Path: bloom-picayune.mit.edu!snorkelwacker.mit.edu!americast.com!americast.com!americast-post Newsgroups: americast.twt.life From: americast-post@AmeriCast.Com Organization: American Cybercasting Approved: americast-post@AmeriCast.com Subject: Presidential sax appeal is growing Date: Mon, 9 Nov 92 14:59:57 EST Message-ID: \SE D;LIFE \HD Presidential sax appeal is growing \BY Laura Outerbridge \CR THE WASHINGTON TIMES Like just about everyone else these days, Jerry Queen is full of questions about what kind of president Bill Clinton will make. But for Mr. Queen, saxophone player for a local band called the Uptown Rhythm Kings, there's one other nagging question: Does he jam? "It would be great to get Clinton to come and sit in with the Rhythm Kings one night," the saxman says. "I was pleased that a guy who plays sax could get to be president. It might inspire other saxophone players to pursue the presidency." Mr. Clinton certainly is not the nation's first musically inclined chief executive, but there's something about his choice of instrument that seems to have caught the imagination of many in the area music scene. You can make certain assumptions about someone once you find out he or she plays the sax, local musicians say. Particularly the tenor sax, Mr. Clinton's instrument. "I think it makes him more of a free spirit. The sax is one of the more recent instruments in history," Mr. Queen says. "Because of that, it's up with the times. I hope Clinton can come up with some new things to add to our society." "There's an old adage: 'He can't be all bad,' " says fellow tenor saxman Ron Holloway. "One has a tendency to believe this is true of a president who plays the tenor saxophone. At least there's a potential for hipness." The tenor sax is closest to the human voice in timbre and range. Played correctly, it can express a wide range of emotions, Mr. Holloway says. And there's no denying that a saxman wailing on a solo can cut a pretty romantic image. "It's not an absolute guarantee that one is coming from the heart, but playing an instrument allows you to open a more spiritual door, I think," says Mr. Holloway, who performs with the Dizzy Gillespie Quintet as well as his own group. "The ironic thing is that if you wanted to put a large number of people at ease, there probably couldn't be a better way than to whip out a saxophone." If Mr. Clinton wanted to take a break from his budget-balancing and health-care planning and come on down to jam the next time Dizzy plays at Blues Alley in Georgetown, Mr. Holloway wouldn't mind. * * * Mr. Queen happened to catch the Arkansas governor's version of "Heartbreak Hotel" on TV's late-night "Arsenio Hall" show back in May. "I thought he played well," he says. "From what he played, and from his age [46], I would think the blues must be his main influence - I would say more so than jazz. A lot of blues artists are from around that area of Arkansas, Western Tennessee and Northern Mississippi. There's a sound down in that area - I'm sure that's been an influence on him and may have been why he chose that instrument." Actually, Mr. Clinton's musical tracks are a little hard to trace. While he played an Elvis song on "Arsenio," he has pulled out jazz standards at other campaign appearances: He played Gershwin's "Summertime" on "The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson" and "My Funny Valentine" during a Democratic fund-raiser at Washington's Fifth Column nightclub in January. "I have heard him talk about liking Kenny G, and Branford Marsalis has played at a fund-raiser or two," says Susie Whitaker, a spokeswoman in the governor's press office in Little Rock. "He loves both jazz and blues, though in his own playing it's more jazz than blues. "He is musically inclined - he loves gospel singing and Tina Turner, and he goes to the symphony here," she says. "It's hard to pinpoint what his musical interests are." When the going got tense during Mr. Clinton's tenure as governor or during the presidential campaign, he was not in the habit of slipping off to a nightclub to jam with other sax players, Miss Whitaker says. "He played it with the University of Arkansas marching band at a fund-raiser a couple weeks ago," she says. Mostly, "he gets his saxophone out every once in a while, but just for the fun of it. "With him, you never know, though," Miss Whitaker adds. "He loves that stuff." * * * Marine Col. John Bourgeois shares local musicians' excitement about having a musically minded president. As conductor of the U.S. Marine Band, also known as the President's Own, Col. Bourgeois will perform regularly for Mr. Clinton, mostly at official state functions. The colonel says he already has had the president-elect sit in with his band. "I beat Arsenio to him," he says. Two years ago, after the annual governor's dinner at the White House, Col. Bourgeois coaxed the Arkansas Democrat to sit in on tenor sax for a set of big-band dance tunes. "He wasn't prepared for it, necessarily - but he'd played saxophone in his high school band," the conductor says. In fact, Mr. Clinton was first chair tenor sax, and he went on to take all-state honors. If the president-elect wants to continue to practice his licks with the Marine Band, Col. Bourgeois says, "We'll have his red jacket waiting for him." * * * Elsewhere on the local music scene, players and club owners expect to conduct business as usual, even with Mr. Clinton's sax appeal in the White House. "There's a circuit" for touring performers, says Mark Gretschel, owner of Tornado Alley in Wheaton. "Washington's a major city, and it's included on that already, really. I don't think [a Clinton presidency] is going to have much effect at all." Chris Watling, who plays sax with a local band called the Grandsons of the Pioneers, believes the Clinton administration "will help bring the sax into mainstream acceptance. If he supports the music and goes out and sits in with people, that would certainly help the local scene." Failing that, Mr. Queen says, "Maybe he'll invite some other sax players to the White House for a big sax celebration - legendary guys like Sonny Rollins or Wayne Shorter, or maybe some of the newer generation like Branford Marsalis. "I think it'd be a good thing," Mr. Queen adds. "Musicians especially would like it." This article is copyright 1992 The Washington Times. Redistribution to other sites is not permitted except by arrangement with American Cybercasting Corporation. For more information, send-email to usa@AmeriCast.COM