elizabeth! » saxophone

Meet the Brainchildren: Dan Schlessinger

elizabeth — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 20:31:59 +0000

Dan Schlessinger and I met in the winter of 2001, and have been musical colleagues and friends ever since! He’s a fantastic musician and a super-smart guy, so he’s a lot of fun to be around!

He moved to San Francisco a few years ago to add electrical engineering and microphone design to his resume (he now works for Sennheiser), so we don’t get to play as often. But I just couldn’t imagine “Eye for an Eye” without him on soprano saxophone, and asked him to add his two cents from afar. Check it out!

His great new album, “Sailors Gone” (under the name Dan Moses), features me on trombone and backing vocals. Listen to “Bold, Bold Step” for a great introduction. If you’re in the San Francisco area, catch Dan! Here he is this past weekend at the NAMM conference with Kay Ashley (left) and Kate Kilbane, also great musicians and songwriters.

Inspiring Female Musicians

elizabeth — Wed, 28 Apr 2010 00:04:52 +0000

When I tell someone that I play the trombone and sing for a living, some people look at me as though I have 3 heads.

Female instrumentalists have a hard time breaking through into the consciousness of the general public. But there are amazing women working in this business, and I plan to spotlight several of them in the coming months.

Here’s a short list of inspirations to get your learning started (or continued). These women happen to be mostly based in the jazz world, but women are in all genres!

TRUMPET
Kiku Collins
Ingrid Jensen
Cameron Harder Handel

SAXOPHONE
Jane Ira Bloom
Jessy J
Layla Angulo
April Leslie
Anat Cohen
Jessica Lurie

TROMBONE
elizabeth!
Jen Baker
Sarah Morrow

PIANO
Dawn Clement
Yayoi Ikawa

BASS
Debbie Kennedy
Hagar Ben-Ari
Katie Thiroux

DRUMS
Allison Miller
Sylvia Cuenca

GUITAR
Amanda Monaco
Mary Halvorson

This is just a tiny fraction of currently working women… please add a comment with more of your favorites!

Flame-O-Phone

elizabeth — Sat, 20 Feb 2010 05:01:24 +0000

Wow. My friend Stefan Zeniuk has done something pretty darn awesome involving a bari sax and … well… FIRE.

Check it out!

Or read his own words …