By Sarah Murphy
Berklee.edu Correspondent
April 2004

	Photo by Liz Linder
	Linda's Audio • "Ice Queen" (J. Pyyko) Features Linda Little on baritone saxophone Listen: slow | fast

What would you do if an injury prevented you from playing your instrument? It's a question all musicians dread, one they hope they'll never have to answer.

Baritone saxophonist Linda Little, a performance major from St. Johnsbury, Vermont, was in the spring of her sophomore year at Berklee when she was confronted with this question. Hours of intense practicing, combined with incorrect posture and the weight of her beloved—but extremely heavy—baritone sax had torn her intercostals, the small muscles that line the ribcage.

The pain was more intense than anything she had experienced before. "It was really sharp, like somebody was stabbing me in the chest," she says. Over time, the injury became so devastating that the structure and mechanics of her entire upper body were altered. "My body was trying to compensate for the pain," she says.

And so she began a battery of treatments, hoping to eliminate the pain and get playing again as quickly as possible. But weeks turned into months of acupuncture, chiropractic adjustments, cortisone shots, yoga, and physical therapy. She began to fear that she would never play the bari again.

"I said to myself, 'If I'm not better [soon], then I have to figure out what I'm going to do with my life. Because my body's not agreeing with what I want to do.'"

It was a dark time for her. She stayed at Berklee, working on ear training and transcribing tunes to help maintain her musicianship. But this was not enough to keep her busy or to keep her mind off her injury. Unable to play the saxophone, her once busy schedule was wide open.

"It was amazing to me, when I stopped practicing I realized how much free time I had."

Then a close friend at Berklee, Paul Im, approached her with an idea. Im wanted to start a student-run jazz record label at the college, and he wanted Little's help. Berklee already had a successful, student-run pop label, Heavy Rotation Records. The administration frequently funded and oversaw jazz recording projects, but there had never been a jazz label managed by students, for students.

Photo by Liz Linder
Linda's Five Most Influential Recordings • Ballads – John Coltrane • Freedom in the Groove – Joshua Redman • Angel Song – Kenny Wheeler • The Best of Chaka Khan – Chaka Khan • The Next Step – Kenny Wheeler

Little eagerly took up the project. Together, she and Im wrote a proposal and pitched it to Executive Vice President Gary Burton. Not only did the work help fill the void left by not playing her instrument, it gave her something besides her bari to be passionate about. Little and Im had a strong vision for the project and were adamant that all phases of managing the label remain in students' hands.

"The students know the musicians, they know the music, they know who's playing, they know what's popular and what the vibe is at Berklee," she says. "We really wanted to have control over what was going to go on the record and how we were going to do things. It shows initiative and it shows that students have the drive to be successful. Because in the future, they're going to be the ones to make music and to change music."

Burton endorsed their proposal, and Jazz Revelation Records was born. Little threw herself into the work, recruiting and selecting tunes to put on the label's first compilation album, Rebirth, and helping to oversee everyday business operations.

Still, she struggled with the pain in her ribs and back, and the frustration of not being able to play. Gradually, with the help of a performing arts–based physical therapist, the pain was subsiding. But a whole year had passed and she still hadn't picked up her saxophone. Over the course of that year, her peers had advanced their skills, while she was stuck in a holding pattern.

In the end, Little's competitive streak served as a powerful motivation. "I think staying in the [Berklee] environment pushed me to do my exercises every morning and to go see my physical therapist. Even though, I did get pretty down."

When Phil Wilson called her in the summer of 2003, offering her a place in the Berklee Rainbow Band, she decided it was time to start practicing again. Ever since her freshman year, Little had been waiting for the chance to play in the prestigious group. The previous bari player had finally graduated, and Little was not about to give up her seat in the saxophone section.

She wasn't sure she was physically up to the task, but she was willing to take the risk and find out. Starting with one hour of practice a day—with a careful eye toward maintaining correct posture—she worked her way back to her previous skill level. Now she is playing better than ever and taking full advantage of the opportunities available to her at Berklee. She played several prominent jazz festivals with the Rainbow Band and spent a week rehearsing with Michel Camilo during the acclaimed pianist's teaching residency.

"This last year has been such a wild ride because I started to play again, and I got to play with all these amazing people," she says. But she is not about to leave the fledgling Jazz Revelation Records in the dust. In fact, she is working harder than ever to make it a success. The label celebrated its first release in February with a concert in the Berklee Performance Center. And starting in the 2004 academic year, Little will serve as the label's president.

The bari sax will always be her first love, but she is making room in her heart—and her schedule—for a second. "I always have the label in the back of my head, because if we can keep it going, it's going to be this amazing thing."

	IF YOU ARE HAVING PROBLEMS LISTENING TO ANY AUDIO, VISIT OUR ONLINE TECHNICAL HELP PAGE. All audio and video clips require QuickTime. To protect the rights of artists and performers, all clips are streamed, rather than offered for download.