Bob Magnuson was nine years old when a clarinet changed his life. A musician from the Merv Griffin Show band visited his New Jersey grammar school and played "The Shadow of Your Smile," and by the fifth note, Bob says, "the room illuminated." "I said, I'm going to be a musician. It was absolutely that real. And I was." Forty years later, after recording with Whitney Houston, B.B. King, and Frank Zappa's Universe, and playing on hundreds of commercials, that saxophone and woodwind voice lives inside ACE, modeled from his own playing. We sat down with Bob to talk about a lifetime in music, and why, at 70, he's more excited than ever about what comes next.
Beginnings
How did you first get into music?
I had an epiphany. I was nine years old, at a grammar school right outside the Lincoln Tunnel, so I was always staring at the New York skyline. My teacher was a trumpet player who played on the Merv Griffin Show. He'd teach until three, then drive into Manhattan for a live show, and he sounded amazing. Then he brought some of the band in to do an assembly, and a guy played "The Shadow of Your Smile" on clarinet. By the fifth note, the room illuminated. I said, I'm going to be a musician. And I was.
He got me on the oboe, which became my ticket, into Broadway shows, and eventually the New York jingle world. My first commercial was for Polaroid. The producer said, "Can this kid play, or can he play?" That was David Wolfert, who wrote "I Believe in You and Me" for Whitney Houston. I've worked with him for forty years.
The session life
You've played next to legends, David Sanborn, Michael Brecker, Lee Konitz. What did you learn in those rooms?
When I was 24 I did a show with Meryl Streep, and the thing I got from her was that she didn't compete. She went for excellence, you could see her lift toward something internal. So when I was around the real competitive New York players, and these players are monsters, it never bothered me. All I'd do is go for my own excellence and stay relaxed. Find your spot, and don't even think about them. I never failed. I just altered my course. And they always called me back.
When people are respectful, you bring out the best in each other. In a Broadway show, you play the part, thank you very much, it's a service, leave. Recording, they want more, how can you animate your instrument? Make it talk.
Technology & the future
You were an early pioneer of online recording, and now you're genuinely excited about where music tech is going. What do you say to peers who are wary?
Pretend it's 1974 and we're talking about a cassette recorder, "this is the end of music." The synthesizer, the end of music. Sampled instruments, the end of real players. That never bothered me, because I'm going to succeed no matter what. And that's not ego, it's humble. I grew up around the spontaneity of things being inconsistent, so it was easy for me to practice and wait for the phone to ring.
There are no obstacles anymore, and you can be an amateur and be creative. People say "that's not real music." That's not the point. The paradigm has changed. What can I give? is the paradigm. My whole life has not been about accomplishment. It's been about connection.
Working with ACE Studio
Do you remember the first time you heard your playing turned into an ACE instrument?
The first time I made the model and played it back on the keyboard and heard my sound, I said: this is changed forever. And it's only in its infancy. Years ago someone triggered my old WAV files from a keyboard, but I had no control over it. Now I have control. I can play me on the keyboard, and you can too.
"This is changed forever. And it's only in its infancy."
And I get a residual, which I appreciate so much. I bought my house from residuals. You do it because you get residuals, that's the whole point.
"Paying musicians is wonderful, because then people are actually hearing the musicians."
But music is also about legacy. I have an online band with friends I love, and for that music I want the live drummer. In the music that comes from your heart, I want real people in it. I want your imperfection. It's not about perfection. It never was. It's about striving for excellence.
Advice
What would you tell a musician coming up today?
Don't be discouraged by not knowing much. An idea's an idea. If you give Quincy Jones the idea, he's going to run with it. Get to know musicians by becoming a fan and writing to them personally. And keep studying, Bob James is 86 and works with 20-year-olds. He's timeless.
A few records everyone should hear?
My Song by Keith Jarrett, with Jan Garbarek on saxophone, a record that will change your life. Edgar Winter's White Trash. And David Sanborn, not just a great saxophonist, a great communicator. He'd play a few notes and you'd go, "what?" That X factor is what you want to find in yourself.
Bob Magnuson is a New York studio saxophonist and woodwind multi-instrumentalist of four decades, who has recorded with Whitney Houston, B.B. King, and Frank Zappa's Universe, played on hundreds of commercial soundtracks, and is a pioneer of online recording with clients worldwide.
Bob's saxophones and woodwinds are among the instruments in ACE Studio, performance-modeled from his own playing, with Bob credited and sharing in the royalties.
