Sal Avila

Sal has been playing the saxophone from age eleven.  Throughout the years Sal has developed a very distinct and expressive style all his own.  If you ever hear anybody talking about Sal, you're more than likely  to hear comments relating to his smooth, sweet, and open sound.  His soulfulness is unmatched, and has been referred to as the "Latino with black soul."  Sal has played with numerous bands throughout Ventura and Santa Barbara Counties including, The Bomb, Rocky Navajo and Shonuff, Sound Effect, Nuestro, Changes, Anthony Prieto, Oxnard City College Jazz Band, The Piru River Band, Missbehavin', The New Vibe, and has sat in with numerous other bands and musicians.

Let me know you've stopped by!  Please sign my autographs page!!

Interests:

Favorite Sax Players:  Gerald Albright, Kirk Whalum, David Sanborn, Paquito D' Rivera, A local guy named Henry Nava, Jeff Kashiwa, Eric Marienthal, Everette Harp, my sax instructor and mentor Dave Tolegian, and Ed Calle.

Guys I wish I could play like: Charlie Parker, Paquito D' Rivera, David Tolegian, Ed Calle

Equipment:  Yamaha Custom YTS-82Z Gold L Tenor Saxophone/Berg Larsen S.M.S. Duckbill 130/0, La Voz Medium Soft Reed.

What I played before:

A student model Reynolds Tenor with most of the pearl buttons lost, with a few major leaks, the mouthpiece that came with it, a five dollar ligature, and Medium Soft La Voz or 2 1/2 Hemke reeds.  It sounded ....well you be the judge.

Samples of my Reynolds student horn in a live setting:

Two sound bytes put together - That's The Way of The World & Mr. Magic - Mp3

Sound byte of my Custom Z tenor. Note -  Clip recorded with a Claude Lakey 6*3 mouthpiece, a terrible mouthpiece.  I have recently switched to the Berg Larsen mentioned above....Sweet.

Update:  Clip is using the faulty G1 neck

 Mp3

Contact Information:

Email: sax.player@verizon.net

Cell: (805) 218-4348

AOL instant messaging screen name: SaxgrooveZ