This episode is super special because I have not just 1, but 2 guests with me.

My first guest is Stefano Bedetti, the Italian saxophone phenom. 

(At the beginning of this episode, you heard an excerpt of him playing Shiny Stocking.)

Stefano is a self-taught musician who began to play tenor saxophone at the age of 14.

He discovered jazz listening to the records of Charlie Parker, Michael Brecker, John Coltrane, Sonny Rollins, Dexter Gordon, Joe Henderson, Cannonball Adderley, Hank Mobley, Sonny Stitt, and all the other great cats of that era.

At the age of 19, Giulio Capiozzo (famous Italian drummer, and cofounder of the well-known group Area) was the first to notice his talent and invite Stefano to his group.

Stefano’s spontaneous way of playing, along with his huge sound, great technic, and melodic & harmonic articulations, have garnered him the attention of some of the big names in jazz music.  

Over the course of his career, Stefano has performed with many jazz stars including Billy Hart, Ed Howard, Victor Lewis, George Cables, Jimmy Howens, Dave Stryker, John Riley, Tony Scott, Adam Nussbaum, John Patitucci, Antonio Sanchez, and many others.

My second guest is Gary Sugal, who has been manufacturing fine quality custom-made saxophone mouthpieces for more than two and half decades. 

Serving both professional and semi-professional musicians worldwide, Gary Sugal has earned the respect and admiration of some of the top saxophone recording artists around the world for the quality and workmanship of his mouthpieces.

As a professional mouthpiece manufacturer for more than twenty-six years, the Sugal factory has produced more than 14,750 custom-made mouthpieces that are being played worldwide.

It has been Gary’s personal mission to help musicians benefit from the many years of experience Gary has had as a bona-fide mouthpiece manufacturer by producing what many musicians consider the “holy grail” and number one mouthpiece on the planet.

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

We talked about:

• How Gary's mouthpieces are made, especially the new 3-D Printed Metal mouthpieces
• How Gary was so touched by Stefano's playing, & their new collaboration
• Stefano's non-conventional approach to playing and practicing
• and much more!

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