What makes a great musician?
In my opinion, it is creativity – pushing the boundaries of the musical
genre or even the instrument itself. Oh,
it also helps if they are Canadian. Ok,
so Colin Stetson was not born Canadian, but he is one on paper, having become a
Canadian resident as a result of falling in love with a certain Sarah Neufeld
(Vancouver-born violinist of Arcade Fire).
I can accept that – a Canadian in the name of love.
Stetson is a prodigy saxophonist and has found his success
through playing with various artists such as Arcade Fire, Bon Iver, Feist, and
has recently broken out as a solo artist in 2008 with his album entitled New History Warfare, Vol.
1 and a follow up in 2011 with New History Warfare, Vol 2: Judges. Here is an example of Stetson’s solo
work from his most recent album. Some love it (myself included), others hate it.
What say you?
I personally love it when a whole bunch of people play one instrument...that's creative, yeah? :) Like this: http://youtu.be/0VqTwnAuHws
ReplyDeleteAwesome! Here is another along those lines that I thought you'd appreciate....so good!!
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Is Stetson circular breathing? Is this common saxophone technique?
ReplyDeleteDanielle - glad you asked (as I had meant to make a comment about this anyway!). Yes, he is using circular breathing. It is a technique that is used by some wind instrument players (i.e., woodwinds and brass instruments) Fun fact that I know: the longest note ever played on the saxophone held in the Guinness book of world records goes to Kenny G due to circular breathing (45 minutes and 47 seconds - ok, that I had to look up)
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