Marty Lennon – Sax Player

Hi, my name is Marty and I play saxophone.

Growing up in Liverpool in the sixties and seventies, a high proportion of young lads
wanted to be either a footballer or a musician and since I wasn’t very good at
football, the choice was made for me.
I began my musical journey on guitar, later switching to bass guitar and then
saxophone, adding keyboards and some flute along the way.
Over the intervening years, I’ve played in numerous bands of varying styles including
a band that had a show broadcast on B.B.C. radio Merseyside. I also took up
trombone for a while, playing in brass bands and a Trad jazz band.
Arriving in London in the late seventies, Saxophone and flute players weren’t in high
demand, although I did play both on a record released by a friend. So, since I just
love to play live, I took up bass guitar again along with some gigs on guitar and
keyboard.

However, the urge to play saxophone again proved too strong to ignore and so since
late 2018, I have focused entirely on that instrument, consigning my guitar and bass
to that dark space under the bed.
I first saw Sold on Soul playing in my local pub around 2021 and, really enjoying their
music, got talking to them, mentioning that I played saxophone.
I kept in regular touch with Lee the drummer from Sold on Soul, and meanwhile,
after being in a couple of bands interrupted by covid, I got a call from him early in
2022 inviting me to dep for Sold on Soul’s regular saxophonist. The deps turned into
me becoming a permanent member of Sold on Soul and the rest as they say is
history.

Playing with Sold on Soul is great fun, they are such a great bunch of people both
musically and personally, and I relish the freedom they give me for solos too. A
personal highlight amongst many was this year’s appearance at the Faversham Hop
festival, it was just wow!

My influences on saxophone include John Coltrane, Sonny Rollins, Ben Webster,
Zoot Sims and Wilton Felder (Crusaders). Whilst my favourite music is Jazz, I do like
to listen to a very wide range of music; to quote Duke Ellington “There are simply two
kinds of music, good music and the other kind”.
Away from performing music live, my other big passion is presenting shows on
hospital radio. I started around 2010 on Hospital Radio St. Helier in Carshalton and
later on Hospital Radio Swale on Sheppey. I now present a weekly Jazz, Funk and
Soul show on Valley Park Radio which broadcasts to the patients and staff of Darent
Valley Hospital and is also available on the web.

Oh! and yes, I did get to play in Liverpool’s Cavern several times back in the day.