I want to start this review out with a big apology to Joe Rohrbacher of Just Joe’s Music in Bend, Oregon.  Joe sent me a couple of complimentary Just Joe’s Sax Gel Straps to try out and perhaps review almost 5 YEARS AGO!!  This was around the fall of 2011 and at the time I was having a horrible time with upper back pain, arm pain and hand pain.  This was combined with tingling, numbness and feeling like my fingers weren’t responding like they should.  Playing the saxophone was excruciatingly painful!

Just Joe’s Sax Gel Strap

I had a MRI done and it turned out that I had some pinched nerves around the C6-C7 area of the upper spine. I was miserable, in pain all the time, couldn’t sleep and it was affecting my playing big time!   The doctor said I needed surgery to resolve this ongoing problem but at the time I felt like I had had enough surgeries for a life time (you can read my “Funny as a Brain Tumor” story if you are interested in that) and decided to give this some more time to hopefully resolve itself on it’s own.

I received the Just Joe’s Gel strap around that time and also a Jazzlab Saxholder neck strap also.  I did a review of the Jazzlab Saxholder back in 2012 but have been totally negligent in my review of the Just Joe’s Gel Strap.   It was nothing intentional, but when I received the Just Joe’s strap I thought “Let me try this out for a couple of months and see how it works for me before I review it……”  Next thing I know, five years have gone by.  It is August 2016 and I’m still using the Just Joe’s neck strap every day.   So to Joe I say “I’m sorry for the five year wait, please forgive me.  I love your straps and use them every day!”

Just Joe’s Sax Gel Strap

Back in 2011, I changed to the Jazzlab Saxholder neck strap from my old Hyman strap because I figured that was the safest bet because it would take all the pressure off my neck.  I did get better during the coming months due to healing over time but I believe also due to reducing that large weight hanging around my neck 4-6 hours a day.

Although I liked the Saxholder when standing, I found it a bit uncomfortable and awkward while sitting which I believe I mentioned in the review I did of it.   I am usually sitting during Skype lessons so I started using the Just Joe’s Gel strap during those moments.   Soon, I found myself just using the Just Joe’s Gel Strap all the time.

Now, five years later, I am still using the Just Joe’s Sax Gel Strap and haven’t had any further neck, shoulder, arm or hand issues during that time due to my saxophone playing! Woohoo!!  (I did have an issue a few weeks ago when I tried to boogie board with my kids while at the Ocean but that’s a different story…….no more boogie boarding……..)

Just Joe’s Sax Gel Strap

The Just Joe’s Gel Strap has a soft leather piece that sits around your neck.  The piece is wider than many other neck straps so that it feels like the weight is dispersed a bit more.

What sets the Just Joe’s Gel Strap apart from many other straps is that there are two gel cushions on either side that sit on either side of your spine. This lifts the area that is over your spine up so that there is little to no pressure on your spine from the strap.

Here’s a quotes from the Just Joe’s Gel Strap website:

“By carefully placing the super soft polymer inserts on either side of the neck vertebrae we have dramatically reduced the pressure and related stress on the most vulnerable part of the spine. The polymer then helps distribute the weight where contact is made. You will be surprised at how much lighter your saxophone feels!!”

Joe describes how he thought of and created the Just Joe’s Gel Strap

The leather neck piece is attached solidly to a sturdy cord that loops through metal eyelets in the leather so the rope won’t tear through the leather. The cord loop is then  secured with metal crimps.

The slider on the Gel Strap is black anodized aluminum and is easy to adjust and slide.  Sometimes the cord does get a bit twirled up over time but the strap still works great even when the cord is twirled up a bit. You can un-twirl the cord by flipping the strap over and over in the right direction to fix it.

Joe has 3 different hook options to choose from:

• A custom J hook-this is metal with a thermoplastic coating
• A Large brass hook that closes
• A Nylon hook that closes

The two straps I received had the nylon plastic hook that closes and the brass hook that closes. The hooks are sturdy and solid. I chose the hooks that close because I am a bit paranoid about a hook sliding off, you then go to play and disaster.   I have had many close calls with these non-closing hooks over the years. (This has led to my other unspoken rule which is “always have at least one hand around the sax at all times”.  This has saved me from many disasters also.)

I don’t want to add any controversy to this review but I feel I should point out my personal experiences when using the plastic hook compared to the brass hook. Dave Valdez posted an article on his blog in 2012 called “Neck Strap Hook Analysis Results“.  If you read the article, you will find that Dave believed there to be a sonic difference in tone when using the large brass hook of the Just Joe’s neck strap compared to plastic hooks on other straps.   The article is an interesting read and dave attempts to give some evidence to his opinion. This article is what got me curious about the Just Joe’s strap with the brass hook in the first place.

My finding were the same as Dave Valdez’s.   I felt like the strap with the brass hook played more lively, brighter and louder.  I have been told that there is no scientific theory that would support this phenomena but nevertheless, that is my experience.  You can do what you want with that information, hopefully it doesn’t cause as much discussion and debate as my “Buzz Screw” review did……..but hey, I can live with it……..

The one thing to consider with the brass hook is if and how it will wear on the hook ring on your saxophone.  I used a metal hook in college that chewed it’s way almost all the way through my Couf Superba I tenor sax hook ring before I noticed.  I have no idea what metal that hook was made of but I have been cautious of metal hooks since then.   Right now, I am using the plastic hook on my Selmer SBA tenor and the metal hook on my Yamaha soprano.

Just Joe’s Sax Gel Strap

If you are not 100% happy with your current neck strap or have upper back and spinal issues I would encourage you to try the Just Joe’s Gel Strap.  You can order them at the Just Joe’s Sax Gel Strap website.  If you have questions about what length to choose please contact Joe via the site to ask those questions.

Thanks again to Joe for sending me these samples to review.  These are quality, well made straps that I feel have been essential to helping me overcome some of my health issues and enjoy playing the sax again.  It is obvious when looking at the quality of these straps and hearing Joe speak about them, that this is a passion for him.   He has worked hard on every detail and is proud of his work. Great job Joe!

Just Joe’s Sax Gel Strap

Share :

I had to share this!  Saxophonist Ben Flocks has made a video that takes us through 150 years of saxophone history in about 10 minutes!  This was posted on Youtube in 2014 but somehow I have missed it for the last two years.  This is not a boring lecture but a musical performance where he goes through the most famous solos played by the best sax players of the last 150 years.   I don’t know Ben Flocks, but he has done his homework for this video that is for sure!  I was amazed at how well he morphed from sample to sample with all these styles and different saxophones!   Well done!  It’s made my night! Thanks to Ben Flocks and CDZA for making this great video!

