pants_for_saxophones raze he brought a little black case full of harmonicas, some diatonic, some chromatic. in a different case was a tenor saxophone. with his black frame glasses and his neat grey hair curving back in a subtle pompadour, he looked like the intersection between a fifties revival rocker and a cool college professor. i asked him to play on three songs. for one there was a written part. three-part sax harmony. for another there was a six-note motif to use as a jumping off point for some improvisation. for the third i told him to go nuts and play whatever he wanted. he responded with some of the best blues harmonica i've heard in my life. the contrast between how humble and laid back he is in conversation and how powerful he becomes with an instrument pressed against his lips is something to see. there was a lot of laughing, too. he talked about the sax lines as if they were people. "someone's a little late to the party," he said the first time through, when one line was behind the others by a hair. then, when we'd nailed down the harmonies: "everyone's got their pants nice and creased now." 140514 ... raze i got a little more ambitious with the arrangements this time. i think we might need to take some scissors to these pants and turn them into shorts. 140819 what's it to you? who go blather from