Saxophone players... how do you do this trick?

We went to a concert by "145th Street" on Friday evening. This was in a public park. The saxophonist had a wireless microphone attached to his sax and he was walking around on the grass, playing as he meandered through the crowd. I don't remember the song was, but it had a long improvisational jam in the middle. At one point this saxophonist started playing a note, and didn't stop. He held the same note for well over a minute. It might have even been two minutes. It seemed like forever. He stayed on the same note, at the same loudness, for what started to seem like an eternity. He still kept walking around as he did it. As it went on, and on, and on, this same unchanging note, people in the crowd began to stand up and cheer him on. Pretty soon virtually everyone was standing and cheering, and yet he still kept on that same note, which never stopped even for 1/10th of a second. When he finally ended it, he didn't stop the sound at all, and went on to a further improvisational run, again without stopping. How did he achieve this? Did he breathe in through his nose the whole time, and kept putting air in his cheeks to supply air to the reed? That's all I can think of. The saxophonist is Walter Gentry, who is shown at this page:
http://www.145street.com/band.html

I've never even tried to master that.

It is circular breathing.

It's a tough thing to master.

but I don't think anyone could.

and I still can't do it.

Cool. :thumbsup:

Clarinet here.

Saxophone and flute here.

But such a beautiful sound if one can master the instrument.

I learned flute as my first instrument and it helped me immensely with perfecting my saxophone tone.

I've heard so many sax players who had such a sharp, piercing sound. And then others who had a rich, full tone, like they knew how it should be played, not just technically, but musically as well.

involves keeping pockets of air in your cheeks that you blow throw the horn as you inhale through the nose. I believe it was Rahsaan Roland Kirk who popularized the technique. Here's him doing what that guy you saw did (only they didn't have wireless mikes back in the early 70's):


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jqXYAcVPDD4