Share :

Today,  I am reviewing a garden hose. Ok, not really but I might as well be.  Every week, I get emails saying:

• The mouthpiece doesn’t matter, you will sound like you no matter what mouthpiece you play……
• Charlie Parker could play anything……..
• You sound the same on every mouthpiece. It’s you not the mouthpiece…..
• You would sound killer on a Yamaha 4C, why are you wasting time trying all these….
• It’s the player not the equipment……
• A mouthpiece change won’t change your sound…….

I received this email from a visitor to my site the other day.

“Steve,  I’ve listened to all of your mouthpiece reviews over the years and the truth is that you would sound good on a garden hose!  I don’t think it matters which mouthpiece you play, your sound is your sound.  That being said, which tenor mouthpiece would you say is the best of all the ones you’ve tried?”

(I thought the last sentence was a bit of a contradiction if you think about the question but let’s move on……)

I can sound great on even a garden hose! Really?

After hearing these comments so much over the years and receiving this email, I had the thought to post this demonstration of me trying to play a mouthpiece that just will not work for me.  I will not reveal the brand so don’t bother asking.  As painful as this mouthpiece is to play, for the sake of this demonstration,  I have decided to bear with the pain for a couple of minutes for your sake. (Although you can hear my patience growing thin during the clip…….)

I am playing a brand new Rigotti Gold 2 1/2 Light reed on the mouthpiece that I chose as the best out of four.  I attempted to warm up for 10 minutes before recording but honestly, I couldn’t make it.  I think I played for about 3 minutes and then decided I needed to get this horror show over ASAP or I would stab my ears with the sharp end of a pencil!

For those of you that might think it sounds great and what’s the problem:

• Notes wouldn’t respond consistently
• It sounded really nasally and anemic
• The intonation was a bit off
• It wasn’t even up and down the horn
• Middle D was all muffled and tubby sounding
• It was so hard to play and I hated the sound…….ALOT!!

Discuss amonst yourselves in the comment section below.  Does the mouthpiece really not matter?  Because if I had to play this mouthpiece every day of my life I would be an accountant right now………..

     Thanks, Steve

Mystery Garden Hose Mouthpiece

Share :

This is a Dave Liebman masterclass from 2/7/15 in Nashville at the studio of Jeff Coffin.   I’m watching it right now as I post this but am so amazed at how deep and insightful this is that I feel I have to post it immediately.   I’m at the 60 minute mark and have to go to bed but can’t because this is pure Liebman magic happening here.  He is just sitting back and telling story after story. Teaching some deep truths!!  He is relaxed and laid back but his audience is on the edge of their seats wanting to absorb every last bit of knowledge.

The amazing thing is there is no pretext or phony BS.  Dave Liebman is just telling it like it happened or like it is.   There are so many “gold” tidbits in here from Dave Liebman but also from Joe Allard as he passes on what he was taught to us.  This is deep teaching right here.  I’ll add to this when I finish this video but in the meantime check it out and feel free to add any comments below…………

Share :

I decided to offer a free video lesson on my book “Mastering the Dominant Bebop Scale and Language Book 1 & 2” for everyone. I have sold many of these books over the years and really want to make sure that everyone is getting the most out of them that they can.  You can consider this an “overview” lesson on the books ( I have more detailed lesson in my Neffmusic store).  I cover topics such as:

• What the dominant bebop scale is……
• The goal of the first part of the book……
• How to best practice………
• How to incorporate bebop links into your lines………
• Demonstrating different links together in one continuous line……
• Using resolution links……….
• Playing lines in eighth notes, triplets, sixteenth notes and sextuplets…
• Adding substitution links and non-chord links……..
• ……more tips on practicing……….

When I started recording the lesson I had the intention to make it a quick lesson………but wouldn’t you know that once I got into it and started teaching it turned into a 26 minute lesson……………..You will need my Mastering the Dominant Bebop Scale Book 1 & 2 to get the most out of this video lesson. (PDF Versions to download or the printed version)

I demonstrate using the material over a standard ii7-V7 progression so you can hear how to use the lines in context……….

Mastering the Dominant Bebop Scale and Language Book 1 & 2 Overview Lesson Part 1

Mastering the Dominant Bebop Scale and Language Book 1 & 2 Overview Lesson Part 2

I hope you enjoy the lesson and find it useful.  There are 600+ more lessons in my Neffmusic store on a variety of subjects to check out.  If you have a question on anything in the lesson feel free to email me or send a message and I will do my best to answer your questions. If this lesson stirs your curiosity in the Mastering the Dominant Bebop Scale and Language Books 1 & 2 you can get them below:

Mastering the Dominant Bebop Scale and Language Book 2

Mastering the Dominant Bebop Scale and Language Book 1

Share :

Ladies and Gentlemen,  today we have an epic showdown between two heavyweight champions!  In one corner, we have the undisputed heavyweight reed in Steve Neff’s reed drawer.  This is the formidable master of disaster the “Rigotti Gold 2 1/2 Strong Reed”.   In the other corner, we have a new comer to Steve Neff’s drawer. The Legere Signature Reed! Although a newcomer for Steve, some say this reed’s strength and stamina are far superior.  Rumors are that this reed was invented in a lab and grown from a test tube.  Some say it’s average life expectancy could perhaps surpass hundreds of cane reeds.  Could it be true? We will put these two reeds to the test today and the truth will be revealed!

All jokes aside, I received some samples of Legere Signature reeds and I thought it would be interesting to do a head to head comparison with them and a cane reed.  I was playing on a Rigotti Gold 2 1/2 strong reed on a new D’Addario Select Jazz hard rubber tenor mouthpiece this week and thought it was a good time to try this experiment.  The Select Jazz mouthpiece has a 7 (.105) tip opening and the 2 1/2 strong Rigotti was perfect on it.  I have four Legere Signature reeds to choose from,  a strength 2, 2 1/2, 2 3/4 and finally a 3 1/4.

Legere Signature vs. Rigotti Gold Reeds

I first tried the 2 1/4 and it played nicely but I thought it was a tad soft so I went to the 2 3/4 strength.  This one felt great but after going back and forth,  I realized that the 2 3/4 felt stiffer than the Rigotti reed so I went back to the 2 1/4 which felt closer in strength.  I don’t have a 2 1/2 Legere Signature but I’m guessing that might be even closer perhaps.

Although there are some differences between how the two reeds blow, I was surprised more by the similarities between the two reeds than the differences.  I am not a synthetic reed “guy”.  I have never really liked them in the past when I have tried them.  These new Legere Signature reeds are quite a bit better than the synthetics reeds I played in the past that is for sure.

