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  Sax - and Lisa Simpson
Everything
you need to know about the Musical genius in the Simpsons
Lisa Marie Simpson
(voiced by
Yeardley Smith) is a
fictional character on the animated
television series
The
Simpsons.
Matt Groening, the creator of the series, named her after his
sister. Lisa is an extremely
bright girl, with an IQ of 159. Officially, her highest grade is
an A+++ which she earned by cheating in a test, (he later re-marked the test as an
F.) Her
musical abilities are extensive: she sings with a powerful voice,
and has been seen playing both the acoustic six-string and electric
bass guitar proficiently. However, her great love is
jazz
&
blues
performed on her much mis-shapen, mis-proportioned baritone saxophone
of many hues.
She uses a 4 & 1/2
reed, a fairly stiff reed for an 8 year old. Her musical
inclinations were greatly nourished through her relationship with
the late jazz musician
'Bleeding Gums' Murphy. Lisa is someone who is very eclectic in
her knowledge and shows a deep understanding of the world around
her. She may be seen as a child prodigy. Critics have also pointed
out that the character of Lisa is a hint to the slighting of
children in the real world though they may be a lot more
knowledgeable and perceptive than the adults.
 "Bleeding
Gums" Murphy'' was a
fictional character on the cartoon
television series
Saxophone
player and long-lost brother of Dr. Julius Hibbert, Bleeding Gums
was a mentor for Lisa until his early death although he did have a
heavenly return gig. He recorded one album called
Sax on the Beach, which was extremely lucrative, but he soon
went broke after spending too much of his money on several
Faberge Eggs a day (Did he boil Them?). This jazzman always wore dark glasses on the
show. In the episode "Moaning
Lisa", he played and vocalized a song written by Lisa. It
pleased Lisa to see the televised performance of her own blues song,
but not everyone in the family room was happy with lyrics that
criticized her family members. Murphy makes his first appearance
playing his saxophone on a bridge in the middle of the night, a
probable reference to
Sonny Rollins.
The voice of Bleeding Gums Murphy was provided by
Ron
Taylor.
Bleeding Gums Murphy: You know, you
play pretty well for someone with no real problems.
Lisa: Yeah, well I don't feel any better.
Bleeding Gums Murphy: The blues isn't about making
yourself feel better, it's about making other people feel worse.
And makin' a few bucks while you're at it.
In many episodes' opening sequence,
Lisa plays the saxophone. Mr. Largo dismisses her, and she walks out
the door still playing. Who performs Lisa's solos and other sax
music?
According to Alf Clausen, since (his first episode), this has been
Terry Harrington. (He is also mentioned here and there on SNPP, e.g.
in the LISA.) Before that, under Richard Gibbs, this was apparently
Kim Richmond. Bonus tip: Bleeding Gums Murphy's sax was played by
Dan Higgins starting in season 2. So who is this Terry
Harrington and how did he land such a cool gig? This
article mentions that the Motown veteran was nominated by the
National Association of Recording Arts and Sciences as "most
valuable woodwind doubler for three consecutive years." We're not
sure what that means, but it sounds pretty darn impressive. And
despite his obvious mastery of the saxophone, Harrington says he's
most comfortable playing the clarinet.
"Ahhh - those Jazz guys are just makin' that stuff
up!" - Homer Simpson
 Who wrote the solos? Are there any
official names for them
Again according to Alf Clausen, though he composes the
in-episode pieces, the main title solos are improvised by Terry
Harrington to give Lisa's performance a more spontaneous feel. There
are no official names for the classroom solos which differ but
relate to the Simpson's Theme tune
- and then there are those other
celebrated Saxophone players
  
Zoot - 'Forgive me Charlie Parker'
Pink 'Lockjaw' Panther 'Bird' in the Pink
'Bean' Cookie Monster
  
The Prez- Kool for Katz
  
 Does
anyone remember Betty Smith - Tenor Sax - Booting delivery and
played with Freddy Randall & Eddie Thompson
Tenor Saxist Betty Smith on the
left with two Trumpeters - Ron Simmonds and June Robinson on the
Right
Both girls were playing locally with Blanche Coleman's band, while
Ron was with Teddy Dobbs on the pier in Clacton-on-Sea. The photo
was taken in 1946
I knew Betty on the ships -
specifically on the Franconia, round about 1969/70, when Betty was doing
cabaret on the ship with Jack Peberdy, her husband, who came to join us on
bass some of the time: I was pianist in the 'big band' (all of 7 piece, as
far as I remember !). Betty was terrific - had a sound like a double-decker
bus on tenor, sang her head off, and cheerfully insulted the audience
(largely American) as well. Always did a grand job, and always went down
well.
She enjoyed the odd drink (or two .... or three...)
and (usually) played the sax all the better for it. She also played piano
really nicely, and my most vivid memories of her are of her accompanying
herself on piano in one of the ship's bars, totally solo and 'unplugged',
long after it was closed, singing 'My Funny Valentine'. She did
indeed know Eddie Thompson, and on one occasion we hired a taxi and
tracked him down (with considerable difficulty) in New York, where we
knew he was playing. We found finally in a dreadful little bar with sawdust
on the floor, and after listening to him playing for a few minutes, she
said "Watch this..." and went up to Eddie, who was playing his head off in
the corner. She simply went up to him and said "Hi Eddie ..." ; he never
missed a beat, despite not having heard anything from her for several years,
but simply said "Hi Betty" kept his head down, and and kept on playing -
with just a bass player (can't remember his name, but a guy who could
double-stop and sing in harmony with himself !!) and no drummer. What a
pianist !
She had a lot of contacts ashore, and when I teamed
up with a drummer and left the ship after a couple of years she got us a
summer season in Scarborough - where I have happily lived, worked as a
musician, and brought up a family, for some 40 years now.
I owe a lot to Betty - and
indeed to Jack: what a lovely guy ! I made contact with them briefly 12
months or more ago, and was very sorry to hear that she had some sort of
alzheimers. Frank James
She appeared at the Beach Ballroom in Aberdeen Circa 1957 with fishnet
tights and bootin sax with Eddie and Freddy Randall - and Eddie's dog.- when
i was about 16 - (53 years ago) she seemed to approve then of my interest in
her legs
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