Im a college student studying the fine art of saxophone playing and I was wondering what you practiced when you were in college. Oh, and what do you practice now???

Wow, college was a long time ago. I was a performance major, so I had to perform classical sax as well as the jazz. I would go to the practice rooms and practice whatever the pieces I had to perform for the recitals, like the Concertina da Camera by Ibert or the Creston Sonata and rehearse with the accompanists along the way. Those come to mind right now. Of course I had the the music from the jazz ensembles to practice and the doubling on clarinet and flute. Also practicing solos, licks and phrases from my favorite albums. I taught myself some piano back then too.

Now when I practice, I still do the licks and phrases, melodies touching base on my own tunes here and there.
Thanks for asking. I know it's fairly general but I hope that helps.

Absolutely it helps. I'm basically doing the same thing as far as my college practice routine goes. Classical + Jazz. What about tone building? You have like, the best saxophone sound. Its really unique too. I mean...do you do long tones a certain way or something? Did/do you do any transcribing?

Thanks! Much appreciated.
Yes, I do the longtones giving special attention to the note-to-note connection, and phrasing. Eventually I learned and apply my own little nuances. I still transcribe and tranpose licks and phrases in all keys. (very good to do).

Well, how about this. How do you go about writing a song?

A few different ways.

I will come up everything...melody, chords and basic arrangement, then have it produced to record quality. My earlier recordings were done like this.

I come up with melody first then collaborate with someone for the chords and arrangement. Looking Glass is one of them.

Producer has a hot track or arrangement/chords first and then I write melody to it.
Avenue, PT Cruiser, Ladies' Choice come to mind.

Jamming with producer in the studio writing a song from scratch .
After Hours is one of those.

Its alright Mr. Taylor, you can get technical.
It was great seeing you in Michigan!!!

Thank Kevin for driving all that way there. Nice to meet you as well and talk for a minute.