Candy Dulfer and Rebecca Buxton notwithstanding, there aren”™t a whole lot of women who take up the saxophone.
“There aren”™t a whole lot of women in jazz,” says alto saxophonist Emily Tabin. “Part of my mission is to make it more welcoming to women.”
Tabin, a Chappaqua resident, not only plays in a jazz quintet. She”™s also a founder and executive director of the Westchester Jazz Orchestra, which begins its eighth season in September at Irvington Town Hall Theater. The 16-piece orchestra ”“ five saxophonists, four trumpeters, four trombonists, a pianist, a bass player and a drummer ”“ performs around the county in addition to its regular series gig at Town Hall Theater. (WJO performed in Mount Vernon July 20, opened the JazzForumArts”™ Sunset Jazz series at Lyndhurst in Tarrytown on Aug. 5 and will make its Emelin Theatre debut in March.)
The orchestra released its first CD, “All In,” in 2007 and also conducts workshops at schools like New Rochelle and Ossining high schools.
“It”™s amazing,” she says of the workshops. “(The students) respond incredibly to the music.”
So did Tabin — a onetime litigator for a now-defunct midsize Manhattan law firm who turned to jazz after her last child entered kindergarten.
“Music has always been a huge part of my life. But I needed something totally new,” says Tabin, a classically trained pianist and self-proclaimed “folkie with a guitar.”
So she turned first to the flute and then to the alto sax and fell in love with all that jazz.
“It totally took over my life,” she says.
What she loves is the freedom that characterizes jazz ”“ one of the few true American idioms, born of African and European influences amid African-Americans in the South of the early 20th century.
“It just swings,” Tabin says. “The syncopations, the rhythms, the improvisations. In classical music, the themes and variations are both written down. In jazz, you get to play variations that the performers make up.”
Tabin has been a jazz musician for 14 years now, performing in a quintet that is still in search of a name, though they sometimes call themselves The Hip Replacements — a clever double-entendre.
Her classical training and technique helped in the segue to jazz, along with her interpretive ability.
“It”™s about making music, not just playing the notes,” she says.
That”™s one message WJO conveys to students and teachers alike. And here”™s another that Tabin says she”™d like to get out to everyone: It”™s never too late to pursue your passion.
“It is scary,” Tabin says of leaving the confines of the 9 to 5 world. “And it can be humbling. But (jazz) has been the most rewarding professional experience of my life.”
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If you go
The Westchester Jazz Orchestra opens its season at the Irvington Town Hall Theater on Sept. 25 with a tribute to saxophonist Michael Brecker, featuring his brother, trumpeter Randy Brecker.
On Dec. 4, WJO salutes trumpet greats Louis Armstrong, Miles Davis and Dizzy Gillespie.
Jan. 29, the orchestra performs its “Maiden Voyage Suite,” inspired by Herbie Hancock”™s seminal album “Maiden Voyage.”
The season closes April 2 with WJO pairing the music of pianist Thelonious Monk and baritone saxophonist Gerry Mulligan.
Tickets are $35; $30 senior citizens; $10 students. The theater is at 85 Main St. in Irvington. Tickets: westjazzorch.org and after Labor Day, 914-591-6602. Information: 914-861-9100.
