Säx tracks in existence—whether you like it or not! Enjoy this glimpse into some of my earliest recordings.
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Want to play the sax? Read my ultimate guide to getting started for under $350.
Wanna be utterly perplexed while laughing uproariously? Grab a copy of my first book, The One-Minute Mysteries of Inspector Gerard: The Ultimate Flatfoot (that’s an Amazon Affiliate link, so I’ll receive a portion of any purchase made through that link, at no additional cost to you—plus I’ll get the book royalties).
I’ve been engaged in quite a few cultural endeavors lately, and this week my students have their big Spring Concert. So I thought I’d look back at some culture posts from this past week:
Pickup my newest release: The Galactic Menagerie! Use promo code obesekangaroos to take an additional 20% off all purchases on Bandcamp! Code expires at 11:59 PM UTC on Friday, 4 April 2025.
Want to play the sax? Read my ultimate guide to getting started for under $350.
I had a little sax gig up in North Carolina last night, so I’ve been playing more than usual lately. I’ve been very pleased with my beautiful Slade alto saxophone, which I purchased last year (that link is an Amazon Affiliate link; I receive a portion of any purchases made through that and other links, at no additional cost to you). It has a few small intonation issues, but otherwise is plays beautifully. I’ve really been pleased with the smooth, bright, clear tone I get from the horn.
As such, I thought I’d take a look back at some of my saxophone-related posts:
“Short Sax Starter Pack Recommendation” – my detailed guide to purchasing a decent sax and all necessary accoutrements for under $350. It’s also riddled with Amazon Affiliate links—mwahahahahaha!
Yours portly has an out-of-town gig tomorrow night for a private party in Wilmington, North Carolina. I’ll be playing a mix of French and modern pieces on my alto saxophone.
Naturally, I have spent some spare time this week after school and lessons and practicing. One of my recent favorite Romantic Era pieces is Alexander Borodin’s “Polovtsian Dance No. 1,” from his opera Prince Igor.
I made a small recording and uploaded it to YouTube:
My students and I will head to the annual SCISA Music Festival tomorrow, and I’ve been trying lately to book more gigs playing the saxophone, and it’s gotten me thinking about the Slade alto saxophone I purchased last year (that link—and most of the others in this post—is an Amazon Affiliate link; I receive a portion of any purchases made through that and other links, at no additional cost to you). It’s been a very good saxophone, and I’m prepared to recommend it to potential budget sax shoppers, with one major caveat.
This post is intended as a guide for parents looking to buy an affordable alto saxophone for their child, or for a later-in-life beginner who wants to get into the instrument without too much cost. If you follow my advice, you should be able to kit yourself or your child out with a decent, budget load-out for under $350.
For those of you stumbling upon this post, I’ll briefly introduce myself: I’ve been playing saxophone for nearly thirty years, and have been teaching music nearly full-time for fifteen years. I also teach a ton of private music lessons, and have helped a number of families find affordable, quality instruments over the years. I’m not a pro saxophonist, but I know a lot about them, and I love the instrument.
A quick note: many school music programs will have a rental program set up with a local music shop. These rental programs are not worth it. You’ll end up spending way more money over time, even if you’re doing a rent-to-own situation. If money is an issue, set aside $50 a month for six months, and you’ll be able to afford everything I’m recommending here. Save another $25, and you’ll be able to afford the reeds I’m recommending (the Slade comes with reeds; more on that below). If you child is starting band in the fall, start saving now, and you’ll be fine by September.
I detail the pros and cons of the sax and various accessories. For my list of recommended items to purchase (the sax and accessories), scroll to the bottom of the post.
Yours portly released a new album earlier this month, Heptadic Structure. It’s an exploration of pieces in 7/4, 7/8, and 7/16 time. Each piece is twenty-one written measures, for a total of 147 measures across the seven pieces. Also, 14+7=21. Math is fun!
You can listen to and/or purchase the album at the following links:
This week I’m featuring the fourth track from the album, “Jaunt.” Jaunt is a duet for tenor saxophone and vibraphone, and it possesses a whimsically jaunty feel.
My readers have been clamoring for more covers of classic rock and pop hits, but I continue to deliver up self-indulgent neoclassical foolishness. Have no fear, friends—I will have some timeless classics back soon.
For now, I’m offering a three-for-one deal with a polytonal piece of reedy churchiness.
A couple of weeks ago I purchased a Slade saxophone from Amazon. Amazon is notorious for selling tons of junky Chinese saxophones in garish colors for low prices. These horns are often barely worth the brass and cork they’re made from, but parents looking for affordable horns for their kids buy them without knowing any better. The result is typically frustration with the instrument.
Yours portly desperately needed a reliable saxophone for some upcoming gigs, and repairs to my existing saxes (one alto and two tenors) are prohibitively expensive at the moment. Also, my repair guy is a cantankerous old Northern guy who lives way far out, and the combination of expense, inconvenience, and a Yankee tongue-lashing for not maintaining my horns adequately had yours portly running to the arms of our Chinese overlords.
Well, Slade makes a surprisingly good sax for $230. Typically these Chinese horns have all sorts of problems: leaky keys, pads that don’t seal properly, etc. Horror stories abound of purchases paying the equivalent of the horn’s price (or more!) to get it setup properly.
I decided to bite the bullet and try it after watching a video from Better Sax on YouTube, in which he compared one of the saxes to to his gorgeous (and $4000) Yanagisawa alto:
I ordered the cheapest possible sax, even though I could have spent another $40 or $50 for some cool colors. When the sax arrive last Tuesday night, I was pleasantly surprised to see they’d sent me the wrong sax—their blue model! It is an absolutely gorgeous instrument.
Check out that beauty! Such a beautiful instrument, of course, demands to be played, so I did just that.
The Portly Politico 