@Dave: good point, I've neglected that lately. I've been concentrating on time and transcriptions and I let myself slip a bit there. Also, there's a heat wave over here and it throws my intonation (and body) out of whack haha. Here's that middle D:

Thanks for the review on my June Challenge.  I do know how to articulate but as you know, I used to over do it.

You asked if I got a new horn.  It's a Tenor Madness TM Custom designed by Randy Jones that I've had since 2013.  What's changed is the neck, mouthpiece, and reeds.  The neck is a TM custom; different shape and lacquer; it really focused my tone and expanded my range.  The mouthpiece is a D'Addario Jazz Select D6M which is the opposite end of the spectrum of what I used to play.  And the reeds are Boston Sax Shop 2.5 Silver Box.

I edited your backing track to cut out the prep measures.

I, too, was enamored by the BSS Heritage neck and I, too, have returned to my original VI neck.  My VI is from 1968 and is one of the Veritones, so the neck has a ceramic microphone built in.  Though the electronics and wires were all gone when I acquired the horn, I always suspected the neck was somehow compromised with the microphone, and I had a lot of trouble getting the mid to low notes to properly speak when doing scales and arpeggios going full range of the horn.

I accidentally discovered something useful, however, when one day I hastily put the original neck on the horn without pushing it all the way down onto the neck joint and left about a 3/16" (5mm) gap.  Suddenly, the low to mids started coming right out!  I actually fitted a piece of hard plastic over the octave key tendon to extend it so that the octave arm on the neck opened properly.  I played on it this way for years until...

I was at the Inside:Outside retreat in 2024 and Bob Franceschini tried my horn with both the Heritage neck and the original.  When he played it, we both liked the original neck better.  He asked me why I left the gap on the neck joint, and I said the horn just plays better with the gap.  Then he blew on it with the original neck properly fitted, no gap, and then I blew on it with the original neck properly fitted, no gap and guess what?  Yeah, I could get the mid to lows to speak without any problem.

I still go back and forth on the BSS and original, but mostly I feel like the sound that's in my head is a closer match with the original neck and has just the right amount of resistance, and it probably helps that I found a really nice mouthpiece/reed combo that helps me facilitate that sound, too.

Dave

Watch that middle D.  See if you can make it sound more like the other notes on your horn.  Try fingering the middle D with the palm D open and see how that opens the sound, then try the middle D with the palm D closed again and see if you can match it.  Similar to working overtones and comparing the natural fingering with the overtone fingering and getting them to match.  Just a thought, anyway.  

Dave

https://www.selmer.fr/en-int/p.....6088024233

I started doing that, and I noticed my evenness and time are nowhere near where I need them to be. Of course, I'm getting frustrated so I can't even play a scale with accuracy today, apparently. So, back to basics I went: subdivisions and time keeping. I remember Adam Neely citing a study that shows that entraining rhythm in larg(er) movements works well on a neurological level, so I hope this will help. 

Right now I have nothing but bad thoughts about my time, articulation, and phrasing. Today I will subdivide, subdivide, subdivide and trust the process.

MikeJolk said
Nice. A good solo meets the needs of the musical moment, as this one does. 
  

Thank you, Mike! It was a blast up on that stage.