San Jose Jazz chooses an artist, five questions (same ones each times) and five answers. Here, the jazz saxophonist Pete Yellin who leads his own group, the Pete Yellin Quintet, agreed to play by the rules!
San Jose Jazz (SJJ): Tell us who you are.
Pete Yellin (PY): I'm Pete Yellin, a saxophonist from New-York now living in the east Bay for years. I play the alto sax mostly. I started playing at the age of 17, on clarinet. I was listening to jazz music and some of my friends were playing in their school bands so I thought it would be fun to try and learn an instrument. I was a basketball player in high school and received a scholarship to Denver University. At D.U., I went out and heard Art Pepper play the alto sax at a local club and decided to try to learn the sax. So when the 1st year was up, I got a sax and a teacher (with help from my musician dad) and picked it up pretty quickly. My teacher was on the staff at Juilliard Conservatory and he helped me get accepted there. I met many serious musicians there and they helped me get "gigs" and go to rehearsals and jam sessions.
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The great saxophonist Pete Christlieb - who performed at the Festival on Sunday, August 15 - answers to our five questions and tells us some memories he lived during his musical career that he could never forget .