- Joseph Allard, you are a saxophone teacher at Juilliard School, in New York City and at New England Conservatory, in Boston, MA. Do you teach the saxophone to Jazz sax players or to Classical Music sax players?

JA - Both

- Ah

JA - At Juilliard, its only concert music ; as a matter of fact there is no Jazz curriculum at Juilliard, while both types of music are taught at Manhattan, its more recent. But still, even if you learn Jazz, you have to play your music exams in front of a jury at the end of a school year, and this music should be known to the teacher, then it has to be classical music.

- But isn.t that a problem for you to teach Jazz and Classical music as well ?

JA - No because whoever plays Jazz and Classical music should thorougly know how to play his instrument, and the Jazz players really master their instrument.

- And speaking of technique, are there any differences between the Jazz saxophonists and the Classical ones ?

JA - This is a difficult question : those who want to play Jazz are developing their style, they know what they aim at, they know what they want to sound like, it.s like singing : if I want to sing a classical part (he sings a few notes in a classical way ha-pam-pam-pa-lu) let.s say this, and in the Jazz approach, that gives (he scats : a-poo-poo-poo-dip, a-po-po-po-dit), this is a state of mind, what you hear, you play like you sing, it.s hard to say, there is really a Jazz sound, and there is really a Classical concert sound.

- Those are completely different ways of expression

JA - These are different ways of expression, to play the sax, the low notes, how to play in tune, the high notes, the vibrato : the classical players tend to think that the vibrato should be defined as such and such, but the vibrato of Jazz players is much more diverse ; sometimes, the tone begins without vibrato, then you ad wha-wha-wha, and then if you are up and hot, it goes quicker, and ends up fading out, there is no rule.