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I'm a chicago-based sax player who gets to perform, dance, scream, and schmooze for a living. Life is good.
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In 2020, I wrote a song about my dream of being a full-time musician. The lyrics went: “Man I hope one day I’ll pay the bills with this, that’d be dope but hey, I’ll stay realistic. I gotta cope with $30k a year doing this, and I could pray to strike gold, but that’s a crazy wish.”
I guess you could say I struck gold.
Today I am one of Chicago's premier wedding and event saxophonists, bringing high-energy dance floor performances to the Chicago area and beyond.
the truth is...
That wedding was electric. The DJ (shoutout Matthew Duncan!!!) was one of the best DJs I've played with to this day, the bride and groom were on cloud nine, their parents wouldn’t stop thanking me, and all their guests were having the best time ever. After the last song, when most of the guests had left and I was packing my gear up, the bride came up to me with tears in her eyes saying how grateful she was that I'd brought her dream wedding to life. That’s when it hit me — this was the meaning I’d been looking for. In that moment, I knew that this was what I wanted to do for the rest of my life. That’s where That Sax Guy Events was born.
In 2023, a little over two years into my day job, I got a text from a girl named Alyssa saying that she got my number from a mutual friend and was looking for a sax player for her wedding. I had played plenty of gigs with my bands up to that point, but never a wedding. Regardless, I thought "how hard could it be?" and took the gig. I had no clue at the time, but this was going to be one of the most transformative experiences of my entire life.
I got a lot out of that day job. It paid well, it provided benefits, and I learned a ton of business acumen that my music education curriculum just didn’t cover. But above all else, it provided me with the knowledge of what I didn’t want to do. Every day, I’d go home thinking “what’s the point?” I knew I needed to pave a path toward a more meaningful life. That's when I reminded myself of my favorite motto: "Sh*t works out if you let it."
I'M SOLD
that's my life motto. that'll be relevant in a few paragraphs.
My first saxophone teacher was my grandpa. He worked his butt off to provide for his family. While raising my mom and uncle, he was also a full-time music teacher on the South Side of Chicago at Gage Park High School, a professional musician gigging multiple nights a week, and even a reptile keeper at Lincoln Park Zoo. He had an amazingly fulfilling career, but he’d tell me how he was constantly strapped for two things — time and money. I grew up believing that if I pursued music, the same thing would inevitably happen to me. With that in mind, I gave up on my dreams of pursuing music & entertainment professionally and joined the workforce as a B2B sales rep at a large freight brokerage.
This is the entire foundation of my business. I want your guests to leave your party thinking “That was the most fun I’ve had in a long time.” I am not the snobby, stuffy saxophonist who insists on elegance. I am the fun, high-energy saxophonist who insists on people actually enjoying themselves.
COMMUNICATION
I've planned a wedding before, and to put it lightly... it can be stressful. The last thing I want to do is add to it! You can count on me to communicate not only with you, but also your planner, venue coordinator, DJ/band, and anyone else that may be in the mix to ensure that all logistical and musical needs are met in a timely and proactive fashion.
This is going to sound sooooo cliché, but whatever, it's true — I refuse to settle for anything less than the best. I simply care too much about my clients to let that happen. You're spending a lot of money to have me on your dance floor. I’m going to give you every last ounce of effort I’ve got to bring that dance floor to life!
SEE PROOF
In elementary school I was the class clown. In middle school I was the annoying tween who would stop at nothing to get girls to laugh. In high school I was the sax guy in that band (#foreshadowing). My teachers would tell me that I needed to get my s**t together. Little did they know, I was just honing my craft.
Nothing pains me more than being at a party where the vibes on the dance floor are “meh.” You know the one I’m talking about — the DJ with minimal or no lighting who just pushes a button and occasionally crossfades from one song to the next — nightmare fuel. This isn’t just a party. This is one of the most important days of your life. I’m here to make sure your entertainment experience feels just as special as the rest of your day does.
I LIVE TO MAKE PEOPLE SMILE, LAUGH AND HAVE A GOOD TIME
THAT SAX GUY EVENTS
In September 2024, less than a week before my very first wedding as a dance floor saxophonist, ZORILA went on hiatus. This gave me some much-needed bandwidth to dedicate toward my newfound career as a wedding and event saxophonist.
That first wedding (shoutout Alyssa & Connor!!!) lit a fire inside me. I found so much meaning in helping to create some of the best memories of a couples life together. It was in that moment that I knew I wanted to do this for the rest of my life.
Since then, I have performed at over 100 weddings, corporate events, private events, and public performances. I am so grateful to do what I love every day, and I am so excited to rock many more dance floors in the years to come!
ZORILA
Graduating 2 months into the pandemic threw my plans to teach completely off track. I ended up making a LinkedIn account, getting a sales job at a freight brokerage, and moving downtown to River North. It was in Chicago that I joined indie rock band ZORILA, playing sax, keys and singing backup vocals.
ZORILA headlined many venues across Chicago, including Lincoln Hall, Joe’s On Weed Street, Schubas Tavern, and Chop Shop. We also shared the stage with bands like Stolen Gin, Ax & The Hatchetmen, The Astronomers, Emarosa, and The Unlikely Candidates.
You can listen to our music on Spotify, Apple Music, or wherever else you listen to music!
FINDING THE STAGE
My friends and I started a band in high school called “Xazz.” We played hundreds of events together, including a segment on WGN Live, the Chicago Emmy Awards, and a Joe Biden Rally. We also won the Bitter Jester Music Festival on multiple occasions, which is now known as one of the largest live music competitions in the country.
I was named an Illinois All State Saxophonist in 2015, and I accepted a performance scholarship from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign the following year. I graduated in 2020 with a Bachelors in Music Education with focuses in music technology and jazz.
The first time I played sax was in 2008 at “band instrument try-out day” in 4th grade. I played it for about 30 seconds. Horrible experience. It hurt my teeth and made me dizzy. Hard pass. I played the cello instead. Two years later, my grandpa gave me a piece of advice that changed the course of my life forever: “You know, Michael, cello is a beautiful instrument… but sax gets the girls.”
That's when I started taking sax lessons with Poppa.
I have an award named after me! Bitter Jester Music Festival, which is one of the largest live music competitions in the country, gives out a few awards every year: MVP Vocals, MVP Guitar, MVP Drums, MVP Bass, and as of 2021, a fifth award for best instrumentalist on any other instrument: The Michael Brook Outstanding Instrumentalist Award.
I’m not just a sax guy! I’m also a multi-instrumentalist (keys, guitar, bass, vocals) and a songwriter. I’ve co-wrote and/or produced several songs that now have over 100,000 streams!
Barnaby’s has better pizza than literally any spot in Chicago and I’ll gladly die on that hill.
When I was 8 years old, I was convinced that it would impress everyone if I was really good at Guitar Hero. I didn’t impress anyone, but at least now I can play Number of the Beast on Expert mode without looking at my TV.
My brother lives half way around the world in Japan with his wife and daughter. Lowkey such a great excuse to fly to Japan every couple years.
I drink a litre of cold brew every day. I don’t have a problem, YOU have a problem!
