A True Bari Story: Every alto player knows if you raise your left leg, lean the horn to the left, then half cover the bell, you can get a low A if needed. ...SO... a few years ago I was setting in with a very nice big band that featured some heavy hitters from the Cleveland Jazz Orchestra. On one particular passage, there was a two measure power moment that called for a low A from the bari... which I didn't have since I was playing an old Zephyr at the time... I noticed that the 2nd tenor man next to me had a middle G in the same measures, so I proposed to him: "Hey, let's do a Roland Kirk thing here. You play the G with your right hand, then stick your left hand into my bell so I can bark the A... His initial response was: "HEY! I've got my own job to do over here!"... so when the time came, I poked him in the ribs, leaned the bell over & he did it!!!!
We later experimented with making a sort of mute using construction paper inserted into the bell to extend the tube making the low A possible. The lead alto guy who is a monster player with a doctorate in music performance gave us a look which expressed he wasn't impressed, so we abandoned the project.
The only honorable thing to do was.... buy a bari with a low A, so I did.
We later experimented with making a sort of mute using construction paper inserted into the bell to extend the tube making the low A possible. The lead alto guy who is a monster player with a doctorate in music performance gave us a look which expressed he wasn't impressed, so we abandoned the project.
The only honorable thing to do was.... buy a bari with a low A, so I did.