Michael Jarrell
The Basics:
I am originally from Georgia! I come from a middle sized / small town about an hour from Atlanta. My dad’s family was from California and my mom’s family was from Chicago, so I’m not sure I’d strike you as a southerner cause I talk real good for the most part. I have three siblings, of which I am a middle. I grew up singing a bit in church and then learned through public school music programs with some of the best music teachers I could have ever asked for. I am married to a lovely lady I met in college at the University of Georgia. She is my best friend and is a much cooler person than I am. We are about to have our first kid together! Prayers accepted. I joined the military band straight after college and now I am out of the Military and pursuing a career in physical therapy to help make music the art that I get to do rather than a task that drains me. Through my short twenty-nine years, I have developed a general dysfunction in myself around social media and a general distrust in the large organizations that control the social media, thus the website without socials.
Saxophone and Music:
I started playing saxophone in middle school after I heard another middle schooler play the pink panther theme song - hooked me for life. I was lucky enough to have a cousin out in Arizona mail me a Yamaha YAS - 23; a student model alto to get me started. My teachers throughout middle and high school emphasized the community and group project nature of music throughout their teaching. They also didn’t let us slack on fundamentals and hammered in good foundational learning. This combination of wonderful friendship, work ethic, and polish (as much polish as middle and high schoolers can have) is a large building block of who I am today. During high school I also had a private teacher take me on even when my parents probably couldn’t afford it, a man named Robert Haley. Robert Haley was a student of Siguard Rascher, a prominent classical saxophonist of the 20th century. He is a historian of all things saxophone and has a real passion for the sound that is possible from the relatively young wind instrument. He is a great saxophone player, teacher, repairman and much more. I was lucky to have been taught by him. From high school and Mr. Haley, I moved on to college at UGA.
After being accepted, I was promptly told that my student model saxophone needed an upgrade, so I spent all summer working and was able to buy a Selmer Paris Super Action 80 Series ii. Great horn. Here I learned from Dr. Connie Frigo, a former Navy Band saxophonist, and Dave D’Angelo, a former Buddy Rich Big Band saxophonist. Both of these wonderful people have had a very large impact on who I am and my sound.
UGA is in a small but mighty music hub of the country, Athens, GA. I do fear that 2020 tore down a lot of that infrastructure, but the heart of the city is still there. This city, it’s people and it’s heart, also had a major impact on who I am as a musician and person. Mostly, this city taught me that music can help bring people together and give people who may otherwise feel alone a place or common ground to feel connection.
After graduating college in 2019, I was helping a marching band program during their season, learning to work as an audio engineer at The Georgia Theater, helping to organize my own concert series at a local cafe called Hendershots (RIP), and working at a restaurant. Around 2020, that all stopped and I joined the Army Band Program. I played saxophone for the Army for about six years and now want to be able to settle down and build a life and community. I started really digging into tenor in the Army and only just recently bought my first - A Cannonball Big Bell Stone Series - so far, so good.
Equipment:
I’ve played on a fair amount of Selmer’s, Yamaha’s, some Yanagisawa’s, some P Mauriat’s, a couple Cannonball’s etc… The philosophy taught to me growing up is “make what you have work”. This philosophy is mostly based around accessibility and monetary means, but the idea makes sense from a learning standpoint. Basically, learn what it means to create sound and tune before worrying about equipment.
What I have learned since then is not altogether different, but a good refurbish, repadding, and key leveling for tuning / having a local pro take a horn for a test drive for quality never hurts. It’s hard to learn when you are fighting an instrument, but even expensive instruments can need work.
Sound / Recording:
I started learning about recording fundamentals in college when the recording team brought students in to help them record concerts and recitals. I took some courses with the music business program and interned at Studio 1093 in Athens and Maze Studios in Atlanta. In the summer of 2019, I worked as a recording engineer at Interlochen where I worked on concerts for artists like the Prism Quartet, Jake Shimabukuro, and Adam Glasser. I spent a lot of time running live sound in the Army for many groups. While exiting the Army I worked with the Ferguson Center and ran monitors for Jae Sinnett, Terri Lynne Carington, and Randy Brecker. At the moment I record with friends and occasionally run sound at a local church.
Goals:
At this point, I’d like to keep playing and creating music as much as possible without completely relying on it for income. My short term goals are to make it through physical therapy school well studied, ensure I am a good husband and father throughout that process, and to keep getting better at saxophone and music. I am excited to see where building a community in this area takes me. Hope to meet you and thanks for reading if you made it this far!
Feel free to say hi or ask questions!