In general,  the Legere played surprisingly well throughout the range of the horn.  The synthetic reed seemed to vibrate and buzz more on my lower lip than a cane reed (at least that is how it felt to my lower lip.)   There were some notes that didn’t seem to have the same resonance  as they do for me on the cane reed. The primary one for me was middle “E”.  With the cane reed I always feel like that note is a bit more “alive” and “resonant” but with the Legere it seemed more “average” to me.  I also noticed that my high G in the second octave had a tendency to be easily overblown (that’s when you get this sorta raspy sound that seems like a mix of high G and low G together-great for rock n’roll solos). After a little bit of playing time I was able to control this for the most part.  As a side note, the G did not get overblown with the Legere 2 3/4 reed at all so maybe that is an aspect of the softer reed?

I did try the 3 1/4 Legere reed but it was way to hard for me on this mouthpiece.  I never took the size 2 out of the package as the 2 1/4 was great and I just assumed the 2 would be too soft.

Now,  I am joking a bit with the title of this article, this is not a fight to the death or battle royal but more just an interesting experiment to see how similar or different a Legere synthetic reed would be from an average cane reed.

I’ve included 7 sound clips below.  For each one I have three versions.  The first clip is the full clip with something similar played on both reeds.  You can listen to that if you want to see if you can discern the difference between the two reeds and where it occurs.  The two clips after,  are the full clip broken down by reed for those of you who can’t tell the difference and maybe want a hint. The second two clips work well if you want to compare clips by going back and forth.

There are certainly differences between the synthetic reeds and the cane reeds.  The purpose of this post is not to say they are equal but more about testing to see what those differences are. As someone who just spent about $500 on reeds, I can say that if I can use a synthetic reed and cut down on that cost it would be well worth it for me!

Although I can hear the differences in the recordings below, I am pretty confident that I would be hard pressed to recognize a Legere Signature reed when listening blind.   Matter of fact, I had a Skype student a few weeks ago and I asked what mouthpiece and reeds he was using.  I was shocked when he said he was using a Legere reed as I had no idea from listening to him over the course of the lesson.

Let me know what you think in the comments below.  I have my own thoughts and opinions based off the experiment but I am curious what you hear.  I’ll post my thoughts and answers to any questions in the comments below as people start responding.  Thanks,   Steve

1.)Bb to low Bb Chromatic

Bb to low Bb Chromatic Full Clip-Can you hear a difference?

Bb to low Bb Chromatic-Cane

Bb to low Bb Chromatic-Legere

2.)Full Range Chromatic

Full Range Chromatic Full Clip-Can you hear a difference?

Full Range Chromatic-Cane

Full Range Chromatic-Legere

3.)Slow Donna Lee

Slow Donna Lee Full Clip-Can you hear a difference?

Slow Donna Lee-Cane

Slow Donna Lee-Legere

4.)Fast Donna Lee

Fast Donna Lee Full Clip-Can you hear a difference?

Fast Donna Lee-Cane

Fast Donna Lee-Legere

5.)Tonguing

Tonguing Full Clip-Can you hear a difference?

Tonguing-Cane

Tonguing-Legere

6.)Funky E

Funky E Full Clip-Can you hear a difference?

Funky E-Cane

Funky E-Legere

7.)My Shining Hour

My Shining Hour Full Clip-Can you hear a difference?

My Shining Hour-Cane

My Shining Hour-Legere

Share :

I have to admit, that I never thought I would do a review of a saxophone mouthpiece patch.  What on earth would I write about?  It sticks on the mouthpiece. Check!  It protects the mouthpiece from my teeth. Check!   That’s about it.  I’ve actually been asked if I could review some patches by various manufacturers in the past and I have declined for this very reason.  What on earth would I write a review about? A patch is a patch, right?

Last year, Forestone sent me some synthetic reeds to check out which I reviewed here on the site.  Along with the reeds, they sent some samples of new mouthpieces patches that they were making.  I wasn’t really interested in reviewing a mouthpiece patch but as long as they were sending some free samples I might as well try them. The email I received about them described the patches like this:

“By the way, we are also bringing out a new biteplate, which is actually really a new product. It is a different longer lasting special foil with an adhesive surface texture (a bit like those handy display foils). So it has no glue and is reattachable. Would that be interesting for you?”

This description caught my attention because this seemed to be something new.  To be honest, with the number of mouthpieces I review the idea of a patch I could easily peel off and back on another mouthpiece really caught my attention.

Forestone Mouthpiece Patches

I started using the patches on all my sax mouthpieces and like the email described, I could peel them off a mouthpiece and then attach them to a new mouthpiece easily.  Forestone had sent me two packs to try which is twelve patches total.  The patches lasted for about a year and were used on countless sax mouthpieces.  I didn’t actually count the number of times I transferred the patches but I would estimate at least 20+ times per patch before they started not attaching anymore.  I never bit through any of them in all that time.  Never even saw a mark.

To be honest,  I was still not really sure what I would write a review on patches about so I never wrote a review during that year.  So, why am writing a review now?  Well, an interesting thing happened.  Once the patches stopped working and I was out of them, I went back to my trusty 3M clear patches that I have been using for the last 15 years and to my surprise, I couldn’t stand them!  I couldn’t believe it. I felt like I was feeling too much vibration in my teeth and on some mouthpieces I actually felt like my teeth hurt.

Within a few days I was desperate to get some more of the Forestone patches.  Besides feeling much more comfortable, the Forestone patches also had very little to no residue that was left when you peeled them off.  My 3M patches were a mess with the glue you had to try to get off each mouthpiece.

Also, the 3M patches could only be transferred once or maybe twice if you were lucky. Even then, there was a chance it would fall off after the transfer anyways.  The whole time I used the Forestone patches I never had one fall off or slip off until the very end of it’s life.  Like I said, that was maybe 20+ mouthpieces that I used one patch on.

Forestone Mouthpiece Patches

I had to get some more Forestone patches!  I searched all over the internet but I couldn’t find any on this side of the Atlantic ocean.   I reached out to Tobias (an endorser and my contact for Forestone) and asked if he knew of where I could buy some more.  He hooked me up with the link below and actually was nice enough to send me some more samples to use in the meantime.(I think he sensed my desperation in the email I sent him)

You might think this is all hype and I have some inside commission going on or a lifetime supply of patches guaranteed if I write this review (none of these are true).  What is true, is that yesterday I thought about writing this review and my first thought was that I needed to order some more patches before I write the review and let people know about these.  So yesterday, I spent 41.70 on 36 more Forestone patches before anyone else finds out about these.  I should be all set for quite a few years now.

