saxophone songs

Loempiaketzer · #1 01-17-2009, 05:17 AM

Hi, since the topic described it as "topics about music, not spec. bass related" the following...

my brother picked up an instrument yesterday and im very glad for him. Since hes working 60 hours a week he has little spare time..

i want to help him picking songs that are cool on that thing.
only song i know which is a sax classic imho is the pink panther song.

any easy to learn songs you guys know about which sound great on the sax?

he has the "step below alt-sax" thing... forgot its name... im sorry. (but im glad to convince him to play darker/lower kind of instrument instead of the whiney/screamin alt-sax

Mingus · #2 01-17-2009, 06:42 AM

Tenor?
Alto's not bad, there's still the Soprano and sopranino above. All of them can sound good if you want...just a little harder to stay in tune...Like Kenny G, who's consistently sharp. Through no fault of the sax, he's also consistently suck...

Charlie Parker Omnibook, Take Five, Delta City Blues...too many to list. What are you looking for exactly?

JacoLesFlea · #3 01-17-2009, 06:47 AM

Ive always liked Trane, Parker. Avant Garde took me awhile to get to listen to but now I cant get enough of Ornette Coleman

Muusers · #4 01-17-2009, 06:50 AM

brick house (the commodores) has got a great sax-line. also, you can't go wrong with bigband songs. +1 on the charlie parker, even though i think it's pretty hard for a beginner.

AnchorHoy · #5 01-17-2009, 02:31 PM

Right off the top of my head.....

Shotgun - Junior Walker and the All Stars

Killer groove and a relatively simple lead line for the tenor sax. If necessary, the B-3 riff can be covered reasonably well by a competent guitar player

Honk'n_down-low · #6 01-17-2009, 02:54 PM

Bob Seger - Turn the Page

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fe7yOccqdxI

Peck_Time · #7 01-19-2009, 02:00 PM

Tell him about this sax forum:

http://www.saxontheweb.net/vbulletin/

IMO, it's the best sax site on the web (OK apart from http://www.saxpics.com/ )

Jeff Martinez · #8 01-19-2009, 02:13 PM

Nothing wrong with "The Pink Panther". Manicini is probably my favorite 20th century composer.

I'd recommend checking out some old Boots Randolph recordings. Aside from "Yakety Sax", a lot of the stuff he played is not too difficult to learn. Of course making it sound as good as he did is not so easy, but that's the same with any instrument. Sax was my first instrument, and I used to play a lot of Boots.

sarcastro83 · #9 01-19-2009, 02:55 PM

New York's Alright If You Like Saxhophones by Fear.

just kidding.

Deacon_Blues · #10 01-19-2009, 03:22 PM

Here's a few songs...:

Dire Straits - Your Latest Trick (Intro)
Candy Dulfer - Lily Was Here (smooth jazz warning! I don't like the song but it's rather easy)
King Curtis - Memphis Soul Stew (Love this song)
Cannonball Adderley - Sack O' Woe
John Coltrane - Naima, Giant Steps

These have pretty nice and powerful, (but ultra-commercial) sax solos:
T'Pau - China In Your Hand
Celine Dion - I Don't Know (from 'Falling Into You')
Tina Turner - The Best

Edit: Talk him into buying a few old Tower Of Power classics too, and you can start a funk band.

CamMcIntyre · #11 01-20-2009, 08:13 PM

Abersold Play-A-Long Volume 54 "Maiden Voyage". It has Summer Time, Doxy, and several other easier tunes.

My Dad recently started to learn how to play Alto. Once he learns more of the notes, I recommended this Abersold & then a Real Book. The first tune I told him to check out was 'When I Fall In Love' as it's not very notey and sounds great.