Curt Altarac, Wayne Leechford, Matt Scott



The other day, I had a talk with a player while I was working on his horn. After a few hours of sitting there talking, the player said to me, “You should be taking notes on this...” Of course he was joking but it got me thinking. Maybe I should be taking notes. I mean people, like you, might want to know who comes into the shop and what they think about this or that. So, I promised myself that next time I have an interesting conversation with a customer/client/player or teacher, that others might like to hear about, I would make a blog entry.

Here's that blog entry and the first ever (drum roll) Benchside Interview.

-Note that a Bench side interview differs from a regular interview in that it is the result of a discussion that happened during some repair work. For this interview, no notes were taken and these thoughts are just from my memory of a great discussion I had with Saxophonist and teacher Wayne Leechford.

Aside from having the opportunity to work on the coolest saxophones anywhere, one of the great pleasures of having a pro-shop is that we get to talk with many of the worlds finest players and teachers. The even cooler thing is when these players are right here in our area. Wayne is both in our area and a superstar. Today Wayne came in to have a few leaks taken out and let us have a look at some instruments that we have not worked on. Knowing this area of North Carolina, I started talking with Wayne about what it is to be a full time musician and teacher. Wayne plays woodwinds for a living and maintains the largest teaching studio of anyone I know. Wayne's gigs are far reaching and many of his students go on to study music at the university level.

One of the reasons that hWayne's successful career as a musician and teacher is so fascinating to me is that Wayne is a lot like me. I mean to say that Wayne is a Bari player, he takes gigs on classical and Jazz saxophone, teaches saxophone and Wayne seems to love all things saxophone. Of course, one way that Wayne is a lot different than me is that Wayne is a full time musician with no day job.

Speaking with Wayne about the decision to become a full time musician has opened my eyes to an interesting concept. When I asked Wayne what made him consider becoming a full time musician, his answer was surprising. He couldn't quite put his finger on it. He told me a story about hearing his mentor James Houlik play for the first time and how that opened his eyes to the classical saxophone. Wayne also talked about his first musical influence, Grover Washington and how at one time, he wanted to sound just like Grover. But he couldn't say that any of these influences lead him directly to giving up his day job and taking on a career as a musician. It's interesting that one could venture into a world so diverse, dangerous, and unclear as that of the professional musician and not have a distinct turning point that forced the player to take that path. After talking to Wayne more, I think I figured out what it is that made him the outstanding player and teacher that he is today... A bachelors degree....

Unlike most musicians that come to my shop, Wayne has a degree in Business. In fact, Wayne Leechford has three degrees; he has the usual Bachelors and Masters in Music Performance but he also has a Bachelors degree in Business. When I discovered this the pieces started to fall into place. Wayne is an outstanding musician because his business sense allows him to be. When it comes to the ever important task of getting gigs, Wayne approaches things from a business standpoint. From talking to him, I don't believe that the prospect of failure was ever really a factor in his decision making. He approaches his music career with all the professionalism that any successful business person would approach any business and, as such he is a huge success!!



To learn more about Wayne Leechford, visit his website:
www.wayneleechford.com

The Rascher Saxophone Quartet!



Here's a cool and unusual modification we did in the New MusicMedic.com sax-repair-facility. The Bari in question belongs to our good friend and RooPad endorser, Kenneth Coon of the Rascher Saxophone Quartet. When we overhauled Ken's Bari we talked a lot about the wimpy brace that holds the bell and body together on Buescher Baris and how adding a new brace would sturdy the instrument and possibly improve the sound of the instrument. Since Ken's Bari is heavily modified already, adding a brace would not affect the resale value and we suppose that adding a brace would increase the value as now there is really no question that this is in fact, Kenneth Coon's Bari Sax.

What pushed the project forward was when Ken dropped the Bari traveling in Asia gigging with the Quartet. The horn was repaired locally as a quick fix. As soon as he could Ken came back to the states to have us get it really going. After fixing the bell dents, it was obvious that this would be the perfect time (it was Christmas time) to add the.... Merry X-Brace!


This picture was taken before the Brace was added.

This old pic of the bari shows it without the Brace.



Here is the Kens Bari Conn-0-fied... with a factory OEM X-brace cut, buffed, brazed and plated.


Here are a couple more shots of the Bari and the Brace. The guys at the Conn Factory would really appreciate this!


-Curt

The Saxophone Smackdown was great! Clinicians came from as far away as Chile to be part of what may be the biggest, and certainly the best, saxophone repair clinic of all time!

I'm completely amazed at how wonderful everyone was! If you're not a NAPBIRT member already you should consider joining. NAPBIRT is a one of a kind organization consisting of a bunch of friendly and knowledgeable technicians anxious to share their ideas.

I've been a NAPBIRT member for years and given clinics for them many times, so I knew that having a bunch of NAPBIRT techs here would be cool. But, none of us knew just know how much NAPBIRT fun we would have!

NAPBIRT rocks and technicians involved are outstanding! Here are some highlights from the MusicMedic.com Saxophone Smackdown....

Enjoy!

-Curt

Here is a letter I received from my Friend Sid this morning:

Wow!

I rolled in about 11pm last night. My wife and kids greeted me gleefully and then wife and 16 yr old daughter were off to bed. However my 20 yr old son hung out and asked a bout the clinic. When I finally shut up, he said... " Wow Dad, I don't think I've ever seen you this excited about what you do."

Thanks Curt. To You, the clinicians and your staff for an outstanding day.

I have no doubt that the investment in this trip will pay dividends in spades.

Very Best Regards,

Sid Marlin

Curt Altarac explaining the unique layout of the new MusicMedic.com sax-facility.


Jeff Peterson (Yamaha) and Steve Goodson (Saxgourmet) got into some great debates about saxophone design and manufacture.


That's Matt Scott (MusicMedic.com) mobbed by technicians wanting to learn about leveling tone holes.


Rich Zimmerman (of MusicMedic) shows Don Millhouser(San Francisco CA) and Ray Petro(Greensboro NC) how the new Vortex Air Torch works.

Curt Altarac (of MusicMedic) explains his octave pip experiment to a full house.

The Benny Hill Trio wowed the group with some outstanding playing. Benny is a RooPads endorser right here from Wilmington North Carolina.


Our friends Nicolas and Frances came all the way from Chile to share their ideas and learn from others!


From Left to Right, Fred Melk (Milwaukee WI) Mark Farmer (Olathe KS), Bob Frushour (Fredrick MD) and Jon Mills (Charlotte NC) enjoying some Flaming Amy's Burritos at the Key Work Bench.


Steve Goodson (New Orleans LA) Jeff Peterson (Buena Park CA) Curt Altarac (Wilmington NC) and Matt Stohrer(NYC) share their knowledge with the group durring an open Q&A session.


Dinner was a time to relax reflect and drink just a bit more....


Brandon Johnson, Melvin Benjamin, Pablo Lugones (Pacifica CA)


Matt Stohrer sharing ideas with Don LePage(Shelby MI), Jon VanBuren(Winston Salem) and Jeff Reitz(Eau Claire WI) over an excellent dinner.


Curt Altarac in a heated discussion with Lee Kramka(San Francisco CA) and Steve Collins (Birmingham AL)

Even Matt's Baby Claire has a tall drink.

Here we are, the day before the big NAPBIRT regional clinic at MusicMedic.com and the weather is getting bad:

The band is ready to play, the girls at Flaming Amy's are ready with 50 Burritos, a case of wine is here waiting, some of the clinicians are already in town and the MusicMedic.com regional clinic is about to be underway.

That said, there are some folks that are asking if we will reschedule this event due to bad weather. If this were a normal NAPBIRT regional clinic, I would say it should be rescheduled. But, this is the SAXOPHONE SMACKDOWN! People are already here and coming to the shop. There are two techs from Chile who will be here in a couple of minutes, two techs from California are in town and one clinician from CA is in town. People are coming in from WI, OR, OH, VA, TN, NY, ABC, PDQ, you name it.

So, we're going to go on with the clinic.

That said, if you're planning on driving in from PA or VA leave early. We have a pot of coffee on and will be here in the shop to greet you when you arrive.

Get over to MusicMedic.com now, -the weather here is chilly but quite nice.

We're here, set up and ready to rock. The NAMM show looks like it will be great! Thanks to all of you that helped get us here and a special thanks to the guys (and gal) at MusicMedic.com who are holding down the fort. You guys are the best!

We arrived early and got set up in good time. I haven't had a lot of time yet to look around and find friends, but I did see a few. Roger from P Mauriat stopped by to say hello. Steve Goodson and Ruben Allen are across the aisle from us and their booth looks great.

A lot of folks walking by on their way to set up their booths stopped to ask what the cool looking new tool is. I've already demonstrated it several times and the show hasn't ever started! We didn't bring any to sell but I've sold already started taking orders for them. It really adds excitement to the show when we so many new things. Oh, I didn't tell you about the new tool.... well you have to come to the NAMM show to find out how MusicMedic.com is revolutionizing woodwind padding! -or check out site next week!

Around the corner from us is a new booth for Drake Ceramic Mouthpieces. I'm excited to check them out.

The show gets hectic so be patient with me if you're sending an Email. I'll try and take more pictures and give more updates.

no promises...


On the way out, I snapped a few pics with my phone. Here's what the show looks like before all the people get there.









All the best!

-Curt