Saxaphone vs. Trumpet...Which do you prefer?


It’s not the first time I’ve thought about it, but it came up again last night as I was listening to Quintessence volume 2, Stan Getz and Chet Baker recorded live. (an amazing disc) I have to say that for myself, I prefer the saxophone because it seems capable of infinite textures and subtle shadings as well as eye opening dynamic shifts. Of course I love the trumpet too; especially in the hands of a player like Chet Baker.


128x128roxy54

Showing 3 responses by bdp24

the doors did not have a bass player in live performance (Manzarek played the bass parts on, not his cheesy Farfisa organ, but on the almost-as-cheesy Fender Keyboard Bass which sat atop his organ. Live, it sounded somewhat like a child’s toy version of the Rhodes electric piano), but they absolutely did in their recordings (not all---Manzarek did play that horrid Keyboard Bass on some of their songs.). Uncredited on the albums of course, but subsequently identified. A number of them, infact.

@roxy54, Bruce Botnick was the recording engineer on the doors (I’m spelling it as they did---with a lower case d, as homage to e e Cummings, I believe. Yes, Morrison was a tad pretentious ;-) albums. They had a number of different bass players on their recordings, including Larry Knechtel (The Wrecking Crew) and guitarist Lonnie Mack.

I twice saw the doors live, and ’cause my momma taught me to not speak ill of the dead (though I above made an exception for Morrison), I won’t say anything about Manzarek. ;-) . Let me just add that Jerry Garcia also didn't care for the doors.

The most fun band I was ever in had two sax players---a tenor and a baritone. Great combination sound, heard on a lot of 50's Rock 'n' Roll records (Little Richard a personal favorite). The band, a Jump Blues/Swing combo, added a trumpet, and none of us dug it.

The worst fad in Rock was when hippie bands started adding a flute to their instrumental line-up. I was in one of those, too, and had to put my foot down. The bass player backed me up, so the flute was out. Too feminine. ;-)