In doing research for my interview with Paul Hanson, I came across his old website, jazzbassoon.com. Though he now has a new website (paulhansonmusic.com), I found some of that content very informative, and worth a reposting. So please enjoy the following musings from Paul. And as an added treat, a live recording of Paul playing Wayne Shorter's Fee-Fi-Fo-Fum in a duo with guitarist Steve Erquiaga.
Paul Hanson on Bassoon Technique:
I believe in a good classical foundation for the bassoon. Without being overly obvious-if a bassoon student does not have certain traditional skills on the instrument that student will have too hard a time taking on the difficulty of jazz and other improvised music forms. The important point is that without studying long tones, etudes, excerpts and the like the bassoonist won't have the experience with the instrument necessary to tackle improvisation.
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