Tenderness: 4 Saxophones SATBar/AATBar Conductor Score & Parts

Pauer captures the smooth, lyrical sensibility of Dave Sanborn's saxophone sound while writing music that sits comfortably in the contemporary quartet idiom. The soul-rock groove gives your ensemble room to breathe and swing without demanding extreme technical virtuosity, making it an accessible entry point into the fusion repertoire.

Tenderness opens with the warmth and restraint of late-night soul music. The writing captures Sanborn's gift for making a single phrase feel inevitable and complete, with harmonies that sit in the pocket and a groove that never rushes.

Saxophone quartets looking to add contemporary jazz-rock material that doesn't require extended techniques or radical changes in approach. High school and college ensembles comfortable with swing feel and groove-based playing will find this accessible and immediately rewarding.

• Establish a solid pocket with the baritone sax anchoring the bottom end; this foundation lets the upper voices lay back and find that soulful Sanborn tone without pushing.
• Shape phrase endings with restraint. The soul-rock style asks for subtle dynamics rather than dramatic gestures; let the saxophone timbre do the communicating.
• Balance the SATBar or AATBar voicing so each voice occupies its own frequency band. Have the saxophone voices listen for blend without loss of individual clarity.

Program this alongside classical or bebop quartet works to show the breadth of the saxophone quartet tradition. It works particularly well on a concert that explores contemporary chamber writing or when you want to demonstrate how jazz vocabulary enriches ensemble performance.

• Swing phrasing and rhythmic feel in a groove context
• Listening for blend and balance within saxophone quartets
• Soul-rock and fusion style interpretation
• Reading and responding to conductor cues in non-classical contexts
• Sustaining warm tone quality over longer phrases