Bob Ackerman Saxophone Specialist | Virtuoso Saxophones Artist Endorser

Bob Ackerman, Vintage instrument expert, master jazz musician, and Chase Music & Cadence recording artist, has devoted most of his life to developing his perceptions with regard to quality musical instruments. He is a featured columnist in the Saxophone Journal & has done several Master Class CDs for SJ and Jazz Player.

"I started playing saxophone at age nine in New Jersey. I like to tell the story of how me and my little brother would tell our mother we were playing ball and then hop a train to New York where we would stand outside and listen to Coleman Hawkins, Roy Eldrige, and Gene Krupa during the Saturday matinees at the Metropole. It was about this same time that I discovered Bird and that was that. "Listening to those guys, I knew what I wanted to do."

Educated at Columbia University, I studied privately on woodwinds with Joe Allard, composition with Arthur Murphy, and classical flute with Tom Nyfenger and Alan Winkleman and most recently with Keith Underwood. I soon found myself working with such diverse artists as Phillip Glass and Steve Reich, Joe Morello, Mike Mellillo, John Coates and Chet Baker. Most recently I have recorded with Mike Richmond, Wilber Morris, Denis Charles and Bob Kaplan, Rudy Petschauer, Adam Scone, Cameron Brown, Walter Perkins, and Vic Juris.

I consider myself to be a prolific composer, (3 tunes of which are on my CD, Big Daddy). I have received a Ford Foundation Grant and a National Endowment Grant for these compositions.

In 1975, I met and married Pam Purvis, and since that time we have worked together, developing a musical approach involving the voice and horn in duet, using especially the clarinet because it blends well with the timbre of Pam's voice and also because it has been largely neglected by jazz reed players. I feel that I can play the clarinet in a way that will appeal to even the die-hard sax lovers. It is an incredibly expressive and beautiful instrument. On the subject of music; "We want our music to swing and get you moving, but we are also interested in subtleties of color, harmony and nuance."

I am a musician's musician, being a prolific composer, arranger, and the master of soprano, alto, tenor, bari saxophone; bass and Bb clarinet; soprano, alto, and bass flute; all of which can be heard at one time or another on my various recordings.

I now have 5 Master Class Articles/CDs for the Sax Journal: Using Vintage Saxophones in Jazz Improvization, Great Horns of America, The Tenor Sax Mouthpiece (16 Vintage tenor pieces), The Historical Development and Use of 14 Jazz Alto Mouthpieces, Duo/Trio Masterclass"

"In the 50's most professional saxophonists were strongly against adding high F# to the saxophone. My teacher Joe Allard always said the high F# hole messed up the basic acoustics of the horn. I myself have never played for any length of time on a horn with high F#. When I first picked up the Virtuoso it immediately felt more natural to me and the sound is very attractive; big and warm. Finally someone has addressed this high F# issue and there is a modern horn I can play. Check it out!" - Bob Ackerman