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Benson

Music - His Gift, My Duty, Our Fellowship

About Me

Bands that I have terrorized previously included The City Harvest Church Praise & Worship Band, The Curtis King Band (Selected as 1 of 5 "must see" performers in Singapore by Singapore Business Visitor, August 2005.), Mean Jean & The Blues Machine, The Willow Quartet, Matrix, Dr Sean & Friends, Friends of Edmund Branson (FOE), Funkathize, Broken, EIC, Soul Circle, Michelle & the Stuff Toys, Yours Truly, Little Black Book and many others. They have suffered under my passionate musical outbursts, endured my never-ending sax solos, withstood my slap stick humour, tolerated my outrageous MC scripts and insured themselves against my swinging body & sax during my playing. In fact, I have the honor to have them with me during some of the darkest valleys of life.

"Great music can only be made with great company." In my pilgrimage, I have so honored to have met some of these great company. To name all of these folks will require quite a feat but I decided against it cause I cannot bear the thought of leaving any of these great fellas out.

Like what Sting said some years back at one of the MTV awards ceremony.
"I could have performed to millions, I could have performed to none. I could have sold a million albums, I could have sold none. But if we play our music with honesty, passion & sincerity, it will heal our wounds, nourish our souls and make our lives worth living."

Music - His Gift, My Duty, Our Fellowship

My Interests

Music:

Member Since: 5/29/2007
Band Members: My band experiences have brought me into the company of these bands: City Harvest Church Praise & Worship Band, The Curtis King Band, The Blues Machine (& Mean Jean), The Willow Quartet, Matrix, Funkathize, Friends of Edmond, EIC, Michelle & the stuff toys, Little Black Book, yours truly, etc
Influences: From musicians, song-writers, bands, authors, neighbours, parents, wife, kids, food... ...
Sounds Like: David Sanborn, Dave Koz, Jimi Hendrix, Jaco, Boon Chye, Maceo Parker ... ... a clip of The Willow Quartet @ The Esplanade "A Family's Affair" (23 Mar 08)
Record Label: unsigned
Type of Label: None

My Blog

Nicole Lai

How's things Nicole ... ...can't imagine that we were arranging to meet up few months back and the next time we did meet up was @ your wake ... ...catch you soon.
Posted by Benson on Wed, 24 Sep 2008 08:48:00 PST

THE CURTIS KING BAND LIVE IN JAKARTA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4EyZ8jM_Ceo with The Curtis King Band @ JakJazz 07...
Posted by Benson on Mon, 16 Jun 2008 06:09:00 PST

Sax basic practice part 3 of 3

after talking to many masters of saxophone, all of them have independently but surely recommended the following:Transcription  choose a few songs that you like (and within your present abilities). ...
Posted by Benson on Mon, 21 Apr 2008 07:31:00 PST

Sax basic practice part 2 of 3

15 minutes proposedScales  only 4 scales to practices (major, major pentatonic, minor pentatonic & blues). Practice all 12 scales. Practice with a metronome.  Speed set at 60 beats p...
Posted by Benson on Mon, 21 Apr 2008 07:30:00 PST

Sax basic practice part 1 of 3

15 minutes proposedLong Tones  start with low D and go down chromatically until you reach the lowest note Bb.  Do not be discouraged if you are not getting the notes properly at first  you ...
Posted by Benson on Mon, 21 Apr 2008 07:28:00 PST

Practice on Improvisation

Practice on Improvisation Blues is the foundation for improvisation. A good way to start is to get a pianist friend to program some simple blues tracks for you (in all 12 keys).  Otherwise, the...
Posted by Benson on Mon, 21 Apr 2008 07:26:00 PST

my view on online lessons for saxophone

Online lessons  they will be able to provide a structure to learning.  In fact, Pete Thomas has great online materials.  However, I would still propose for you to have a person as a point o...
Posted by Benson on Mon, 21 Apr 2008 07:22:00 PST

sax mouthpiece setup

For mouthpiece setup, I will like to recommend something that you are most comfortable with.  But usually, I will suggest that you should stick to a certain combination for an adequate duration b...
Posted by Benson on Mon, 21 Apr 2008 07:21:00 PST

tuning matters - saxophone

With regards to tuning, I did face such problems with certain mouthpieces.  I do not have an exact remedy but I will recommend the following and have some questions: ยง    &nbs...
Posted by Benson on Mon, 21 Apr 2008 07:21:00 PST

881

just finished watching 881. it was indeed as good as I have heard. hearing the old hokkien songs, hearts being bared when they sing, I have indeed teared a few times, more so when I rewind back to rel...
Posted by Benson on Mon, 07 Apr 2008 09:11:00 PST