Sheets & Transcriptions

New book: Micro-Studies #003 - Modern Sound Studies for Saxophone

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Unlock your full potential as a saxophonist with Micro-Studies #003, designed to enhance your control, tone, and musical creativity. This micro-study offers a systematic approach to mastering wide intervals, triads, seventh chords, and pentatonic scales, all centered around a fixed pedal tone. Through carefully crafted exercises, you’ll develop a balanced, resonant sound, improve intonation, and refine your technique, all while embracing personal expression and creative exploration.

Whether you’re a beginner or a professional player, this study will help you push the boundaries of your musicality and gain new technical flexibility. With practical guidelines, detailed variations, and space for your own ideas, Micro-Studies #003 is an essential resource for saxophonists seeking a deeper connection to their instrument and a more distinctive sound.

Available in German and English as a pdf book via melaxmusic.eu

New MICRO-STUDY available!

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After over two years of diligent and continuous work, I'm pleased to finally announce the release of a new Micro-Study: Micro-Studies #002 - Getting Inspired by Warne Marsh.

This release is about analysing in detail a solo transcription by Warne Marsh on the composition Loco 47, an incredible solo that is bursting with creative ideas. It offers a treasure trove of exercises and improvisation concepts, which I have tried to compile on well over 100 pages. The book can now be purchased digitally in German or English from the MELAX MUSIC website.

MICRO-STUDIES #001 - Practice Cycles for Secondary Dominants

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New year - new input... Some time ago I had the idea to make some things I work on daily in my practice room available to others as well. I have therefore started to create "micro-studies" on special topics, which aim to shed light on different musical aspects and show inspiring ways to deal with the material on your own. It starts with "MICRO-STUDIES #001 - Practice Cycles for Secondary Dominants". Available now as a pdf download from my website: Melax Music 

Check it out and send me some feedback, if you want ;-)

Solotranscription | Brad Mehldau - Flamingo

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Time for another solo transcription. This time I transcribed a piano solo by the fantastic Brad Mehldau. It can be heard on one of my favorite albums, Chris Cheek - Blues Cruise. The tricky thing about this transcription was to try playing it in real unison with the piano and not changing octaves to make it more comfortable on tenor sax. Pdf Download for a Bb-flat Version is available below.

Line Up by Lennie Tristano - Solo Transcription

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Over the last months I have been working on a famous solo by Lennie Tristano. The tune is called "Line Up" and is based on the chord progression of the Jazz standard "All of Me". Most notably, the recording is originally overdubbed on a bass and drums track, but also allegedly recorded at half speed an octave below and then sped up for the final recording. The timbre of the piano and the abundance of micro-accents within lines at the speed of the recording are obvious traces of this process.

I found it to be a compelling task to record the solo in the original tempo on tenor sax. It forced me e.g. to use circular breathing within the lines and to find alternate fingering combinations for difficult parts. I decided to retain the result of this eternal practice process in a video. Here it is: