victory musical instruments

Richard Pavlidis is a saxophonist, composer, teacher and multi-instrumentalist from Melbourne, Australia.

Educated at the Victorian College of the Arts in Melbourne, Richard has toured Australia, New Zealand and Europe and has performed at major festivals including Splendour in the Grass, The Manly Jazz Festival in Sydney, and the Melbourne International Jazz Festival.

Richard’s debut solo album ‘Without Within’ was released in 2019 and supported by an Australian tour. Music from this album can be found in the Australian Jazz Real Book and the Australian Jazz Museum.

The album caught the attention of celebrated saxophonist Kenny G, who said via social media ‘I love the way you combine bebop licks with more modern-sounding phrases, and your technique is amazing. You are such a great player!’

During the Covid quarantine in 2021, Richard put together ‘Lockdown Sessions’ – a global collaborative album of jazz standards featuring performances from Germany, Israel, the USA, and all around Australia.

‘The Australian’ describes Richard as ‘a saxophone colossus in the making’.

Richard’s newest album ‘Iconography’ will be officially released on June 2, 2023.

Be sure to listen to this audio podcast version, so you can hear the track Persona in the Intro, and Still Life at the end of the episode. Both tracks are from his new album.

The link to his full biography, along with more Resources for this episode, is on our website.

Our sponsor for this episode is Victory Musical Instruments.

Check out this award-winning brand of instruments at www.victorymusical.com

We talked about:

1. The 1 difficulty improvisation teachers face

2. Why you shouldn’t try to be like Brecker

3. How the greatest players think about their own playing

4. Benefits of busking

5. The challenge of performing originals with different musicians

6. A Visualization exercise to help with your altissimo

7. and more!

Wanna support the show?

Become a Patron, and for as little as a $2 donation each month, you get searchable transcripts for the episodes, Bonus videos with extra tips and content, a full Podcast directory, and the ability to suggest future guests.

Go to our Patreon site for more info.

We truly appreciate our supporters, who help keep the podcast running!

In this episode from the NAMM Show in June, Donna Schwartz spoke with musician and the founder of Victory Musical Instruments, parent company of The Growling Sax, Melvin Quinones.

Melvin Quinones is a Hispanic American entrepreneur, engineer, musician and the founder of Victory Musical Instruments, parent company of The Growling Sax.

With over 30+ years of professional music experience combined with 20 years of engineering background, he integrated many of the technologies and processes that have made the pioneers of the music industry successful with new technology, improved materials and ergonomics.

Melvin has over 30 years of experience as a saxophonist, keyboardist and record producer. Some of his relevant work includes 248th Army Band, Thalia, Tiziano Ferro, Frankie J, MDO, Daddy Yankee, Don Omar, Objetivo Fama & Miss Universe 2005 among many others.

He also ran the My Sax Talk social network for 10 years.

He is also the founder of Dance like David LLC, a faith-focused foundation created to provide musician instruments and educational resources to communities with low financial resources.

The link to his full biography, along with more Resources for this episode, is on our website.

We talked about:

🎷 History of Victory Musical Instruments & Melvin’s background

🎷 How the name Growling Sax was created

🎷 How the Growling Saxes are different than other brands 

🎷 How his background in engineering & moderating Sax Talk influenced the Growling Sax

🎷 Differences between Sterling Silver necks and other finishes 

🎷 And MUCH more!

If you want the searchable transcript for this episode, plus TONS of other bonus content from many of our 149 episodes, head on over to our PATREON SITE.

Not only will you be getting awesome content, but you will be helping support the show!