Sax School Legend Larry joined Sax School to add some fun back into his saxophone practice.
Everyone needs something that makes sax practice fun if you’re going to stay motivated – even if you’re an advanced player. So I was really excited to chat to our June Legend Larry about his experience with Sax School.
We have so many different types of students we’ve got in Sax School. We’ve got people that are just getting started. We’ve got people who are coming back to saxophone, who are joining Sax School to get back into their love of saxophone. And then we’ve got other people who are a long way on their journey with saxophone already. And they’re still using Sax School to improve, and connect with other musicians.
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Larry Eckert, from New York in the United States, is definitely in that third category. I wanted to find out more about his background. I also want to celebrate the fact that he’s sharing amazing videos in our community, inspiring our other members, and doing collaborations with other members that are just fantastic.
Larry’s musical background
Larry’s shared some great videos in our Sax School Community. Recently he made a great video of ‘We’re In This Love Together,’ as well as a great collaboration with Sax School member Andy in Australia, on ‘The Jody Grind’. I can hear that Larry’s not new to the sax, wanted to know about Larry’s background on saxophone.
“I started on clarinet as a kid around fourth grade,” says Larry. “My Dad had played years ago through college too.” After 4 years on clarinet, Larry picked up the saxophone.
Through school, music was a big part of Larry’s life. “I played in bands, and I played in a rock band. I was playing a little bit of keyboard and I assure you, I am not a keyboard player!…My background was pretty traditional, with classical clarinet and classical saxophone. I also played in a jazz band when I was in High School.”
Larry moved on to college to study music on both clarinet and saxophone. “I played in the jazz band there, which was great. You know, I don’t know whether you’re familiar with the movie ‘Whiplash’…Well, Hank Levy, who was the person who wrote Whiplash was the jazz director at the college that I went to in Maryland. He was well known as a writer for Stan Kenton and played baritone for him”.
After a year or so, Larry decided to change his major at university – and that had an impact on his music. “I continued playing as long as I could,” says Larry. “I played with some variety bands on the weekends, and that sort of thing. But eventually, school got the better of me … And my playing slowed down”.
A change of direction
So, after a change of direction, Larry went to law school.
“I was not playing very much,” says Larry. “Some friends would ask me to play from time to time… I played on a friend’s senior recital for college. But my own playing really slowed.”
Working as a lawyer for a government agency in the United States, Larry’s work was very demanding. However, he still tried to fit playing saxophone into his life. “I was playing on weekends and I was teaching a bit….I started taking some lessons again and I hooked up with a horn band. We were doing a lot of soul stuff and Tower of Power and Chicago and playing just about every weekend.”
Larry was lucky to get the opportunity to learn with one of his saxophone heroes. “One of my idols as a kid was Chris Vadala, who is a saxophone player for Chuck Mangione. ..I found out that he was teaching at the university that was right up the road from me. So I spent 2 or 3 years studying privately with him while I was still working [as a lawyer]. …He was a great teacher, a great person and a great musician.”
Different genres
Throughout his saxophone journey, Larry has played different styles of music from classical, to commercial, to Tower of Power. But it was at college that he discovered jazz.
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“I didn’t know all that much about jazz – although I played in a jazz band as a High School student – until I got to college,” says Larry. “And that’s when a teacher made me a tape of Cannonball Adderley and Phil Woods – and those kinds of things. And after that, that’s probably where I wanted to head, even though I was still playing all these other styles.”
Now Larry has more time for his saxophone, he’s focusing on jazz. “I am playing more straight-ahead jazz. But I do love the other genres of music and that was one of the things I found enticing about what was going on in Sax School,” Larry explains.
Transcribing
For the video of ‘We’re In This Love Together’ which Larry shared recently in our Sax School Community, he transcribed the melody and the solo himself. “I used the Al Jarreau version…” explains Larry. “I think I that in my head because I had listened to that so many times years ago. So I did that transcription in maybe an hour.”
Collaboration
Larry recently shared a great collaboration of ‘The Jody Grind’ with Andy from Australia. “I’d been a member of Sax School for a couple of months, …and I saw people were doing collaborations. So I asked Andy if he wanted to do something together,” explains Larry. “Andy suggested we do one every month!”