Forestone has four models of mouthpiece patches. They have two versions of black patches and two versions of clear patches.   I have been using the bigger black patches for the most part. The smaller square shape is great on slimmer metal pieces like a Guardala and some metal alto mouthpieces.  I haven’t tried the clear patches yet so I can’t comment on how those feel but the thickness is the same as the black patches.  Not sure if the material makes a difference between them.  I will update this review when and if I try the clear patches.

Forestone Saxophone Mouthpiece Patches

OK, I did it!  A review on a mouthpiece patch.  Never thought I would, but I just did.  You might think I’m crazy, but I love these things.  The one and only place I could find these patches in the US is TheWedgeDistribution.com  which is the exclusive Forestone saxophone distributor in the USA.   You can order as many as you want. (especially since I already ordered all I need……….) Thanks to Tobias Haecker for hooking me up with these Forestone patches and reeds to check out!  If you get a chance to try the Forestone patches let us know your opinions in the comments below.       Steve

Disclaimer

Share :

Today, I am reviewing a saxophone play along book by Hal Leonard.  This is the Volume 6 play-along entitled Dave Koz.  Dave Koz is a smooth jazz saxophone player and I thought it would be interesting to check out this book.  I was a little nervous in reviewing this book because talking about smooth jazz can cause an avalanche of opinions to descend on even the best of saxophone blogs out there.  Just look at the comments and arguments on any of the million Kenny G threads out there as examples.

The truth is,  for most working professional sax players,  you have to learn how to play smooth jazz and perform in that genre.  When I was at Berklee,  I was practicing what I thought were the most “outside” “hippest” lines to be played on the alto saxophone.  I was starting to really make progress in that area and was proud of my “modern” playing. Three experiences opened my eyes to the reality of being a working musician:

1.) A teacher of mine offered me a gig in his band which I accepted and was thrilled about. (I would actually make money for playing!)   On one of my first gigs (it was a wedding),  I was playing my usual awesome modern lines and taking the standard we were playing to another level when the band leader leaned into my ear and said angrily “Stop playing that s***!”……Ok.

2.) I was repeatedly hired to play Kenny G’s Silhouette and Song Bird at more weddings than I can count or remember……..Ok.

3.) I was hired for an hour gig playing my sax to dance music in the “Combat Zone” of Boston.  I took the gig because I took all gigs back then and when I showed up the guy said he didn’t really need me to play the sax but rather to stand on a 5 foot high block and gyrate to the dance music while “pretending” to play my sax in a sexy manner………Ok……….

After these three experiences I realized that being a working sax player was more than just being able to solo on Giant Steps at 300……..

I tell you all this personal history as a background so that you understand what I am about to write:

In my opinion, smooth jazz is a style of music, and being able to play in that style increases your chances of working and making a living as a musician.  I made a ton of money off of all those renditions of Kenny G’s music back in the day. Putting smooth jazz down or saying you won’t play it is your right but to me it makes as much sense as me showing up for my first wedding gig in the 80’s and saying I don’t play Polka’s, Hava Nagila, Chicken Dance or Song Bird.   If I did say that, you can bet I would have been fired immediately………(…and of all those I hate the Chicken Dance the most…..ugh!)

Now, years later, I think it is important for young sax players and students to learn some smooth jazz. At the very least, to be well rounded.  In my day it was Grover Washington Jr. and Dave Sanborn. Today, it’s players like Dave Koz, Candy Dulfer, Richard Elliot, Boney James and many more…….

Dave Koz Saxophone Play-Along

The Hal Leonard Dave Koz play along book is a great introduction to this style of music.  It has eight songs in it of different tempos and styles. The songs are comprised of four alto songs, 3 soprano and one tenor song.  Even though the audio tracks are on different saxophones, the book is written out in Eb and Bb so  you can play along on alto, tenor or soprano saxophone.  The songs are probably on Youtube if you want to look them up. They are All I See Is You,  Can’t Let You Go,Emily, Honey Dipped, Know You By Heart, Put the Top Down, Together Again and You Make Me Smile.

The audio tracks can be downloaded from a Hal Leonard website with a code that is in the book. They include one version of the song with Dave Koz playing and one version that is the play along.

One of the great aspects of this book is that all the nuances of Dave Koz’s playing are written out for you. Every grace note and bend. Grace notes are a huge stylistic technique in smooth jazz and this book has tons of them to learn from and practice.  I think the book is worth the price just to get the “grace note” effect down solid.

Another great aspect is the books focus on 16th note rhythms.  Every song has a multitude of 16th note rhythms that many young jazz band students might not have much experience with.  This is a great way to practice some of these complex rhythms.

Although looking at the notes on the page is a huge help, the real work is done by listening closely to every note and nuance of Dave Koz’s playing and really trying to get it down and master it.  Rather than just playing along with the whole song, I would suggest working with each lick one at a time. Listen to it closely, turn off the player and then try reproducing it exactly. Copy the vibrato, the articulation, the exact way he bends the note, etc…….this process is where the real magic happens………

Dave Koz Saxophone Play-Along

The tunes in this smooth jazz play-along book are catchy and melodic in my opinion.  As a teacher, I think this is a great book to use to pick up many of the stylistic elements of smooth jazz so that you can have them available to you when and if you choose to play this style of music. If you don’t like smooth jazz then you can skip this book but if you are like me and want to be a well rounded saxophone player that can cover a multitude of styles and genres then this book is one to add to your collection in my opinion.

You can get the book from the Hal Leonard website and a multitude of others.  If you get it, please come back and let us know what you think in the comments below.  If you’re a smooth jazz hater, that’s ok. We understand. You don’t need to let us know all your reasons why…………there are already a ton of Kenny G threads out there that you can jump into to express your feelings and frustrations………….Have fun with that……..

Share :

Today, I am reviewing a beautiful new ligature called the Marc Jean Saxophone Ligature II Model 700.   I reviewed the original Marc Jean ligatures a little over seven years ago. Original Marc Jean Ligature Review When I heard that Marc was coming out with a new ligature I knew I had to review one.  Marc Jean was kind enough to send me two ligatures to try for hard rubber tenor sax mouthpieces.  I have been playing with the ligatures for the last three months and feel I’m ready to write the review now.

I will warn you that this review will be a mix of facts and my subjective experiences with the Marc Jean ligatures.   I write this because some of the things I perceived while playing and using the ligature I can’t prove to my reading audience.   Never the less, I feel it is important to write about those experiences also.

Marc Jean Saxophone Ligature II Model 700

The first thing I have to address is how beautiful the new Marc Jean saxophone ligature is.  I received two gold ligatures.  One is plain with no engraving except the words “Marc Jean 700” on the base. The other ligature is ornately engraved like in the photo above.

