Tag: sax

In my quest to quickly learn how to play the saxophone, I sought out great players to listen to, model, and study.

It didn’t take long to discover sexy sax superstar Mindi Abair.

Mindi Abair and me

Her latest album, Wild Heart, is already topping the Billboard charts. She’s been on American Idol for two seasons. She toured with Aerosmith. She’s been on Letterman. She played with Bruce Springsteen. She’s breaking through to even wider mainstream public awareness. Her blend of rock and jazz is just the right combo to excite and inspire me.

I had a sax lesson with her via Skype that helped me with numerous sax playing issues. That was a turning point in my playing. As a result, I’ve already played sax on several albums, from Invoking Divinity and Afflatus, to a forthcoming album with twice Grammy nominated singer Ruthie Foster and my music producer Daniel Barrett.

Randy Jacobs and Mindi Abair performing private acoustic concert for friends

And then I hired Mindi to perform a private acoustic concert for friends.

That’s where I became even more enthralled and inspired.

Mindi is open, generous, loving and lovable.

Hugging Mindi Abair

She spent time with each of my friends. She showed me her sax (Yamaha Custom Z alto) and answered more of my questions about playing.

And her playing stunned me.

She’s smooth, hot, sultry, jazzy, rocking, screaming, soothing, and more.

When I grow up, I want to play like her.

She put thought into which songs to play for me and my friends.

She considered my interest in positive thinking and played her song “I Can’t Lose” (off the Wild Heart album).

She heard that one of my guests loved the song “Summertime” and played her powerful version of it.

And she told stories.

Each song was introduced with a charming behind the scenes story.

It made the show intimate and unique and unforgettable.

With guitarist Randy Jacobs

Her guitar player was just as warm and talented.

Randy Jacobs played for Ringo and Willie and a long list of greats. He was as humble and friendly as Mindi. (And he was very impressed that drummer Joe Vitale, the “other” Joe Vitale who is in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, recorded several albums with me.)

Check out Mindi Abair at http://www.mindiabair.com/

Check out Randy Jacobs at http://www.randyjacobs.com/

And here’s Mindi showing you how it’s done…

Ao Akua,

Joe

PS – Mindi Abair was kind about my sax playing, too. She called me (in a Tweet) a “killer saxophonist”! Thank you, Mindi! 🙂

Saxman Joe on Baritone

At my recent presentation at Sundance in Utah, I invited everyone to think of a problem that they wish would go away — a nagging one that seemed to stick no matter what — one that they never even tell anyone about because it hurts so much…

I wanted them to feel the block — whether a block preventing them from attracting money, health, love, or anything else — so I could help them release it once and for all.

I then played just four of the eight tracks from the new healing album, “Invoking Divinity.”

My ninth album

I knew the inspired music, calming 432 Hz frequency, and clearing ho’oponopono prayers would help them melt anything in the way of their experiencing bliss right now and being free to have, do, or be virtually anything they could imagine.

Did it work?

Here’s what one person said..

“As I listened to Invoking Divinity for
the first time, in my mind I thought about
something recent that had happened to me
that was very painful emotionally.

“Each time I thought or talked about the painful
experience, I couldn’t help but cry.  Even though
I tried to let go of the emotions, it seemed like
I couldn’t.  When Joe Vitale asked me to think
about something that needed clearing, I immediately
thought of that event.

“As I listened to the first track, sure enough,
the tears streamed down my face. I felt the emotion
of the event very deeply.  Somehow, by the third track,
the pain was gone. After all this time, just sitting
and listening to your healing music soothed my pain,
and then completely healed me. As the fourth track
started, I began to have clear inspiration about what
I should do with my class (I’m an elementary school
teacher) and particularly with some of the students
that struggle for one reason or another.

“Not only did the music heal me, it opened up a portal
to inspiration for me.  I believe this shift from within
me will create miraculous positive influence on my
students and many others.  Thank you, from the bottom
of my heart, for the blessing of your healing music.
Now I have a deep desire to get the music translated
in Chinese so my Chinese-speaking family can benefit
like I did!”

Yang Yue
Huai Nan, China

And…

“Listening to your newest album Invoking Divinity was
profound for me, thank you for healing me, thank you
for inspiring me– again.

“That was probably the best 20 minutes I could ever
spend. Moving from track to track on the CD and just
feeling my energy shift was absolutely profound. Your
music is a blessing to humanity.”

Steve Gardner
www.discoveringlifenow.com

Thank you, Steve and Yang Yue.

The eight tracks (40 minutes total) on the album are a combination of subliminal and audible clearing prayers and Divine music.

All I played at the event were 20 minutes of audible sounds and prayers (just four tracks).

Imagine what all 40 minutes could do for you!

Please do yourself a favor and go discover the power of “Invoking Divinity.”

Story, photos, audio samples and more are at http://www.InvokingDivinity.com

Expect Miracles.

Ao Akua,

Joe

PS — If you want to raise your vibration, relax, clean, clear, and experience heaven, just go see http://www.InvokingDivinity.com

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I’ve written about signs before.

