I love this picture of Joe

I heard yesterday of the passing of my teacher Joe Maneri.

He was by far the most influential teacher I’ve ever had. He not only taught me the nuts and bolts of improvisation/composition but how to find my own sound (or at least the right direction to go, I’m not sure I’ve found it yet)

He taught me composition, the 12-tone system, and we played microtones. I still use the techniques he taught me, often going back to his words when I encounter new creative problems.

But the most profound impact on me was his spirit. Joe so lived music it was part of everything he did, the way he talked, the way he walked, the way he drove a car, everything. And he wanted to share it with you because he dug it so, so much. I’ve never seen a teacher give so much of himself to a student, ever.

We talked a lot about saxophone. I was his only saxophone student during the time I studied with him and I think he liked having a saxophone player as a student. We talked about Lester Young a lot. His mastery of the horn was un-paralleled. He could play sounds that I’ve never heard a saxophone make. I remember one lesson where he was playing piano and singing microtones against it. I thought the piano was going to explode! He opened up so many things for me…

I have two years or so of tapes from our lessons. I started the process of digitizing them and will do the rest soon. Listening back to them you can hear his love for music, his love for me, my love for him, and the gentle prodding for me to dig deeper, to dig and find the meaning in my own music. He was a father figure for me and many other students. He gave us all permission to find our own music, and I will forever be profoundly grateful to him…