Episode 042 - Harvey Pittel; America’s foremost classical saxophonist

Consistently acknowledged as America’s foremost classical saxophonist, Harvey Pittel has popularized the very concept of the saxophone in concert and has elevated his instrument to a new level of appreciation by lovers of fine music.

His discography includes twenty-eight recordings of duos, trios, quartets and concertos with orchestra, and he has been featured on soundtracks of several films including Woody Allen’s MANHATTAN.  In addition, he has been a guest on the Today show and a featured artist on LIVE FROM LINCOLN CENTER and SPOLETO/U.S.A. telecasts.

His Harvey Pittel Trio and Harvey Pittel Saxophone Quartet have appeared in hundreds of concerts throughout North America and around the world.

His pedagogy, “Harvey Pittel Presents the Teachings of the Master Joe Allard” and “Harvey Pittel’s Visit With Marcel Mule” can be viewed on the Andreas Eastman YouTube site.

His numerous recordings include BACH AND NOODLES and MOVING ALONG (“Subtlety and technical perfection…exceptional mastery…Pittel’s artistry contradicts all the normal criticisms leveled against the instrument like a David slaying Goliath…Like a fine lieder singer, Pittel is a master”) with saxophone and piano (Crystal Records CD 654 and 655, respectively), THE HARVEY PITTEL SAXOPHONE QUARTET LIVE IN CHICAGO, TEX SAX,HARVEY PITTEL WITH THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS WIND ENSEMBLE, Jerry Junkin conducting at Carnegie Hall and performing concertos by Karel Husa and David Maslanka (Mark Records 2106, 2208, 2697 and 3932, respectively), and his recent release of LA LINGE, LA SONORITE: A TRIBUTE TO MARCEL MULE, also on Mark Records, featuring Kol Nidre by Max Bruch, Theme From Shindler’s List by John Williams, the Concerto by Ingolf Dahl, and Concertino by Hye Kyeung Lee.  The recent recordings TEX SAX: NEXT GENERATION and OVER THE RAINBOW AND BACH AGAIN were listed for Grammy nomination and are available on the Mark and Longhorn/Naxos labels.  The American record Guide referred to Harvey Pittel as “the standard-bearer of American saxophone playing” for his SEXTUOR CD on Crystal records.

These recordings and others are available at most major record stores, on iTunes, Amazon.com and on Mr. Pittel’s multimedia website, www.harveypittel.com

The link to his full biography, along with more Resources for this episode, is on our website.

In this episode, we discussed:

• Harvey’s fascinating background, and why he has such high standards
• What it was like studying with Joe Allard
• How Harvey’s pedagogy evolved
• The 1 thing all classical saxophone musicians must do to move the line forward
• The main differences between playing for a live performance vs. a recording session
• and much more…

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