I’ve explained that there are “flags” in life that give you clues to move forward, pause, or stop.

Green signs or flags mean keep going, yellow signs mean slow down and reflect, and red flags mean stop.

I look for signs all the time, to confirm my direction, or to warn me to reconsider, or to come to a complete halt.

These signs can be anything, from a line in a book to a street sign with a double meaning to a dream to a statement by a friend or from a movie character, or anything else.

But what if the sign is you?

Yes, you.

Let me explain with a story…

Saxman Joe (Art by Mike Denning)

I’ve been practicing the saxophone this year and loving it.

So far I have three vintage saxes: an alto, tenor, and baritone.

I know that Selmer made some highly collectible horns for around twenty years. They are called Mark VI and the prized ones have serial numbers from 53201 to 236000. They are considered the Holy Grail of saxes.

While I have two Selmer vintage saxes, I don’t have a baritone sax (which is what I play) from that specific golden era.

But one showed up on eBay.

Collectible Selmer Mark VI Bari Sax

I stared at it, researched it, considered it, wrote the owner a few questions about it, and more.

I also double checked the serial number on the sax to be sure it was from that magical Selmer period.

It matched.

But I couldn’t bring myself to buy it.

That troubled me.

I kept meditating on the purchase, cleaning internally on any doubts or concerns or uncertainties, but I couldn’t get a resounding yes to actually buy it.

I constantly looked for signs to buy it.

Nothing.

And – believe it or not – I even tried to force a sign from the Universe by consulting an I Ching app, an angel app, and a Magic 8 Ball app.

All said no.

Those were silly apps, I thought, so I was willing to dismiss them.

But I couldn’t.

They were signs.

But the biggest and strongest sign I was getting was from me.

And that sign was also saying no.

I kept feeling — for some unexplained reason — that I shouldn’t get this saxophone.

But I wanted the sax.

I could afford the sax.

I knew the sax was pristine and collectible. Even at the seller’s opening asking price of $10,000 (and his appraised price of $15,000), I could rationalize investing in it. The horn would only go up in value.

But my whole body wouldn’t let me go there, to actually buying it.

First Sax Album Coming 2015

I even got to the point where I typed in my bid on eBay, trying to override all the signs, but as my finger hovered over the key to make the $10,000 bid a permanent contract to buy the sax, my body said “No.”

What!?

It was strange.

My mind said yes – at least part of my mind – but the rest of me said no.

I was confused.

But I knew to trust the signs.

When you don’t trust the early warning signs, you can end up regretting something.

Since the sign was me, and it/I was saying “red flag,” I passed on the sax.

I trusted that it wasn’t for me, for reasons I may never know.

The auction ended.

I watched someone buy it for $10,000.

Gone.

Sigh.

What happened?

I had attracted the sax into my life for a reason, but apparently the reason wasn’t to own it.

So what was the reason?

Over the next day, I reflected on why I wanted that sax.

My 1952 Selmer SBA Baritone

As I meditated on it, I knew that the case the sax came in was original and complete.

The case I have, for my vintage 1952 Super Balanced Action Selmer baritone, is missing the handle.

I want a handle.

So I wrote to Chadd Berry at Worldwide Sax and asked if he could get me one.

He said yes, and did.

Green light.

That was a great sign.

I also realized that the sax for sale came with a metal mouthpiece.

I’ve learned enough about the sax to know the sweet sound comes from the mouthpiece, the reed, and the player. The sax itself just amplifies the sound, which you manipulate mostly with the keys. Some sax players spend a fortune on collecting boxes of mouthpieces, desperately looking for the right one for them.

I wanted a metal mouthpiece.

I did some research, determined one that could work for me, and ordered a gold one.

Green light.

That felt great, too.

Getting the gold mouthpiece (as well as the case handle) was easy, effortless, and almost instantaneous.

That’s how this process is supposed to work when all the flags are green.

And guess what?

I now felt complete.

It’s almost as though I were drawn to the sax on eBay to more deeply connect to my inner compass, and to further my sax playing by getting a metal mouthpiece, not an entire sax, to improve my playing.

For the record, both pieces arrived and work perfectly.

The vintage case is easier to look at and carry with a new handle, and my sax playing is smoother and easier with the gold metal mouthpiece.

And rather than spending $10,000 (or more), I spent less than $1,000 and got everything I needed.

The lesson here, as I see it, is that you have to pay attention to your entire energy system.

If your mind says yes but most of the rest of you says no, that’s a sign.

Explore it.

What is it here for?

Question it.

What could it mean?

Trust it.

You are the sign.

Trust you.

Ao Akua,

Joe

PS — A great way to fine tune your inner compass is with a trained objective person. Maybe see Miracles Coaching.

PPS — My favorite modern sax player is Mindi Abair. I’m going to have a private sax lesson with her tomorrow, which I am very excited about. She plays the alto sax rather than the baritone, but boy can she play! Her new album, Wild Heart, is a jazz-rock-sax masterpiece. Here’s a taste of her sound from a live performance a while back:

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