Jim Odgren is Academic Assistant to the Dean of the Performance Division at Berklee College of Music. Odgren is an alto saxophonist who doubles on tenor and soprano saxophones and flute. Throughout his fifteen-year career at Berklee, he has taught in the Performance Studies and Woodwind Departments. From 1980 to 1983, he toured throughout the world and recorded two LPs (Easy As Pie and Picture This) with the Gary Burton Quartet. Since then, he has recorded and/or played with Kevin Eubanks, John Scofield, Kenwood Denard, Jim Kelly, Victor Mendoza, Oscar Stagnaro, George Garzone, and many others. In 1989, he received the Dean of Faculty Award for his work in improvisation at Berklee. In 2002, Odgren released his own CD, Her Eyes. He is author of the instructional DVD, Accelerate Your Saxophone Playing, and coauthor of two books, Berklee Practice Methods: Getting Your Band Together, with Berklee Woodwind Department Chair, Bill Pierce. Odgren graduated from Berklee College of Music in 1976.

Berklee Online Courses by Author:

Books by Author:

Berklee Practice Method: Tenor and Soprano Sax: Get Your Band Together

Practice the techniques that are vital for the tenor sax player in an ensemble: melody and improvisation, and how to develop your mastery of phrasing, articulations, breathing, chords, scales, and improvisation techniques.

Berklee Practice Method: Alto and Baritone Sax: Get Your Band Together

Learn techniques specific to playing the saxophone in a contemporary ensemble. When you play sax in a band, your primary concern is with melody and improvisation, how to develop your mastery of phrasing, articulations, breathing, chords, scales, and improvisation techniques.