Like a lot of teenagers, I used to think the saxophone was pretty cheesy. A little too emotive for its own good. But as I enter my early twenties, I'm starting to really become attracted to the instrument. I like its darker side, the mellow and deep notes. Still not so much a fan of, say, soprano sax, though I'm open to the idea. I'm looking for a good mix of saxophone not as the main instrument, but rather integrated into the song. A perfect example of the type of song I'm talking about is located here, free for anyone to listen: http://www.myspace. com/aparticularlyviciousrumor

Listen to the song at the top of the list, "Everything That Rises Must Converge." The saxophone comes in really heavily about halfway through, and is a prominent presence thereafter. I think it really sounds fantastic.

I'm not really into most jazz, and I'm definitely not into ska. Any good collections of songs out there with a mellow sax theme? Help me out! :)

Sax-a-ma-phooonnne.

I used to manage a British sax player, Dick Heckstall-Smith. Dick played Jazz and blues, tenor, baritone and a little alto. I am very biased, but he was an awesome musician. One thing about him was that even on his own recording, he wanted the whole band to feature. He particularly liked the dynamic created when a sax and guitar intertwine. Anyway, his last solo album, "Blues and Beyond" featured a lot of the blues and rock musicians that he had worked with during his long career. It isn't jazz, although Dick's playing always displayed his jazz influences, and it is pretty accessible. Even on the pretty stuff, I would not describe his playing as mellow, in fact I used to make him laugh by dubbing him 'The Anti-Kenny G." It is still available from amazon, but I will sendspace a couple of tracks.

Ooh, I don't know how sendspace works, but I wanna here me somma that.

http://www.s endspace.com/file/ia5nro for three tracks from Dick Heckstall-Smith's 'Blues and Beyond'