Hi I'm Pro saxophonist Jamie Anderson you're watching Get Your Sax Together.
I sax up your Sunday every week with technique and improvising tips, player
profiles and of course my famous breakdowns of the world's best love sax
lines. In today's free online sax lesson you'll be learning how to play a real
dirty blues song and that's Night Train by Jimmy Forrest.
If you love dirty blues saxophone you're gonna love this week's breakdown!
Night Train blues was a big hit for tenor saxophonist Jimmy Forrest in 195,
but the composition has had an interesting evolution. The first part of
the song was originally recorded by Duke Ellington sideman Johnny Hodges in 1940
under the title 'That's the Blues Old Man' and the second section of the song was
first recorded by Ellington himself in 1946 under the title 'Happy-go-lucky
Local' as part of his Deep South Suite. Jimmy Forrest was in Ellington's band at
the time, so obviously that's where he got the melody from. Forrest then went on
to record his much slower version called Night Train for the first time in 1951.
Using the same bass obstinate rift as Jimmy Forest but in A instead of
Ab, Earl Bostic recorded a more up-tempo version in 1952 and James Brown
did his well-known name checking version in 1961. However, probably the best-known
version of all, this time in Bb is by the fictitious 50s dance band Marvin
Berry and the Starlighters, performing at the Enchantment Under the Sea dance
in the 1985 movie Back to the Future. Right enough,
it seems historically feasible that a dance band in 1955 would be playing an
R&B hit from 1951 or two. I couldn't find out who played sax on the Back to the
Future version but if YOU know, let me know in the comments. This song has
always had a special part in my heart as me and my mate Dru Baker used to play it
together in pub and gigs in Falkirk in Scotland when I was about 15 or 16. Shout
out to Dru Baker. He was older than me and I used to really look up to him, but
I dread to think what we both sounded like back then. Just before we dive into
the first phrase remember to go down into the description for this video and
click the link to get your free PDF sheet music for Night Train. It's written
out for alto AND tenor sax, with all the phrase numbers marked in. Also, keep
watching to the end because after I played the whole thing,
I let the backing track run for you to play along with. If you're a beginner on
saxophone this is going to be a better week for you than last week!
Night Train is a 12 bar blues in concert Ab which is a blues in Bb for
tenor and a blues in F for alto. There's six phrases to learn in total and once
we've learned these phrases, I'll show you how to put them together into the
arrangement. Here's the breakdown of phrase 1
Just before we move on to the second phrase I wanted to quickly mention my
free Saxophone Success Masterclass. This is my gift to you guys and it's a one
hour video lesson for saxophonists of ANY standard, with loads of in-depth
teaching to help you transform your tone, improve your timing, design a structured
practice routine so you don't waste your time and loads of other pro tips and
tricks. The link is in the description or you can visit www.getyoursaxtogether.com/masterclass
Okay without further ado let's look at phrase 2 now
This is a very short phrase which is in the Earl Bostic version, but not the
Back to the Future version.
Just before we learn phrase 3, here's the question of the week...
What's YOUR favourite version of Night Train let me know in the comments.
I actually love the Happy-Go-Lucky Ellington version, but Back to the Future
is one of my favorite movies of all time, so that version will always have a
nostalgic place in my heart. Just realize that didn't even mention
THIS version - oops! I do love it though. Moving swiftly on then, here's phrase 3
It's only the first two notes that are different from phrase 1. One of the most
notable features of this opening chorus is the long glissandos that Jimmy Forest
uses. If you want to learn how to do that, go to the card linked above now. In this
case I'm just putting all my fingers down, without paying much attention to
what scale it is, and tapering off my embouchure and breath.
If you get the free PDF from the description, you'll see that you would
now play phrase 2 again, followed by phrase 3. That completes the first blues
chorus. If you want to find out more about the 12 bar blues, go to the card
linked above now which is my epic blues sax special. Phrase 4 is played three
times in a row to make up the second chorus of this 12 bar blues. I'm sure
that Jimmy Forrest chose the unusual key of Ab major just so that he
could bark those low Bb out on tenor. I mean, come on...
loud low B flats on tenor - is there a more satisfying sound in the world? Sadly,
you'll have to settle for a normal F on alto as it goes too low for that
instrument Boo!
Although you'll learn them separately, phrases five and six are really one four
bar phrase which is what we call a 'send-off'. A send-off is a four bar phrase
at the start of a chorus which acts as a springboard into the solo section. Often
a send-off will have stop time. On this occasion Jimmy Forrest doesn't actually
spring into a solo, but restates the melody. Here's the first half of that send off,
which is phrase five
Jimmy Forest adds a bit of a growly tone to this send-off. If you want to
learn how to growl on sax, go to the card linked above now. In this case,
you're using a humming, throat growl, but it's not that strong so don't overdo it.
Here's phrase six now - the second half of the send-off...
We've now got all the phrases covered so let's have a quick look at the structure
of a song, and how we piece together the sections were just learned. The melody is
divided into three separate twelve bar blues choruses. The first chorus is... phrase one
phrase two... phrase three... phrase two and phrase three. The second chorus - the
rhythmic, riffy chorus - is simply phrase four, played three times. And the final
chorus has the send-off, which is phrase 5... then phrase six, followed by phrase
four played twice. While I was producing this lesson I made an informal
"behind-the-scenes" blog so you can see what my creation process is from start
to finish. If you're interested or if you just want to get to know me a bit better,
go to the card linked above now to watch it. I've put together a backing track for
this one and after I've played it through, the backing track runs for you
to play along with. It's deliberately dirty, so don't worry, there's nothing
wrong with your stereo! I might have over-filthed it a tad, but
never mind! Remember to get your free pdf from the description to follow along
with each phrase as I play it, and as always, be sure to listen to the original
recording and try and mimic the phrasing, groove and sound. The intro is two bars, and when
it's all put together it should sound something like this,
here we go...
I hope you enjoyed this week's lesson. Sometimes you just can't beat a dirty slow
blues. In fact, when I bought Night Train on iTunes it was featured on a
compilation called Essential Burlesque, so that tells you all you need to know
about how filthy this song is. If you want to learn some more in depth sax
stuff go to www.getyoursaxtogether.com/mastercalss and get your free
one-hour lesson with me, and as always, you can support me by giving this video
a thumbs up, subscribe to the channel, click the bell icon to be notified when
I upload new content and check out my instep and Facebook pages. I genuinely
appreciate you watching the channel and supporting me, so thank you.
Next Sunday you'll be learning the basics of playing altissimo notes on sax,
but until then, practice smart and have an awesome week. Laters!
Without paying attention..... try that again shall we..... that was rubbish