Here's something you might be interested in.
Wednesday night the Saxations, a quartet of saxophone-playing women consisting of LeiLani Vidal (she's the band's creator and leader and plays alto and soprano saxes), Shannon Bates (alto sax), Allison Boles (tenor sax), and Kyrie Lombard (baritone sax) debuted at Kaminsky's in Poway.
We meet up the night after in La Mesa to talk about the art of sax, and why they think the group went over so big right out of the box. They estimated their crowd at capacity, meaning somewhere in the neighborhood of 250 at the door.
LeiLani Vidal: "I think originally it was because of our look. And there was word of mouth, too, and excellent musicians backing us up. It was the concept, plus these well-known musicians backing us up."
Allison Boles: "I think it was something unique. People haven't seen a lot of this before. Four woman musicians, all of us with our saxophones, and all of us going after what we want. It's something new and exciting and I think we bring something to the stage that people haven't seen."
Vidal: "It was a concept that came to me after I went to Sax Summit with Warren Hill. (Sax Summit was a two-day saxophone convention/workshop held in Los Angeles.) "I listened to speakers all weekend. The one that stood out said, there's a million other good sax players out there. You're not gonna be the best. There's a million other ones. So brand yourself, and create a package to present. That's what's gonna sell. So I started thinking, and I said, I always wanted to put together a girl sax quartet. Branded the right way, with the right women, this could be something unique. Nobody's doing it."
At least, nobody's doing it in San Diego.
The all-female sax quartet is indeed a rare idea, but it's not new. Consider the Quadrophonnes in Portland, the Four Ladies Sax Quartet in Italy, and Kintamarni, an all female sax quartet that was formed in 1996 in Britain and who list as one of their highlights a performance for the old sax-fiend himself, President Bill Clinton.
The Billy Tipton Memorial Saxophone Quartet was in truth a female jazz sax quartet from Seattle formed in 1988 and fronted by Billy Tipton who was thought to be a man at the time. Upon his death, he was revealed to be anatomically female.
Four Women with Saxophones gigged about the country during the 1920s under a variety of aliases, including but not limited to the Darling Saxophone Four and Four Harmony Maids.
Shannon Bates: "When LeiLani contacted me, she asked about my background. I sent her my resume. I wanted the gig. She sent back a really long email with everything set up already, plans coming up, everything that we were going to do. I was excited to be in a group with four women that look good," she says, but with reservations. "I wanted it to be music first."
Vidal: "I picked the charts and the tunes. My brother in law is Richard Elliot (an ex-Tower of Power saxist turned smooth jazz sensation, who also played a cameo with the Saxation's backing combo at Kaminsky's.) "He lives in Escondido. Through him, I met a sax player/arranger named David Mann. He's played with Rod Stewart."
Boles: "And the Stones too, I think."
Vidal: "I also have an arranger who writes music for Penn State. The charts are harmonized," she says, "but I wanted it to sound more like Dave Koz' Summer Horns." A smooth jazz star, Koz put together an all-star sax quartet of his own with smoothies Gerald Albright, Richard Elliot and Mindi Abair.
So the Saxations are essentially a smooth jazz group?
Vidal: 'Yes."
Boles: "I was playing in big bands mainly. I studied music at UCSD, so this is something new for me. The energy in the songs catches me. It's fun to play."
Bates: "I'm not a smooth jazz fan. I've played a lot of traditional jazz and Dixieland, classical, and rock and Afrobeat at venues all over San Diego."
Kyrie Lombard: "I have a lot of classical in my background, with a bit of jazz. I've been getting into more jazz lately, partly because of this group, and partly because I'm in the big band at SDSU under Bill Yeager."
Where does it go from here?
Bates: "I don't really know. We're at the stage where we're figuring out how far we want to take this. It's tricky. We all have established lives."
Bates works as an editor, Boles works for a music publisher, Lombard is a full-time student, and Vidal is a chiropractor and mother of three. Do they at least have plans to record?
Vidal: "I don't think there is big money to be made in CDs. That's the reality." She explains that she is no newcomer to the business of music. "I've been performing since I was 11 in my parent's band, Cam Vidal and the Blue Notes. Every weekend we were booked somewhere in San Diego."
