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Posted by stateofmusic@gmail.com on 12/06/06 07:29
So, just who is Saxsinger? Originally from Detroit, MI and currently
residing in San Antonio, Texas he is 39 year old Stanly Halaby II. He
is married and is currently the full time care giver to his wife who
has a disability. He has been a musician for almost all of his life.
Starting at age three playing his family's organ, he moved on to
learn the clarinet in the 5th grade, the bassoon in 6th grade, and the
saxophone in the 7th grade. He mainly played the bassoon until he
entered college where he finally settled on the tenor sax as his
primary instrument. He studied music in college for seven years and
then served in the US Air Force for seven years as a linguist and
computer tech. He worked as a computer tech for several years after
that before becoming disabled in 2003. Since then he has devoted his
time to taking care of his wife, making his wonderful music and
communicating with others via the internet. Essentially, he has been a
musician for the last 27 years of his life!
Stan lists some of his musical jazz influences as Michael Becker, Bob
Berg, David Sanborn, Dave Koz, Gerald Albright, and Najee. In other
genres, he loves well written music with quality. He's studied great
song writers such as Irving Berlin and Cole Porter, Elton John/Bernie
Taupin, Billy Joel, Bill Withers, Carole King, Paul Simon, James
Taylor, Jackson Browne, Stevie Wonder, and even John Mayer.
Welcome Stan! Here are some of the questions we here at DM would like
to ask you:
Q: Do you have a personal philosophy about music? If so, what is it?
A: Oooo this is a loaded question! I don't know how many people know
this, but an article was brought into the university I attended by the
jazz director about a change in how 'popular recorded music' was to be
implemented by the major labels.. and by the big music industry in
general. There was a term invented to describe it - "disposable
music". Like a Dixie cup, a razor, a drinking straw... if the music
was too 'memorable' and quality-written, it wasn't to be used anymore;
not enough fast income to be derived from it from a
business-standpoint. Remember the 60s with the Beatles and British
Invasion groups with so much memorable music? Or the 70s with great
bands like the Eagles or Elton John, the 80s with Jackson Browne or
Stevie Wonder (big in the 70s too)? As soon as the 90s hit, big music
industry put 'disposable music' into play... 'flash in the pan-on to
the next one!' mentality... and it's even worse today! Do you even
remember a song by the Backstreet Boys or NSYNC? You're not supposed
to! It's disposable! They're used for the life of the song(s), and then
thrown away! Maximum income from minimal effort! AND--no one wants to
cover these songs--they're CRAP! SO MUCH CRAP is on 'popular Top 40'
radio! You won't see another 'Eagles' or 'Doobie Brothers' or big group
like that. We gotta listen to the 'classic rock stations' that have
popped up in recent times to hear them over and over, but that doesn't
help the new musician.. Also, in order for some artists to sell today,
Mr. Clive Davis of Arista Records is convincing vocalists to do COVER
TUNES!! And what do they cover? Songs from the 60s and 70s and 80s!!!
i.e., Rod Stewart, Clay Aiken, Barry Manilow... it's amazing. The only
time I've heard new quality music is if it comes up from independent
means. Like the bands Creed (too bad they broke up, but that happens),
Collective Soul, and Evanescence. (I hope I spelled that right)
Top 40 Music nowadays are really slickly produced, recorded, and
marketed in the best way money can buy, but for the most part it's crap
in a gilded box! You can spray perfume on it, put glitter on it, even
bejewel it...it's still CRAP!! The only salvation we have to fight this
is for independent music to bring back the quality over quantity
mentality.
Q: Do you play out live anywhere? If so, where?
A: I gigged for 20 years and stopped this year . I had to. 1. my
wife's health has deteriorated to where I need to stay with her all the
time and 2. I can't do anything that can be construed as 'work' for
fear that I can be jeopardizing my disability payments .. thus I play
and record for self-fulfillment--for free.
Q:Why is being an independent musician important to you?
A: I can do what I want, when I want.. No one telling me how, when,
where, or what to write or play! Maybe some of my music might entertain
as many people as possible one day...I'm not out for fame or fortune,
just to share my gift with the world as far as it'll go... I just take
things as they come.
Q:Tell me a little bit about your experience since joining the DM
community.
That's easy.. I love DMusic! A friend of mine suggested it and I
investigated, looking at the music shared by various artists here and
the comments made-- I was hooked. I immediately subscribed and started
sharing my music! I also love to collaborate and that is very much
encouraged here. I've always collaborated with musicians online with
musicians I hang out with on IRC (Internet Relay Chat) but DMusic is
better because of the ability to present your music on the web
worldwide. I even convinced a few of my online IRC buddies to join
DMusic and try to convince as many as I can to come! What I enjoy here
at DMusic is the variety of artists in different genres and the ability
to communicate with each other that I haven't seen on other 'music
sharing' sites. I love the sense of community here. You can send
'shouts' to anyone here or leave them a quick 'dnote' and they'll
usually get back with you quick if not immediately. The only thing I
wish DMusic had that I understand they DID have in the beginning but
was phased out from lack of use was IRC chat...but I compensate by
chatting with people from DMusic using my instant messengers! DMusic
has been the greatest place I've found on the net for my music! DJEV
took a liking to it and played it on her radio show, Tameasdust put it
in the morning rotation on the DMusic station, and DMusic has had me as
a main featured artist as well as the jazz genre featured artist for
some time now! I love it here and the people here are so great! DMusic
is my musical home!
Q:You felt welcomed then?
A: I've never been treated better, seriously.
Q: What was your initial reaction?
