When Usher played the Park MGM in Las Vegas where he’s doing his sell-out residency this year, the sax player up there on stage with him was Mike Burton.
You’re probably wondering how to get a sax gig like that. I know I am! I mean, can you imagine doing that gig? Whether you are an Usher fan or not, that has to be one of the coolest gigs in the world to do right now.
Well lucky for you, I actually asked Mike to do a special masterclass recently for our Sax School PRO members. And in today’s video I’m going to share with you some clips from that session that I think will help us both to understand Mike’s journey from beginner to doing this crazy gig.
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Learning Gospel Sax
Now of course Mike is an INCREDIBLE sax player. But to really understand his journey we also need to know more about how he THINKS about saxophone, improvising and learning. And for that we need to go back a bit first.
The main reason I asked Mike to come talk to our Sax School PRO members was actually because he’s an awesome “Gospel” sax player, and that’s something our members are really interested in.
In fact, our SSPRO members have been working on a Gospel Sax Challenge. So Mike was the perfect guy to help everyone understand that style.
Mike’s saxophone journey
Mike had some amazing experiences as a young musician that really shaped his approach to playing. Check this out:
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“I was born and raised in Mississippi and my Mom was an original member of the Mississippi Massed Choir – a world famous choir. And when I was a kid they had a number 1 album in the country for a year straight,” explains Mike. “So I was 10 or 11 years old, and I was going to rehearsals with her, travelling to different cities on the bus with them and … being part of it. And so it had a major impact on me.”
Then Mike’s musical education shifted up a gear. “My parents insisted I went to a performing arts high school…I started learning about jazz theory and history. I was checking out Charlie Parker and learning about these great jazz musicians. I was taking that stuff and I was still going to church on Sundays. So I started to play for the offering or the sermonic hymn.”
Developing as a Gospel Sax player
So you can see that Gospel sax is a big part of Mike’s background and actually that was the main reason why I asked him to come do come talk to our Sax School PRO members.
I’m often asked by our members how to get started with Gospel Saxophone. And our members have been doing a Gospel Sax Challenge this past month. So, Mike was the perfect guy to show our members some secret tactics that helped them really move forward.
I wanted to know though how growing up in that Gospel choir environment helped him as a pro sax player in other styles. “It definitely gave me my own sound,” says Mike. “The whole church thing is like ear training – it’s like on the job training! I wasn’t reading music in church. You have to react. If the Pastor does something, you have to react to that. If the organ plays something, or if someone’s singing, you want to accompany them but don’t get in the way….And when it’s time for me to play the solo or the hymn, I have to really play the melody, so the congregation can recognise the melody and relate to what I’m playing. You really want to relate to your audience.”
Mike takes a lot of his influences from singers such as Frank Williams, (founder of the Mississippi Massed Choir), Revd James Moore, and Kim Burrell. “As well listening to my saxophone heroes such as Charlie Parker and Dexter Gordon, I was listening to these Gospel singers and putting that into my playing,” says Mike.
Developing your sax playing – advice from Mike
So just in case you missed that – there were two amazing pieces of advice from Mike when it comes to developing your saxophone playing.
- Understand the melody and think about how you relate to your audience for the style you are playing
- Learn as much as you can from the singers you love in a style. Modelling them and transcribing by ear is an amazing way to understand any style from Gospel to Hip Hop.
So now that we understand more about how Mike thinks about music, what can we learn from him about how to get a sax gig like the one in Las Vegas we talked about earlier?
My first tour out of college was with UniverSoul Circus for 2 years… that’s what got me to Atlanta, Georgia because the tour was based out of there. So I moved there.. and I hit the jam sessions, and I was networking…”
Listening to Mike’s story, he made so many great connections that led amazing gigs and tours, through going to jam sessions and meeting other musicians. His career has included touring with Jill Scott, Mary J Blige, Anita Baker, Patti La Belle and now Usher.
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When it comes to how to get gigs on sax, Mike is clear there’s one vital ingredient. “It’s all about relationships,” he says, “being a man of my word, know my music, be on time, and hopefully folks like my playing too.”
How to get a sax gig
Oh man i love that. It’s such great, simple advice. And it’s the sort of thing we often hear from the amazing players we get to do masterclasses for Sax School PRO.
So lets do a quick recap:
- Get good musical foundations – whether you learn online like Sax School or in your Community or family.
- Focus on the melody and be aware of how you connect with your audience
- Learn from singers in your style
- Take playing opportunities and use those to meet new people
- Be active at jam sessions and use these to grow your network
- Be ready and on top of your skills so when the opportunity comes along (and it will) you’ll be ready to rock it!
- It’s all about relationships – be on time, professional and easy to get along with.
I have to say it has been exactly the same in my career. You never know when you’ll have that random conversation at a gig or jam session that leads to an incredible opportunity.
So be ready and take it!
Next steps
And if you need some help along the way come and see what we are doing in Sax School PRO.
In fact, as a member you can see the rest of this masterclass. It’s packed with so much amazing info. Mike really digs into his process of transcribing from singers by ear and transferring that style to his sax. It’s fantastic.