We are very excited to announce that Ben Van Gelder will be giving a saxophone masterclass before his guest spot with Tomorrow's New Quartet at The Fringe as part of Fringe In The Round on 4th February.
This will be a very special opportunity to learn from an internationally established young master who has so much to offer to students of saxophone, jazz and those interested in composition also. Ben has a very personal and lyrical approach to improvising that can initially bring to mind Paul Desmond, and Lee Konitz (who Ben studied and had a period of apprenticeship with in NYC) but also builds on developments on the horn and harmonically from contemporary leaders such as Mark Turner, also featured with Ben on his record 'Reprise' (https://found.ee/reprise).

This will be quite a unique opportunity to ask Ben about his approach and his music. Hosted by saxophonist Alex Merritt this will run in a bit of a Q & A format initially; discussing Ben's approach to saxophone playing, improvising, being a sideman and composing but please bring any questions you would like to ask and I will open up the session. All instrumentalists welcome, some prior knowledge of jazz/improvising needed. It won't be necessary to bring instruments but we will look at some useful practice approaches in the session, and also get some good insight and wisdom into Ben's concept and music. It's going to be fantastic fun, I can't wait!
If you are new to Ben's music, you can listen and read more about him on his website here: https://www.benvangelder.com/home/.

We hope you can make it for this one-off special event! :)

Entry requirements: 14+ — Read more — Read less