The old Marc Jean ligature had a two screw system and the new ligature is changed to a one screw system which I absolutely love.  The screw is very smooth and easy to adjust even while playing.  I found that I preferred to screw it on slowly just to the point where the ligature would not move on the reed if I tried to move it.  The screw adjustment does allow you to screw it much tighter but I have always thought it best to have just enough force to hold the reed but not so much force that it constricts the freedom of the reed to respond while playing.

Here are some comments about the new Marc Jean II Ligatures from the Musique De Marc website:

“Our second generation of Marc Jean Ligatures have been improved in many ways. The sound enlargement generated by the very thick piece of grenadilla wood (clarinet wood) replacing the 2 wooden sticks is phenomenal. 

The amplification of natural harmonics is comparable to the use of a double reed. 

On the new Marc Jean ligature II, the piece of grenadilla wood is adding 60 % of mass to your reed multiplying the reflection of the tone and harmonics by as much. 

The new ligature model was designed to enable the reed to vibrate even more freely. As a result, there is less resistance when blowing into the instrument and less air is required to produce the sound. Low notes can be played effortlessly at a whisper and a larger, richer tone results. 

The Marc Jean ligature II generates a very dark, warm and very open sound which is more powerful than ever. You will notice an even emission in all registers, ever more free blowing and surrounded by a multitude of rich harmonics. 

Some pro players reported being able to reach 3 and 4 new higher notes when using this new ligature. 

Even beginning students notice a difference with traditional ligatures. They don’t have to force as much to play in all registers and they enjoy the fuller sound. 

The precision obtained by our new CNC router guaranties a perfect symmetry on every piece of wood. 

The screw section is now a one screw type and additional material was added to increase the vibration of the reed that was already outstanding. 

My goal was to create the best performing and most beautiful ligature and I am told that we have succeeded. The comments received are unanimously enthusiastic.”-Marc Jean Website

Marc Jean Saxophone Ligature II Model 700

The other element that has changed is that the old Marc Jean ligature had two round wooden bars that held the reed to the mouthpiece. The new ligature has a wooden block on the bottom of the ligature that holds the reed to the mouthpiece when tightened.  The block of wood has two rails on each outside edge of the block.  What I found interesting, is that these rails are no longer round but have a slightly rounded edge to the inside edge where the reed contacts the ligature.  I took the picture at the bottom of this review so you could see that very little of that wooden block actually contacts the reed except for where the two edges touch the curve of the reed.  In my mind, this allows the reed to be held into place without having too much material on the reed that might dampen the vibration and response of the reed.

The one downside to keeping the ligature “just” tight enough as I do, is that it will move if you have to adjust the mouthpiece for tuning. I did find that if I tightened the Marc Jean ligature all the way down then the ligature would not move when adjusting the mouthpiece but I like to keep it much looser that that.  I think this ligature movement is a byproduct of having only two small edges of the wooden platform touching the reed surface.   The solution is to tighten the ligature down and then move the mouthpiece or adjust the mouthpiece by grabbing it around the shank to adjust it so you aren’t touching the ligature.  (This is what I have been doing for years with my Francois Louis ligature…….)

Marc Jean Saxophone Ligature II Model 700

Now I have to admit that when I first read Marc Jean’s description of the new II ligature I was a bit skeptical. Especially when he mentions some players reporting being able to extend their altissimo range with the Marc Jean II ligature(more on that below).

When I first tried the ligature my first impression was that it made me sound brighter on the mouthpiece I tried it on. I told Marc Jean this and he thought that was interesting as he had heard from many other players that it darkened their sound.  After using the Marc Jean II ligature for a few months I think I figured out what I was hearing and perceiving about the tone when using it.

In my opinion, the Marc Jean II ligature seems to add richness and harmonics to the tone as it makes the tone more open and spread sounding.  When I first tried the MJ II ligature it was on a darker mouthpiece with a dark core to the sound.  The MJ ligature seemed to add more richness and harmonics to the sound while making the tone more spread and open so what I heard was the tone sounding a bit brighter to my ears because it was diffusing the dark core of the sound.

Later,  I tried the ligature with a mouthpiece that was brighter, the 10mFan Black Widow and I felt the opposite affect with the brighter mouthpiece.  It seemed like the Marc Jean II ligature made the Black Widow darker and smoother sounding.  I was very confused by these perceptions but after pondering them for a while I realized that what I was hearing was the MJ II ligature diffusing the brighter core of the Black Widow so it was more spread and fatter sounding.  This affect made the tone sound darker to me on that brighter mouthpiece.

Marc Jean Saxophone Ligature II Model 700

Another interesting observation about the MJ II ligature is that it makes harder reeds play easier.   I ran a test between the Marc Jean ligature, a Francois Louis Ultimate ligature and a generic metal ligature.   I performed the test four times over the last couple of months and always got the same results.   Every time I switched to the Marc Jean ligature the reed seemed like it played much easier.  Even to the point where I felt like I should move up in reed strength. When I switched to the Francois Louis or generic ligature the same reed felt harder again. Weird, right?

In each of these comparison tests, the Marc Jean ligature sounded more spread but also more interesting and full of character I think. The Francois Louis ligature sounds more focused and darker to my ears.  The generic ligature sounded ok to me but doesn’t play near as well as the other two. Especially down in the low end of the horn and when jumping around to different intervals.

Now, as far as the altissimo claims that I was skeptical about. I tested out the altissimo range in a number of tests over the last few months and surprisingly enough, I did find the altissimo register much easier to play with the Marc Jean ligature.   The true test for me is trying to play above altissimo Eb.  That is usually the highest note I can get easily but with the Marc Jean II ligature I can indeed get above that altissimo Eb much easier than with other ligatures.  I was just playing it and I could get up to altissimo E and F with no problems whatsoever.  Believe it or not!

To wrap up this review, I fully acknowledge that some of my observations are subjective.  Every time I talk about ligatures and the differences I perceive I usually get scolded by someone out there that doesn’t believe a ligature can have any affect at all.  I believe I hear and even feel a positive difference when using the Marc Jean II Ligature. If you are curious about it also you can check out Marc’s site at Musique De Marc.  There are a boatload of great reviews on the bottom of that page also.  Marc even says “My warranty is total. I will refund in full on returned ligatures if you are not totally enthusiastic”.  That’s a great sign that someone really believes in their product that is for sure!

