Solo Saxophone Vol. 1
Live at An Die Musik
Purchase on Bandcamp / Preview Here
Derrick Michaels: tenor & soprano saxophones, compositions
SOLO:
“10 years ago to the day, I played my first improvised solo saxophone set — at the Red Room in Baltimore.
Playing "a Capella" on a monophonic instrument is a tall order. There's no one to lean on, no one to borrow ideas from, no one to defer to. It's you, your instrument, the acoustic space, and the music, itself.
My solo performing experience brought me the honor of opening for Susan Alcorn's "Soledad" release (again at Red Room), and also the release show for Dave Ballou's "Solo Trumpet", both in 2015. These felt like the apex of what I might accomplish "alone", but I had this gnawing sense of dissatisfaction that I wasn’t going deep enough with the horn just yet. The music felt constricted by my limitations.
I spent the several years that followed collaborating with a ton of amazing creative people and soaking up their creative mojo, but I always relished my time alone — with a horn in a room — to reconcile where I was with where I wanted to be. By early 2020, I felt ready to take the solo venture seriously again, and we know what happened in March of that year...I got what I wanted, one way or another; plenty of time alone.
I am grateful to the folks who have supported this year's solo recording debut, and I appreciate the warm and uplifting feedback I've gotten from other musicians and listeners, alike.
It's incredible to have the gift of this opportunity to figure out who I am, and to have this music as such a great teacher along the way.
With that said...even when we are playing totally alone, one note at a time, everything we play is a reflection of all we've ever heard, and everyone we've ever played with. It's all in there, in our sound, our pacing, our conception. Our idea of our musical identity is an amalgam of our full gamut of collaborative experience.
So thank you to all of my collaborators from my youth up to today. I wouldn't be ME without YOU!”
Derrick Michaels, 2022
What People Are Saying:
“The greatest challenge for any musician is to play solo. There's no one else to support you, or hide behind. You can't take a break, or coast. You hear who an artist is, what they have to offer, and their will, when they play solo. Lester Bowie used to say you can hear every second of every minute of every hour a musician has practiced when they play a ballad. The same holds true playing by yourself. That's why very few attempt it, and even fewer thrive in that context. Please listen to my friend Derrick Michaels' new record. You’ll enjoy the journey.”
-Drummer Steve Olson
“Great record! Highly recommended!!!! I’ve been enjoying this recording for weeks now.”
- Drummer Tony Martucci
“It’s a thoroughly beautiful record. Intimate, warm, adventurous.”
- Saxophonist Nathan Hanson
“The sound is glorious Derrick. And the soprano track is superb.”
-Saxophonist Julien Wilson
“I LOVE your new solo release, it's gorgeous.”
-Saxophonist Catherine Sikora
“Been sitting on my desk a while waiting for an opportune moment, but finally listening to Derrick Michaels solo record - it's fantastic! Great tone and ideas and moods. Well done, Derrick!”
-Ian Raskin, President, Baltimore Jazz Alliance
Information
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1.Stockade 04:34
2.Arcana 03:20
3.Devotion 04:40
4.Impetus 04:56
5.Sonder 05:23
6.Chiaroscuro 10:37
7.Ambedo 06:39
8.Thay 06:27
9.Etterath 04:13
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Photography by Elena Volkova.
Music recorded Live at An Die Musik in Baltimore, MD by Andrew Bohman on October 26th, 2021
Compositions, Mixing, Production, and Graphic Design by Derrick Michaels.
Thank you for the artistry you all brought to this project with me.
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“This recording is my declaration of boundless love for the resonance and visceral beauty of the saxophone. The music documented here was performed live on October 26th, 2021, and is presented without edits or corrections of any kind.
These pieces were all improvised from scratch, exploiting a natural process of creative flow wherein the music seemed to play itself while I maintained my requisite suppleness of body and emptiness of mind. Employing a kaleidoscopic range of timbres, textures, melodies, and gestures, I expressed joy and gratitude for the intimate connections I had been developing with my nearly 100-year-old instruments.
In this state of flow, a natural balance unfolded, reconciling darkness and lightness, joy and melancholy, cacophony and silence. In tandem with the audience, I listened and reacted as the music appeared to dance and tussle between episodes of contemplative melodic probing and mercurial emotional turbulence. We always landed safe and sound — a phenomenon as reliable as the sunrise, which has never ceased to thrill and amaze me as both a performer and a listener.
In the mixing process, I favored the intimacy of my personal relationship with the sound as heard on stage, from behind the saxophone. My goal was to bring the listener on stage with me to hear each note and phrase as I heard it in the moment of conception. Beyond hearing the sounds, I wanted you to feel the horn vibrating in your body.
A vitality permeated this recording session which I owed to the presence of a live audience. This essential human exchange played an integral role in the genesis of the music, and I am deeply grateful to the friends and colleagues who brought their keen ears and open minds to the occasion. Thank you for amplifying the human element in this recording.
The listener will also notice ambient sounds on the recording that introduce the busy city streets of Baltimore into the sonic tapestry. I encourage you to welcome these sounds into the music. They contributed their own unmistakable energy to the arc of each piece, and added a sense of dimension that broadened the scope of this recording in a manner I could never have anticipated.
Thank you for listening, and I hope this music brings you peace and happiness, as it does for me.”
-Derrick Michaels (August 2022)
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Communing with these hand-finished mouthpieces and 1920’s vintage instruments has unlocked aspects of the saxophone which feel the most human, organic, and “vocal”.
Large-chambered mouthpieces with a relatively flat baffle area allow the sound to fill up an acoustic environment at a low-medium volume level — maintaining a rich low end across the range of the horn without losing warmth and fullness to an overabundance of harsh high overtones.
Vintage American saxophones facilitate a large range of timbres, colors, and nuances in both pitch and focus/density in the sound. Learning to play these instruments has opened up worlds of expression that I never knew were possible. I am seven years into that particular leg of my journey.
While modern saxophone sound conception is often bright, punchy, and focused (to the extreme of an almost “pointy” tone and articulation), these saxophones and mouthpieces (along with concentrated efforts in my personal practice) facilitate a deeper, warmer, and more enveloping sound with a broader and thicker articulation. This allows me to blend as well as cut in ensemble situations, while for solo playing it allows a full spectrum tone with a rich balance of lows, mids, and highs without being imbalanced in either direction.
The Equipment
1927 Conn New Wonder II tenor
(tracks 1,2,4,6,9)
1925 Buescher True Tone tenor
(tracks 3,8)
1926 Buescher True Tone soprano
(tracks 5,7)
Mouthpieces
Morgan 6C tenor
Theo Wanne 7 Ambika soprano
(both large chamber, minimal baffle)
Hemke 2.5 reeds