Greg Fishman InterviewI did an interview with Chicago based tenor saxophonist and educator Greg Fishman this last week. It will appear at [link] and one of my other sites: [link] I’m still editing it at the moment but there’s some great stuff in it.
Is The Mark VI the greatest horn ever?I posted this in response to someone’s question about why the Mark VI is considered to be one of the great horns.The Mark VI is probably the most famous horn because it had “it”. To really understand it you also have to understand what was going on with saxophones at the time the VI came out. Conn and Buescher were just starting to decline in 1954. Martin would not be far behind them. SML and Buffet and the other French makes weren’t as popular as Selmer.The Mark VI has some of the best keywork of all time. The VI was the first model with tilting table keys. The horn was comfortable to play and followed the well respected Super Balanced Action and Super Action. If you wanted a pro horn in 1960 there really was only one choice. Selmer.JL basically hit it on the head on what seperates my Selmer’s from my wonderful Buescher’s. Resonance. There is a certain ring to my VI’s that none of my other horns have in the same way. It’s a pleasing ring. The keywork is very comfortable and is very quick. These horns handle like a great European sports car. Nimble, light, can flat out move when the need to. Sexy. Fun to drive.My Buescher’s are fun to play and my Aristocrat 140 is a focused monster of sound that can ring when I hit the sweet spot. The sweet spot on my VI alto (87k) just seems easier to hit.The VI has a focused tone and is a very versatile horn. Check out [link] for his take on what makes the VI great.Now here’s where the fun starts.Is the VI the greatest horn every made? Probably not. It might be. It might not. It depends on what you think makes a horn great. Someone who loves the tone of a 10M or Buescher 400 TH&C tenor or Martin tenor might find the VI to be lacking in the power department. Those horns roar like a jet. They have a totally different vibe going.The VI altos are probably the stars of the line. Mule had a role in designing the horn so classical players from the french school swear by them. Many of the great jazz artists played them. They are extremely versitile but you already know that because I said it earlier. Some Selmer alto fans prefer the SBA’s over the VI. The same goes for Selmer tenor fans. The SBA’s can also be truly great horns. Coltrane played one on most of his most important recordings. Desmond played a SBA alto.The VI bari’s don’t have quite the same following as the altos and tenors but remain impressive horns. The difference is that the all time Hall of Fame Bari is the Conn. Check out why Mulligan kept playing his Conn instead of a Selmer. You wouldn’t refuse a VI bari but you might consider a host of other viable alternatives more readily than with the altos and tenors.The ugly step child of the VI’s is the soprano. The design really wasn’t updated for the VI and that’s probably mostly due to the fact that the soprano had become the ugly step child of the saxophone family right around when Sidney moved to Europe. Vintage Conns, Bueschers, Martin and even Kings can go toe to toe with VI sopranos and generally play better. Coltrane and a host of other players who re-popularized the soprano in the 1960’s played VI’s but that doesn’t mean you have to or that you or anyone else should.Keep this in mind. The design of the Mark VI is the most copied design in saxophone history. It had a profound impact upon all other horns that followed it. It was so popular that players want Selmer to bring it back and haven’t quite flocked to any of their subsequent offerings until the Serie III horns and Reference horns. Both of which have a more VI like feel than the horns that came in between. They’re not VI’s but they are as close as Selmer has come.In terms of alternatives, the most VI like horn on the market today is probably the 82Z from Yamaha. The altos and the tenors feel like a VI and basically act like a VI. I don’t think they have the same resonance of a good VI but they are pretty close. The Yamaha 62 has a very VI like feel as well but the 82Z seems even better. Yanagisawa’s also have the VI thing going in terms of feel but their sound seems to be lighter. Their Bari’s and Soprano’s are some of the best instruments made today.There’s lots of great horns out there. Play as many as you can and buy what you like. Practice on it so much that you wear it out and then get another one.
Twitter: ejsvoboda