Tony Ryder makes sure he’s tucked away from view on the waterfront
A saxophone player has been filling the city centre with soulful music, but no one has ever seen him perform(Image: Colin Lane/Liverpool Echo)
A saxophone player has been filling the city centre with soulful music, but no one has ever seen him perform. People claim to have heard a mysterious musician nestled in the bushes along Gower Street, near the Royal Albert Dock.
Staff at the nearby Synergy Dental Clinic told the ECHO they often hear jazz drifting through the air but have never been able to trace its source. A city nightlife worker also told the ECHO he’d occasionally caught a glimpse of someone behind the railings, but the man was always there at unusual hours and tucked away out of sight.
When the ECHO first went to investigate, the street was quiet and showed no signs of unusual activity. Suddenly, smooth jazz began to fill the air behind the locked gates of the Royal Quay.
Just as the rumours suggested, there was indeed a saxophonist hidden between the railings covered by bushes and tucked behind a small building, playing to an unseen audience.
The man’s name is Tony Ryder and there’s a very sweet reason he keeps his talents locked away from the public’s gaze. The 64-year- old, from Wirral, told the ECHO: “I work in the building behind here and I come out on my lunch breaks. I wouldn’t call what I play music, I’d call it noise.
“I’ve been playing the saxophone for more than 40 years. I had a mate who lived over the road from me, Kevin O’Neill, and he played guitar. He was into blues, playing Chuck Berry stuff and Muddy Waters. He just said to me one day, ‘Why don’t you buy an instrument?’ My brother used to play commercial jazz music, like the Crusaders and Tom Scott.
Liverpool’s hidden saxophone player Tony Ryder(Image: christopher)
“I used to like the look of the instruments, but I also liked the sound. So I said I’ll buy a saxophone and I bought it on hire purchase for £35 a month. I’m self-taught but I did five or six lessons in a classical school, Tafelmusic in Wirral.
“I went into Skeleton Records – a record shop in Wirral – and found an album with some fellow called John Handy sitting by a piano on the LP. I thought ‘he looks cool. I’m gonna start here.'”
Music pumped through Tony’s veins and he found himself enamoured with jazz in his 20s. Like many musicians, he went out on the streets and busked, but it wasn’t a past time he would keep up for long.
Tony said: “I went busking on Bold Street and Chester with my mate who played guitar. When I finished doing that and got on the bus to come home, I wanted to go to hospital because of the butterflies in my stomach.
“I was so nervous. I went into instant pain on the coach. My mate was laughing, but I was serious. I needed a hospital. I’m quite a shy person. It took it out of me standing in front of people playing.”
Tony set down the saxophone for years(Image: christopher)
Tony now takes solace performing in his tucked away secret location where his music can still be heard by anyone passing by. The walls amplify his saxophone’s sound and his lunch break is the perfect amount of time to jam out in peace.
Tony set down his saxophone for years after a mix-up with a repair store saw his instrument ruined. After he was diagnosed with epilepsy, he returned to the music he loved for all of his life as a form of escape.
He added: “I got my saxophone back in worse condition. The neck was still loose, you could see all the repairs and there was a big dent in it too so I stopped playing for 10 years. I just put it in the cupboard and didn’t want to play.
“I got epilepsy, which was misdiagnosed so I was given loads of medication that brought on life-threatening seizures. I went from 14 stone to 9 and a half stone. I had IBS so all the medication I was given was making me ill. I thought I was dying.
Liverpool’s hidden saxophone player Tony Ryder(Image: christopher)
“I never used to go out but one day my wife dragged me to a flea market and that’s where I saw an alto sax for £65. I bought it and that’s how I got back into it.
“I started practicing again instead of worrying about the illness. I was thinking about patterns and playing performing and not my life. I was thinking about how to play instead of going in circles about my health. It healed me.”
Tony is happy keeping his musical talents to himself, tucked away from the public gaze, but doesn’t mind if passersby get an earful of his incredible talent. He said: “I always want to play now. I like to hear the sound. I like playing fast. Sometimes I have to remind myself to be more melodic. But I like fast notes.
“I’m quite a shy person so I like coming out here on my lunch break. I mainly come out during the summer when it’s nice weather. I would still always call it noise more than anything.”