If you have a Marc Jean II ligature or end up getting one after reading this review please come back and let us know what you think in the comments below.   I would love to hear from you!   Thanks,  Steve

Share :

I receive emails all the time asking me to review saxophone mouthpieces.   Many of these emails are from individuals and companies all around the globe that I have never heard of before.  In the early years of the site, I would say yes to every request but after twelve years,  I’m a bit more picky about the sax mouthpieces I try.  Usually, I have a few questions they have to answer first. Ex. How long have you been making saxophone mouthpieces? Do you play the saxophone? What models do you have and what are they based off of? Can you send me some pictures? etc……

A few months ago I received an email from Donghee Cho of D&S Saxophone Mouthpieces in South Korea asking if I would be willing to try some of his sax mouthpieces.  I was a bit skeptical but when I asked for pics of his mouthpieces I received an email back with some pics that looked surprisingly similar to Guardala mouthpieces.  I was curious……….

D&S Model I Tenor Sax Mouthpiece

Donghee answered my second question about how long he had been making mouthpieces with this response:

D&S Model I Tenor Sax Mouthpiece

I have to admit,  I have had these mouthpieces sitting on my shelf since June.  The reason I haven’t done a review sooner is that after doing some research, I realized that I couldn’t find D&S Saxophone Mouthpieces on the internet, they don’t have a website and they didn’t have a Facebook page.  All I had was an email address and phone number.   Since that time, Donghee now has a Facebook page although it is very minimal with just a bad picture of a list of his mouthpiece models on it.  I don’t see any prices so I don’t even know how much these go for either.

Even though I don’t think D&S is optimally setup for modern internet consumers I thought it best to go ahead with the reviews.  If they get more of a web presence in the future at least you would have heard of them and have some knowledge of Donghee Cho and his products.

D&S Model I Tenor Sax Mouthpiece

Donghee sent me five mouthpieces in a couple of different shipments.  I have three metal tenor mouthpieces and two metal alto sax mouthpieces.  The mouthpieces have high baffles in general.  The mouthpiece I am reviewing today has the lowest of the baffles.  It doesn’t have a model name on it except that it is inscribed with “105 D&S TI Donghee”.   For the sake of this review, I am calling it the “Model I” as i don’t know what it is called.

I don’t know much about it but assume it is silver plated brass.  The rails, tip and baffle all look pretty good to the eye.  The tip matches my Rigotti reeds nicely.  I would say it has a medium baffle to it.

These saxophone mouthpieces all come in a plastic tube with a mouthpiece cap and ligature.  I have to give a warning at this point in the review though.  When I first tried this mouthpieces out, I put a reed on it and slid the ligature on thinking “Wow, that’s pretty tight!” I gently pushed it all the way on and played for a bit.  When I took the ligature off the mouthpiece there were a bunch of pretty big scratches on the top of this brand new mouthpiece.  I was shocked and mortified as I try to be really careful with all the mouthpieces I review.  I looked at the ligature and felt the inside of it and it was all rough and jagged on the upper part of it. The lesson to be learned here is never assume a new ligature is safe for a sax mouthpiece.  Check it visually and feel it with your finger to make sure it is smooth and will not scratch! I learned my lesson!

D&S Model I Tenor Sax Mouthpiece

I used a Rigotti Gold 2 1/2 Medium reed on the sample recording below which worked well with this .105 tip opening.  The mouthpiece has a powerful sound to it with a brightness and edge when played at full throttle.  With less air the tone mellowed a bit and wasn’t as bright or edgy in my opinion.

The intonation was good and I thought it was pretty even up and down the horn.  I felt like the tone was more spread at softer volumes and seemed to gain focus with more air and volume. This aspect would be good if you wanted a more spread sound for a softer dinner set and then had to wail later in the evening on a dance set.

D&S Model I Tenor Sax Mouthpiece

The altissimo was easy to get and I felt like it was expressive and easy to bend and manipulate the tone like I wanted.  The low end was full and fat and the high plam keys were full and thick sounding also.

I’ve provided two samples of the same clip below.  One is a clip with added reverb and the other is a dry clip in a moderate sized room.  I think it’s important to add the reverb clip just so people can get a sense of what the sound is like with a little bit of that added affect since the added reverb tend to soften the brightness and edge a little bit.

D&S Model I Tenor Sax Mouthpiece

If you liked the D&S model tenor saxophone mouthpiece reviewed above you can contact Donghee to order one by email at cdh9841@naver.com.  By phone at +82-2-522-9841 or by his Facebook page.  The next two tenor saxophone mouthpieces I am reviewing are the Brecker II and the Brecker III models which have higher baffles similar to a Guaradala Studio and Super King mouthpiece.  Stay tuned for those……….

D&S Model I Tenor Sax Mouthpiece-Reverb Added

D&S Model I Tenor Sax Mouthpiece-Dry Recording

Share :

I receive emails all the time asking me to review saxophone mouthpieces.   Many of these emails are from individuals and companies all around the globe that I have never heard of before.  In the early years of the site, I would say yes to every request but after twelve years,  I’m a bit more picky about the sax mouthpieces I try.  Usually, I have a few questions they have to answer first. Ex. How long have you been making saxophone mouthpieces? Do you play the saxophone? What models do you have and what are they based off of? Can you send me some pictures? etc……

A few months ago I received an email from Donghee Cho of D&S Saxophone Mouthpieces in South Korea asking if I would be willing to try some of his sax mouthpieces.  I was a bit skeptical but when I asked for pics of his mouthpieces I received an email back with some pics that looked surprisingly similar to Guardala mouthpieces.  I was curious……….

D&S Brecker II Tenor Saxophone Mouthpiece

Donghee answered my second question about how long he had been making mouthpieces with this response:

D&S Brecker II Tenor Saxophone Mouthpiece

I have to admit,  I have had these mouthpieces sitting on my shelf since June.  The reason I haven’t done a review sooner is that after doing some research, I realized that I couldn’t find D&S Saxophone Mouthpieces on the internet, they don’t have a website and they didn’t have a Facebook page.  All I had was an email address and phone number.   Since that time, Donghee now has a Facebook page although it is very minimal with just a bad picture of a list of his mouthpiece models on it.  I don’t see any prices so I don’t even know how much these go for either.

Even though I don’t think D&S is optimally setup for modern internet consumers I thought it best to go ahead with the reviews.  If they get more of a web presence in the future at least you would have heard of them and have some knowledge of Donghee Cho and his products.

D&S Brecker II Tenor Saxophone Mouthpiece

Donghee sent me five mouthpieces in a couple of different shipments.  I have three metal tenor mouthpieces and two metal alto sax mouthpieces.  The mouthpieces have high baffles in general.  The mouthpiece I am reviewing today is the Brecker II and has a .110 tip opening.

