My saxophone teacher

Phil Sobel was a legendary musician on the West Coast. He was born in 1917 in New York City and played and taught saxophone between 1935 and 2008, when he passed away. 1955-1973, he was the first woodwind chair in the N.B.C. Staff Orchestra, after which he freelanced in various studios and taught both privately and at the famous Dick Grove school of music.

He was the first-call alto/ww doubler during the L.A. studios’ golden era, recording for Frank Sinatra, Billy May, Nelson Riddle, etc. His movie and T.V credits are impressive and include The Danny Kaye Show, The Mickey Rooney Show, The Tonight Show, The Julie Andrews specials, The David Copperfield specials, The Dean Martin Show and many, many more.

Phil was as my saxophone teacher and I am very thankful to have had the opportunity to learn from him. With him, every lesson was a profound experience, in music and life in general. During lessons, he frequently related to his many and various experiences with great artisits like, for example, Fred Astaire. In the case of mr Astaire, there were several interesting connections between dancing and playing music in time and swinging. Every lesson was magic. Phil could really explain and share all his experiences and knowledge in a way that was truly unique.

Phils’ teacher was Henry Lindeman, who was a revolutionary thinker and teacher in his time. He was, for example, in contact with master violinist Jascha Heifetz to talk about the peculiarities of the saxophone. Even Bird took some lessons for him. Phil was often relating to Lindeman when teaching and using Lindeman’s material.

Most importantly, Phil was a wonderful person who was not just teaching music, but life. Phil was life.