Years ago Courtney Love railed against saxophones in rock music, then felt like she had to apologize. I feel no need. Saxophones — happy belated National Saxophone Day, BTW — on their own are worthy, ...

When did pop radio get so horny? There’s an indefensible trend in popular music right now, and it needs to stop. Ever since Macklemore’s radio leviathan “Thrift Shop” dominated the airwaves with its ...

These days, James King plays saxophone in the pop band Fitz and the Tantrums, but he used to play zydeco in one of our fine Vegas lounges. During King’s struggling years, he took a job in a zydeco ...

For 36 years, Saturday Night Live has provided sanctuary to a species of musical wildlife that today sits on the endangered list: the saxophone solo. In 1975, jazz whiz David Sanborn’s note-gobbling, ...

Personally, I feel I would be remiss if I didn’t include George Michael’s Careless Whisper , a song that I love only semi-ironically: And now, we’re throwing it to you. What’s the best sax solo in pop ...

Studio musicians contribute immeasurably, and often anonymously, to the fabric of pop music, making it a rarity when one rises above that anonymity the way saxophonist Raphael Ravenscroft did as the ...

"Saxophones are becoming this thing. I began to see a pattern forming. That's why we did it early. Next year everyone's gonna have a saxophone on their record because saxophones are just cool." Those ...

Often we talk about music not being challenging enough– everything sounds like something else, and recycled to the point of frustrating monotony. But despite pop “eating” itself, there’s still ...