The rails, tip and baffle all look great to the eye.  The tip matches my Rigotti reeds nicely.  It has a high baffle to it.

These saxophone mouthpieces all come in a plastic tube with a silver mouthpiece cap and ligature.  The shape and size of the D&S Brecker II is very similar to the size of a typical Guardala sax mouthpiece.  It even has a pink bite plate like the old original Guardala’s used to have.  I used a silver Selmer 402 metal alto ligature on it which is what I would use on a Guardala mouthpiece and it fit perfectly.

I emailed Donghee and asked him if these were exact replicas of guardala mouthpieces and he responded:

The one negative that I have with the similarity to the Guardala size is that the mouthpiece is a tiny bit narrower than a reed.  I have experienced this in the past with some Guardala’s I have owned. A very small part of each side of the reed hangs over each side of the mouthpiece table.  I’m not sure exactly why I don’t like this but in my mind it seems like the table should be equally as wide as the reed.  I guess it is just a personal thing as the mouthpiece played well and got good suction on the suction test.  It just felt a bit strange to me.

D&S Brecker II Tenor Saxophone Mouthpiece

I used a Rigotti Gold 2 1/2 Medium reed on the sample recording below which worked well with this .110 tip opening.  The mouthpiece has a powerful core sound to it with brightness and edge when played at full throttle.  It does tend to remind me of a Michael Brecker type tone in it’s brightness and solid core to the sound.

I did experience moments where I would get a squeek or chirp while playing the Brecker II at the beginning.  I was puzzled by those and emailed Donghee to ask him what the facing curve length was.  He said it was a 27 mm length facing curve. This is quite a bit longer than I am accustomed to playing as usually I don’t go longer than 25 mm.

I tried taking a little bit more mouthpiece and didn’t get anymore of those squeaks or chirps.  I think it was a matter of me setting my embouchure as if I was playing a mouthpiece with a 24-25 mm facing curve.  Once I adjusted slightly to the longer facing and played it for a little bit the problem seemed to resolve itself.

The intonation was good and I thought it was pretty even up and down the horn.  Although, the Brecker II has a brighter tone to it I didn’t feel like it was over the top bright and obnoxious.  It has tons of power to give but it felt like I could control it easily.  At medium volumes it actually seems pretty balanced between dark and bright to me.

D&S Brecker II Tenor Saxophone Mouthpiece

I’ve provided two samples of the same clip below.  One is a clip with added reverb and the other is a dry clip in a moderate sized room.  I think it’s important to add the reverb clip just so people can get a sense of what the sound is like with a little bit of that added affect since the added reverb tends to soften the brightness and edge a little bit.

D&S Brecker II Tenor Sax Mouthpiece

If you liked the D&S Brecker II tenor saxophone mouthpiece reviewed above you can contact Donghee to order one by email at cdh9841@naver.com.  By phone at +82-2-522-9841 or by his Facebook page.  The next tenor saxophone mouthpieces I am reviewing is the Brecker III model which has a longer baffle similar to a Guaradala Super King mouthpiece.  Stay tuned……….

D&S Brecker II Tenor Sax Mouthpiece-Reverb Added

D&S Brecker II Tenor Sax Mouthpiece-Dry Recording

Share :

I receive emails all the time asking me to review saxophone mouthpieces.   Many of these emails are from individuals and companies all around the globe that I have never heard of before.  In the early years of the site, I would say yes to every request but after twelve years,  I’m a bit more picky about the sax mouthpieces I try.  Usually, I have a few questions they have to answer first. Ex. How long have you been making saxophone mouthpieces? Do you play the saxophone? What models do you have and what are they based off of? Can you send me some pictures? etc……

A few months ago I received an email from Donghee Cho of D&S Saxophone Mouthpieces in South Korea asking if I would be willing to try some of his sax mouthpieces.  I was a bit skeptical but when I asked for pics of his mouthpieces I received an email back with some pics that looked surprisingly similar to Guardala mouthpieces.  I was curious……….

D&S Brecker III Tenor Saxophone Mouthpiece

Donghee answered my second question about how long he had been making mouthpieces with this response:

D&S Brecker III Tenor Saxophone Mouthpiece

I have to admit,  I have had these mouthpieces sitting on my shelf since June.  The reason I haven’t done a review sooner is that after doing some research, I realized that I couldn’t find D&S Saxophone Mouthpieces on the internet, they don’t have a website and they didn’t have a Facebook page.  All I had was an email address and phone number.   Since that time, Donghee now has a Facebook page although it is very minimal with just a bad picture of a list of his mouthpiece models on it.  I don’t see any prices so I don’t even know how much these go for either.

Even though I don’t think D&S is optimally setup for modern internet consumers I thought it best to go ahead with the reviews.  If they get more of a web presence in the future at least you would have heard of them and have some knowledge of Donghee Cho and his products.

D&S Brecker III Tenor Saxophone Mouthpiece

Donghee sent me five mouthpieces in a couple of different shipments.  I have three metal tenor mouthpieces and two metal alto sax mouthpieces.  The mouthpieces have high baffles in general.  The mouthpiece I am reviewing today is the Brecker III and has a .110 tip opening.

The rails, tip and baffle all look great to the eye.  The tip matches my Rigotti reeds nicely.  It has a high baffle to it similar looking to a Guardala Super-King I tried years ago.

These saxophone mouthpieces all come in a plastic tube with a silver mouthpiece cap and ligature.  The shape and size of the D&S Brecker III is very similar to the size of a typical Guardala sax mouthpiece.  It even has a pink bite plate like the old original Guardalas used to have.  I used a silver Selmer 402 metal alto ligature on it which is what I would use on a Guardala mouthpiece and it fit perfectly.

I emailed Donghee and asked him if these were exact replicas of guardala mouthpieces and he responded:

The one negative that I have with the similarity to the Guardala size is that the mouthpiece is a tiny bit narrower than a reed.  I have experienced this in the past with some Guardala’s I have owned. A very small part of each side of the reed hangs over each side of the mouthpiece table.  I’m not sure exactly why I don’t like this but in my mind it seems like the table should be equally as wide as the reed.  I guess it is just a personal thing as the mouthpiece played well and got good suction on the suction test.  It just felt a bit strange to me.

D&S Brecker III Tenor Saxophone Mouthpiece

I used a Rigotti Gold 2 1/2 Medium reed on the sample recording below which worked well with this .110 tip opening.  The mouthpiece has a powerful bright core sound to it with edge when played at full throttle.  I found it quite a bit brighter than the D&S Brecker II.   Kind of like a 70’s Michael Brecker sound I think.  Think 70’s Brecker Brothers……….

