So, I took the new bass sax to my rehearsal band last night. I played it on some of the slower moving ballads instead of baritone.
The bass sax really has a "presence" that the bari doesn't - and I was playing the same notes. I don't think it's just about loudness either, as this is apparent even at low dynamic levels. And while I've been playing primarily baritone for 30 years, I've been playing bass sax for 6 weeks now, and I don't think I've got the setup nailed yet, and I'm still working on tone and control. So it seems like the "bass-ness" of the bass sax overcomes some of my current deficiencies in being able to play it.
I had theorized for years that the bass role that the baritone often plays in the sax section, might be better served by using an actual bass instrument rather than the bari sax. On this extremely limited experience I may have been right.
Of course, I now have a "low A" (actually a low concert C, low D on the big boy). I did not run into any cases where the line wanted to go on down to "G" (concert Bb) but I am looking forward to being able to play those kinds of lines along with the bass trombone, rather than having to break the line at low A or low Bb (concert C or Db).
Has anyone else used bass sax to play baritone sax parts and what was your experience?
The bass sax really has a "presence" that the bari doesn't - and I was playing the same notes. I don't think it's just about loudness either, as this is apparent even at low dynamic levels. And while I've been playing primarily baritone for 30 years, I've been playing bass sax for 6 weeks now, and I don't think I've got the setup nailed yet, and I'm still working on tone and control. So it seems like the "bass-ness" of the bass sax overcomes some of my current deficiencies in being able to play it.
I had theorized for years that the bass role that the baritone often plays in the sax section, might be better served by using an actual bass instrument rather than the bari sax. On this extremely limited experience I may have been right.
Of course, I now have a "low A" (actually a low concert C, low D on the big boy). I did not run into any cases where the line wanted to go on down to "G" (concert Bb) but I am looking forward to being able to play those kinds of lines along with the bass trombone, rather than having to break the line at low A or low Bb (concert C or Db).
Has anyone else used bass sax to play baritone sax parts and what was your experience?