ARB Custom Metal Alto #6

ARB stands for Arnold Ross Brilhart. This is one helluva mouthpiece and i want one. The reasons for wanting one are pretty straightforward and simple. They are bright, and they look damn good~ Boon Chye plays with this mouthpiece and he recommended it because of its qualities~

ARB Metal Mouthpieces

Nelson Rangell

I've never heard of the name of Nelson Rangell until today when B.C let me listen to one of his CDs - Turning Night Into Day. This CD is a must buy. Fantastic bright tone, distinctively brighter than Sanborn's sound, melodic playing, and lots more, there's alot of emotion evoked in this recording. I think besides Sanborn, Rangell is becoming one of my sound influences as well. You gotta hear him to believe the kind of superb sax comin from the man.

Besides the alto which is his primary instrument, the guy plays sop and tenor saxes, the flute, as well as the piccolo. And damn, his technique is rock solid!! his flute technique is simply mind boggling! and he's got a very perculiar way of playin certain flute passages. He plays sax passages on flute, and dat gives the flute a whole new sound and structure~ and he does it with lots of flair~

I went down to town today to get the sax checked for leakage in the pads and toneholes and true enough there were leaks in the horn, but those have been sorted out, thanx to the tech at music plaza~ also, went to town and hunted high and low for the CD but alas, the stores either didnt carry them or they were sold out. went to times bookshop at centrepoint to check out the book pub thinghy and i was there 15 minutes late and arrived only to catch a handful of notes played on the pipa by Samuel. A pity...

Anyway, Rangell happens to be B.C's favourite saxophone artiste. And speakin of Boon Chye, i really am damn impressed with his playing. I've never ever heard him play in a band setting until after today's lesson when i heard some of his recordings live. Boy were they damn good! Listenin to the sound, you'd never would have guessed it was him playing the sax, but he is indeed dat damn good at sax~ he let me listen to stuff he played like pop, jazz etc. he played with Jeremy Monteiro, the jazz piano virtuoso and they were swingin~ damn nice~ then i heard one which he recorded with a... get this... MONGOLIAN POP BAND! And these musicians are really pro! Their music sounds very much like J/K pop~ but anyway, he recorded with them and the solo he played on one of the tracks was an awesome one! He said dat was his personal favourite solo~ it was damn nice with staccato in it~ and dat solo was done all in a single take! dat's damn pro man! amazing stuff i tell u...

And i forgot to add this. Rangell plays Yamaha YAS-62 Alto Saxophone with Vandoren Java #2 1/2 strength reeds and the ARB 6* mouthpiece! YAMAHA! YEAH MAN! It's the bright bright sound dat i love! ALL HAIL YAMAHA!

Man, today was a really good day~ very inspirational day for me~ i've got lots of role models to emulate~ but more importantly, to find my own sound at the sax~ i think i'm indeed extremely lucky to know B.C, i think he's a master in his own class~ When i think of how i got to know him, i'm still baffled cos i wondered how i'd ever have known him if noone told me bout him. And just so coincidently, someone bothered, someone cared, someone took note and was indeed kind enough to realise i was in search of a sax instructor and promptly refered Boon Chye to me~ when i think of it, it was really a stroke of miraculous good luck and fortune and i think it's God's way of giving me things~ And seriously, i owe some of wat i am today to joanne t~ thanx gal :)

Btw Joanne, Boon Chye's playin at the Esplanade's Waterfront 2 weeks from now on 8th of August Friday at 7.30pm~ I'm gonna get my folks down to watch him play~ He's invited to play with this local blues and soul band called Soul Satisfaction~ i've heard them play live at the same place some time back and they are pretty good~