A: Well, being the 'new guy' I kind of looked around and saw who was
doing what and who was doing music I was interested in or was
interested in my music. Turned out the first two was Gene Hilbert and
Chillinbuzz. I approached them and was met with open arms and started
collaborating. The result is on our music pages. After that, other
people became interested in collaborating, Bluenevus, Snoogans775,
Rodrica (hers is coming up), etc. and I'm very happy to collaborate
with them!
Q: Do you think the internet has altered the path of music as an
industry? If so, how?
A: Yes it has.. Anyone can market their music directly to a world-wide
audience as they create and intend it to be heard. Never before in
history was there a vehicle for this other than being signed to a major
company that has the habit of bending artists to their will through
contracts that are not necessarily to the best interest of the artist.
Q: Any advice for other musicians out there when it comes to using the
internet as a medium for getting your music heard?
A: Come to DMusic! It's a great place to post your music and direct
people to come hear it--isn't it nice to have your own URL? for
instance, mine is http://saxsinger.dmusic.com ..with my own artist name
in the URL!! I don't know of any other music hosting site that offers
as much as DMusic does that does that for you. Now as far as
music-business stuff-as I explained earlier, I don't do music for
profit--just for personal fulfillment and enrichment so I don't pursue
business opportunities for my music. I just enjoy it being heard by as
many people as possible without profit.
Q: You play a mean sax! What kind of saxophone do you play?
A: I play a Selmer Paris Mark VI Tenor Sax with a Brilhart Level-Air
stainless steel mouthpiece with a 5* opening and Vandoren Jazz 3-1/2
reeds.. I also use Hempke 3-1/2 reeds but not on the recordings I've
done thus far on DMusic. I have good news! I've just purchased an Akai
Pro EWI 4000s for Christmas! EWI stands for 'Electronic Wind
Instrument' and it's not only a midi wind controller (similar to a
keyboard controller but played like a sax or clarinet) but it also has
a built-in analog modeling synth with expression tweaks to the patches.
With this instrument I can play solo synth lines like I play sax , with
all kinds of expression a wind controller can offer! So keep in mind
from now on I can play sax or EWI on future collaborations! the website
for this instrument is: http://www.akaipro.com/prodEWI4000S.php ...this
will explain the instrument in full detail.
Q: What kind of recording software do you use?
A: Well, I hope this doesn't sound too complicated: 1. I use Cakewalk
Sonar to write my music in midi and render midi-virtual synth (vsti or
dxi)- .wav; 2. If I use loops, I sometimes render midi-vsti-dxi-.wav +
loops in Sony (formerly Sonic Foundry) Acid Pro and use various
plug-ins when applicable; 3. sometimes I multi-track in Acid Pro (with
applicable plug-ins) but usually I'll render my tracks separately to
..wav so I can multi-track and record in Sony (formerly Sonic Foundry)
Vegas, using various applicable VST and DirectX plug-ins; 4. Finally, I
master my finished tracks in Steinberg Wavelab using my mastering
plug-ins The plug-ins I use for my virtual synths and processing for
recording and mastering vary song to song. If anyone has specific
questions with what I use, you can send me a dnote and I'll go through
what I did with the song with you .
Now, you ask, why don't I use something like Steinberg Nuendo or Cubase
SX because they're 'all-in-one' instead of my process? Simple...
First, it's what I've done since I owned my first copy of Cakewalk 5
and Sonic Foundry products and , second, Steinberg products with the
exception of Wavelab and their plug-ins make me cross-eyed (e.g.,
Nuendo and Cubase SX)!
Q: Everybody I know has their idea of a "dream musician", someone
who for some reason you just love to listen to and admire. If you could
play with one of your "dream" musicians, anyone at all, who would it be
and why?
A: This is a toughie! I have many people I would like to play with! If
I had to pick just one of them it would have to be 'Weird' Al
Yankovich. I was the nuttiest, craziest guy in college with one way-out
sense of humor and I wanted to be 'Weird' Al's sax player! Of course he
doesn't use a lot of sax in his music but hopefully that would change
with me added hah ha! Seriously, whether you like him or not, he's a
very brilliant artist. He's still around making hits too! His latest
hit, 'White and Nerdy', made the billboard top ten and he never before
had that in his career. I think he's finally getting the credit he
deserves as an artist. Why would I want to be in his band? Well, I have
always been a big Dr. Demento fan (that's where 'Weird' Al started) and
I always put my own 'weird' parody lyrics to tunes everyday...to my
wife's chagrin (it kind of bugs her sometimes especially if it's a song
SHE likes). I guess out of all the other artists out there I relate to
him most.
Q: I really appreciate you're taking the time to do this interview,
Stan. I have one more question for you though. What's in the future
for Saxsinger?
A: Keep on making music as best I can. 'Full steam ahead!' To have as
many people listen to and enjoy my music as possible. Again, I don't
seek profit with it, just do it for personal fulfillment and
enrichment. Hopefully people enjoy listening to it as much as I enjoy
making it! One thing I must say though, is that I enjoy collaborating
and making music with others as much as I do making my own. I feel
fortunate so many people online want to collaborate with me as much as
I want to collaborate with them, especially here at DMusic!
You can check out Saxsinger's music for yourself here:
http://saxsinger.dmusic.com
Have a listen, see why DM members have embraced him and enjoy working
with him on many collaborations! Go show him your support! You won't
be disappointed!
Next month, I will be interviewing DM member/artist Hate9wicket of
Blind Monkey Hobos. Check the Spotlight Forum to give me some questions
for him!
-Israfel
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