She explains that for now, it's back to rehearsal, and then, one gig at a time.
http://www.sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2013/sep/20/53522/
http://www.sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2013/sep/20/53523/
Wednesday night the Saxations, a quartet of saxophone-playing women consisting of LeiLani Vidal (she's the band's creator and leader and plays alto and soprano saxes), Shannon Bates (alto sax), Allison Boles (tenor sax), and Kyrie Lombard (baritone sax) debuted at Kaminsky's in Poway.
We meet up the night after in La Mesa to talk about the art of sax, and why they think the group went over so big right out of the box. They estimated their crowd at capacity, meaning somewhere in the neighborhood of 250 at the door.
LeiLani Vidal: "I think originally it was because of our look. And there was word of mouth, too, and excellent musicians backing us up. It was the concept, plus these well-known musicians backing us up."
Allison Boles: "I think it was something unique. People haven't seen a lot of this before. Four woman musicians, all of us with our saxophones, and all of us going after what we want. It's something new and exciting and I think we bring something to the stage that people haven't seen."
Vidal: "It was a concept that came to me after I went to Sax Summit with Warren Hill. (Sax Summit was a two-day saxophone convention/workshop held in Los Angeles.) "I listened to speakers all weekend. The one that stood out said, there's a million other good sax players out there. You're not gonna be the best. There's a million other ones. So brand yourself, and create a package to present. That's what's gonna sell. So I started thinking, and I said, I always wanted to put together a girl sax quartet. Branded the right way, with the right women, this could be something unique. Nobody's doing it."
At least, nobody's doing it in San Diego.
The all-female sax quartet is indeed a rare idea, but it's not new. Consider the Quadrophonnes in Portland, the Four Ladies Sax Quartet in Italy, and Kintamarni, an all female sax quartet that was formed in 1996 in Britain and who list as one of their highlights a performance for the old sax-fiend himself, President Bill Clinton.
The Billy Tipton Memorial Saxophone Quartet was in truth a female jazz sax quartet from Seattle formed in 1988 and fronted by Billy Tipton who was thought to be a man at the time. Upon his death, he was revealed to be anatomically female.
Four Women with Saxophones gigged about the country during the 1920s under a variety of aliases, including but not limited to the Darling Saxophone Four and Four Harmony Maids.
Shannon Bates: "When LeiLani contacted me, she asked about my background. I sent her my resume. I wanted the gig. She sent back a really long email with everything set up already, plans coming up, everything that we were going to do. I was excited to be in a group with four women that look good," she says, but with reservations. "I wanted it to be music first."
Vidal: "I picked the charts and the tunes. My brother in law is Richard Elliot (an ex-Tower of Power saxist turned smooth jazz sensation, who also played a cameo with the Saxation's backing combo at Kaminsky's.) "He lives in Escondido. Through him, I met a sax player/arranger named David Mann. He's played with Rod Stewart."
Boles: "And the Stones too, I think."
Vidal: "I also have an arranger who writes music for Penn State. The charts are harmonized," she says, "but I wanted it to sound more like Dave Koz' Summer Horns." A smooth jazz star, Koz put together an all-star sax quartet of his own with smoothies Gerald Albright, Richard Elliot and Mindi Abair.
So the Saxations are essentially a smooth jazz group?
Vidal: 'Yes."
Boles: "I was playing in big bands mainly. I studied music at UCSD, so this is something new for me. The energy in the songs catches me. It's fun to play."
Bates: "I'm not a smooth jazz fan. I've played a lot of traditional jazz and Dixieland, classical, and rock and Afrobeat at venues all over San Diego."
Kyrie Lombard: "I have a lot of classical in my background, with a bit of jazz. I've been getting into more jazz lately, partly because of this group, and partly because I'm in the big band at SDSU under Bill Yeager."
Where does it go from here?
Bates: "I don't really know. We're at the stage where we're figuring out how far we want to take this. It's tricky. We all have established lives."
Bates works as an editor, Boles works for a music publisher, Lombard is a full-time student, and Vidal is a chiropractor and mother of three. Do they at least have plans to record?
Vidal: "I don't think there is big money to be made in CDs. That's the reality." She explains that she is no newcomer to the business of music. "I've been performing since I was 11 in my parent's band, Cam Vidal and the Blue Notes. Every weekend we were booked somewhere in San Diego."
She explains that for now, it's back to rehearsal, and then, one gig at a time.
http://www.sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2013/sep/20/53522/
http://www.sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2013/sep/20/53523/