Sax Appeal is a UK-based jazz band led by Derek Nash, originally formed in Manchester in 1979. [1]
The band's regular line-up comprises five saxophones (Nash, Mornington Lockett, Scott Garland (now left the lineup because of Parkinson’s disease), Gary Plumley, Matt Wates and Bob Mckay) with a rhythm section (comprising Mike Bradley on drums, Phil Scragg on bass guitar, and Pete Adams on keyboards). Most of the pieces are original, usually composed by Nash, with some by his father, Pat Nash, and all arranging is by Nash. As well as its core members, the band has had guest appearances by Jools Holland, Simon Allen, Nigel Hitchcock, Dave O'Higgins, Paul Booth, Tim Garland.
The band won a British Jazz Award for Best Small Group in 2000, and the John Dankworth award in 1994.
The band sometimes expands to become the Sax Appeal Big Band, where the saxophone section is joined by four trumpets and three trombones, including Winston Rollins, Martin Gladdish, Richard Henry, Martin Shaw, Jon Scott, Danny Marsden and Gabriel Garrick.
A jazz band is a musical ensemble that plays jazz music. Jazz bands vary in the quantity of its members and the style of jazz that they play but it is common to find a jazz band made up of a rhythm section and a horn section.
John Haley "Zoot" Sims was an American jazz saxophonist, playing mainly tenor but also alto saxophone. He first gained attention in the "Four Brothers" sax section of Woody Herman's big band, afterward enjoying a long solo career, often in partnership with fellow saxmen Gerry Mulligan and Al Cohn.
The tenor saxophone is a medium-sized member of the saxophone family, a group of instruments invented by Adolphe Sax in the 1840s. The tenor and the alto are the two most commonly used saxophones. The tenor is pitched in the key of B♭ (while the alto is pitched in the key of E♭), and written as a transposing instrument in the treble clef, sounding an octave and a major second lower than the written pitch. Modern tenor saxophones which have a high F♯ key have a range from A♭2 to E5 (concert) and are therefore pitched one octave below the soprano saxophone. People who play the tenor saxophone are known as "tenor saxophonists", "tenor sax players", or "saxophonists".
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