On their latest collaboration, Andy asked a friend, Warren, to play guitar. With Warren in New Zealand, Andy in Australia, and Larry in the United States, this is a truly international project.
Larry is enjoying the process of collaborating. “It makes me focus a lot on things that I might not otherwise focus on,” says Larry.”‘The Jody Grind‘ is a blues, so it’s not too difficult chord-wise. We’ve been trying to do things that are more accessible because we don’t have a lot of time. But it makes me sit down and think about the chords, working through things slowly… Then I get together with Andy to figure out the best way to put it together.”
In ‘The Jody Grind’ Larry plays a great improvised alto solo.”I would be lying to say that I didn’t spend a little bit of time trying to work out some ideas and see what sounded good,” explains Larry. “but it’s like you have an idea of what you want to say, and then it comes out completely different when you play it!”
It’s a great idea to commit to these kind of projects consistently, because it pushes you to come up with new ideas, and also to finish the projects quickly. As well as pushing yourself out of your comfort zone and learning some new skills, you’re building relationships with other musicians.
Sharing collaboration videos in our Sax School community inspires other members, and they give feedback too – so it helps everybody.
The Sax School experience
It’s clear that Larry is a more advanced player so I wanted to know how Sax School has been helping him. What is it about Sax School which made his sax practice fun?
“It’s the fun part,” says Larry. “I joined Sax School because I was getting the emails,… and I saw the ‘Dolphin Shoals’ transcription. And I was like, wow, this is different! I’ve never done something like that. I’m going to transcribe this!”
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‘Dolphin Shoals’ [the theme from Mario Kart] was one of the first videos which Larry posted in our Community as a member of Sax School. “I decided that I wanted to make my sax practice fun,” explains Larry. “Quite honestly, I was getting a little too serious!”
Sax School was just what Larry needed to add some fun to his saxophone practice. ” We were in the midst of COVID and I was doing the straight-ahead jazz practicing when I could. And I decided I wanted to try some other stuff. So when I looked around the [Sax School] site and I saw all the various materials that were there, and the challenges and the incredible masterclasses, I figured this would be a nice place to just sort of do something a bit different.”
Larry has also found inspiration in our Sax School Community. “The Community has been an unbelievable bonus. The people in the community are just incredible,” says Larry..”It’s very inspiring to see people at all different levels – those just starting, those who’ve been playing for years and years – and they really enjoy what it is they’re doing. And it reminds me why it is that I picked up the saxophone all those years ago. And so I want to continue to do that.”
Making sax practice fun
Getting inspiration like this is really important when it comes to staying motivated with your sax practice, as Larry explains. “It’s easy to be excited about something when you’re first starting. It’s difficult to be excited about it after you’ve been doing it for 15, or 20 years and the progress doesn’t come quite as quickly. When you’ve been playing a while, to move that meter just a little bit is hard.”
For Larry, Sax School has made his sax practice fun, which is what he needed to stay motivated. “[Sax School] has injected the fun into my practice, and that wasn’t there before. I think what you’re doing is incredible. I wish a resource like this had been available when I was a kid, because I had all kinds of questions and there was nobody to ask them to!”
Advice to new Sax School Members
I asked Larry for his tips for new members to help them get the most out of all the resources available inside Sax School.
“Everything somebody needs, I think is right in Sax School. So if somebody is starting out, all of the materials are there,” says Larry.
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Larry’s Tips
- You don’t have to do everything at once. Choose 1 or 2 things and focus on them – then when you’re ready, move onto the next thing
- Don’t get distracted by what other people are doing
- Listen to the masterclasses
- Post in the Community. Recording is a wonderful thing –I can’t tell you how much I’ve learned just about my playing from posting in the Community.
I hope Larry keeps going with those collaborations and sharing videos because I know it’s a massive inspiration for our Sax School members and the tutors too! Congratulations to Larry on being our Legend this month.
Do you want to make your sax practice fun like Larry? Get started with Sax School