While I am no Roland Kirk, I happy to say I am something of a multi – instrumentalist playing in order of aquisiton: Tenor Saxophone, Alto Saxophone, Clarinet, Bass Guitar, Harmonica and the Banjo. Why so many? Well, the reeds go hand in hand, the Tenor was my first and most loved of my instruments. I loved that robust tone from the horn ever since I first heard the opening bars of John Coltrane’s seminal masterpiece Blue Train. Many of my favourite musicians are Tenor players and each has a very interesting individual tone to them. Ben Webster weeps, Pres is wistful, Sonny Rollins is very fierce, Coleman Hawkins growls and so on…
The bass guitar was a very late addition after spending a huge amount of time listening to jazz-funk-rock band Weather Report and got very interested in the game changing bassist Jaco Pastorius, who was very possibly the original wacko Jaco. He was a talented musician but blighted by the condition we now call Bi-Polar. Certainly the stories towards the end of his life are quite hair raising and his erratic behaviour and self destruction lead to his premature death at 34.
While my music inclination is merely a hobby I do have the urge to pick up the horn again and start to Jam.
