The Best Sax Player in New York

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Boris!

Having discovered that Central Park was celebrating its 150th, I made a point of catching a cab uptown on my last morning in New York for a quick visit.

It’s easy for me to recollect my first impression of Central Park before ever even visiting NYC: that it was a dark and dangerous place, filled with broken needles, drug-pushers and lurking, shadowy figures in the underbrush. In retrospect, this impression seems quaint and even comical: nothing could be further from the truth!

Before I even caught a glimpse of this guy and as I was scouting the park for a tunnel to record in, it was the distant strains of a lone sax player that caught my attention, just as din of the ever-present street traffic and the clip-clop of horse carriages began to fade away, and as the park’s green hush began to embrace me.

Without having seen too many street musicians during my short trip, I was particularly delighted to have a chance encounter with this fine musician. Boris was schooled at the Moscow Conservatory, and seemed to know all the players in town. It was humbling to go ahead and record my little Broadway Tune after hearing this guy blow his horn, but I carried on nonetheless considering that I was on the prowl for unique acoustic spaces!