Paul Desmond

Hiya · Paul Desmond

For a while now, I have been trying to get a sound that was similar to Paul Desmond's. I absoulutely love his tone and want to try to get something like it, so I could build off of it.

Does anyone have any tips/ideas on how to achieve a tone like his? Specific things would be nice.

Jacob

Start by playing along to his recordings, emulating his sound.

Altosaxophonerules

Listen! and listen! Then try looking for his setup: www.saxlessons.com
has them. Then play along with him. GOod luck!

reisio

Do what Jacob said - play along, try to emulate his sound.

You probably don't want to be using a metal mouthpiece, and you probably don't want hard reeds, but that should do it - I don't suggest going out and buying a Selmer Super Balanced Action and a Gregory mouthpiece, not unless you're really bored, rather rich and okay with trying to be a clone.

Bariman

Also, you can play some Jazz phrases instead of actual songs (quicker to learn technically), and use those to practice his stylings. He has a very smooth and even tone, very legato at times, so practice on slurring and quick key movement would be good.

Bariman

reisio

If you want to visualize it in your head, I don't think "smooth" is what you want. He professed to be aiming for the sound of a dry martini, which is more like "clear" or "clean" or something, I would say.

Jacob

Last I knew, he had a fairly breathy, soft tone. Obviously, the easiest way to sound like him is by playing softly, but of course the trick is to sounding like that at normal volume. Laughing

reisio

he went through a few different eras of style changes and of course got older

Bariman

I will stick by smooth, also very lofty, like you're floating. Hard to describe.

Bariman

Hiya

http://www.myfilestash.com/userfiles/dianna/Desmond.mp3 Here's a small clip of him, just incase you needed to refresh your memories lol.

Jacob

I was slightly exaggerating it. I listened to a recording of him like 2 days ago, plus I have a couple of his albums.

reisio