The intonation was good and I thought it was pretty even up and down the horn.  The Brecker III has a lot more power, volume and brightness to it than I am used to.  I turned the gain on the mic down to -20 and I think I still clipped out the mic at times.  This is the kind of mouthpiece you want to be careful playing full throttle into a wall.  I could easily see someone hurting their hearing that way.  If we were to rank volume from 1-10 the D&S Brecker III goes to about 15……….

D&S Brecker III Tenor Saxophone Mouthpiece

I’ve provided two samples of the same clip below.  One is a clip with added reverb and the other is a dry clip in a moderate sized room.  I think it’s important to add the reverb clip just so people can get a sense of what the sound is like with a little bit of that added affect since the added reverb tends to soften the brightness and edge a little bit.

If you liked the D&S Brecker II or D&S Brecker III tenor saxophone mouthpiece reviewed here you can contact Donghee to order one by email at cdh9841@naver.com.  By phone at +82-2-522-9841 or by his Facebook page.  Thanks to Donghee Cho for creating these and letting me try them out…………

D&S Brecker III Tenor Sax Mouthpiece-Reverb Added

D&S Brecker III Tenor Sax Mouthpiece-Dry Recording

Share :

The other day I reviewed three tenor saxophone mouthpieces made by Donghee Cho in Seoul, South Korea.  They were the Model 1, the Brecker II and the Brecker III tenor sax mouthpiece models.  You can read how I was contacted by Donghee and asked to review his sax mouthpieces on any one of those reviews.

Today, I am reviewing one of his alto saxophone mouthpieces.  This is the A2 model alto sax mouthpiece.  It has “AII” etched on the side of it along with “D&S” and “Donghee”.  It is an 8 tip opening.  I’m not sure what the  measurements of an 8 are but I feel most comfortable around .080 and this mouthpiece feels like it is close to that tip opening.

D&S A2 Alto Saxophone Mouthpiece

If you want some information on Donghee Cho and D&S Sax mouthpieces, here is a quote from Donghee after I asked him his background and how long he has been making mouthpieces:

D&S A2 Alto Saxophone Mouthpiece

I have to admit,  I have had these mouthpieces sitting on my shelf since June.  The reason I haven’t done a review sooner is that after doing some research, I realized that I couldn’t find D&S Saxophone Mouthpieces on the internet, they don’t have a website and they didn’t have a Facebook page.  All I had was an email address and phone number.   Since that time, Donghee now has a Facebook page although it is very minimal with just a bad picture of a list of his mouthpiece models on it.  I don’t see any prices so I don’t even know how much these go for either.

Even though I don’t think D&S is optimally setup for modern internet consumers I thought it best to go ahead with the reviews.  If they get more of a web presence in the future at least you would have heard of them and have some knowledge of Donghee Cho and his products.

D&S A2 Alto Saxophone Mouthpiece

Donghee sent me five mouthpieces in a couple of different shipments.  I have three metal tenor mouthpieces and two metal alto sax mouthpieces.  The mouthpieces have high baffles in general.  The mouthpiece I am reviewing today is the AII alto mouthpiece and has an 8 tip opening.

The rails, tip and baffle all look great to the eye.  The tip matches my Rigotti reeds nicely.  It has a high baffle  that looks to have a very slight rollover and then continues down in a straight line to the drop off edge into the chamber.  I would say the chamber is medium-small in size.  The sidewalls are straight but are scooped out inside the chamber area.

These saxophone mouthpieces all come in a plastic tube with a silver mouthpiece cap and ligature.  I used the silver metal alto ligature that came with it. It fit perfectly and went on smoothly.

D&S A2 Alto Tenor Saxophone Mouthpiece

I used a Rigotti Gold 2 1/2 Strong reed on the sample recording below which worked great with this 8 tip opening.  The mouthpiece has a powerful bright core sound to it with edge when played at full throttle.  I found it to be about as “Sanborn” as you can get with a mouthpiece.  If you ever listen to Dave Sanborn, he has a very unique sound.  Super bright and focused with a good amount of edge and grit to the tone.  That is also a good description of the A2 tone.  Along with that description, it is also really powerful!  I recorded with the gain way down on the mic and still was clipping the mic volume out.  I ended up having to turn the mic all the way down and then turn the gain to -30 to be able to record without clipping. I think that is a record for me……

The high baffle tends to make my middle E and surrounding notes a bit sharper on my Selmer Reference 54 alto saxophone but that is normal for a high baffle mouthpiece on this horn.  I just had to bring those notes down a little bit when held.

I am not a big altissimo player on the alto sax as I have issues with my hearing where notes that high distort and tend to irritate me but I felt I should go up there a bit for the sake of this mouthpiece.  I played along with Dave Sanborn’s  “Straight to the Heart” a couple of times before making this clip so you might recognize some of the “Sanborn” type licks in my sound clip.  I was a crazy “Sanborn” nut in high school in the 80’s and had most of that solo memorized back then.  I can’t help but go in that direction when I play an alto sax mouthpiece like this.

I don’t play much  straight ahead lines on this clip until the last few seconds of the clip.  You can hear how it gets a little more tame when I back off but the tone still has a brightness and pop to it even at lower volumes.

D&S A2 Alto Saxophone Mouthpiece

I’ve provided two samples of the same clip below.  One is a clip with added reverb and the other is a dry clip in a moderate sized room.  I think it’s important to add the reverb clip just so people can get a sense of what the sound is like with a little bit of that added affect since the added reverb tends to soften the brightness and edge a little bit.

D&S A2 Alto Saxophone Mouthpiece

If you liked the D&S A2 alto saxophone mouthpiece reviewed here you can contact Donghee to order one by email at cdh9841@naver.com.  By phone at +82-2-522-9841 or by his Facebook page.  Thanks to Donghee Cho for creating these and letting me try them out.  Now I’m going to go back to listening to some more Dave Sanborn……”Oh Yeah!!”…………

D&S A2 Alto Sax Mouthpiece-Reverb Added

D&S A2 Alto Sax Mouthpiece-Dry Recording

Share :

I’m always amazed when saxophone player’s tell me that they can know within seconds if a sax mouthpiece is right for them or not.  The reason that this amazes me, is that my experience has been so different from that.  For example, I received a sax mouthpiece a few months ago that is an old Barone Jazz tenor model.  The player couldn’t vouch for it because he had never played it due to the fact that the bore was so small on the mouthpiece that it wouldn’t fit on his tenor saxophone neck.  He kindly offered to let me try it and I could send it back if I didn’t like it.

On receiving it, I immediately opened the box and put a Vandoren Java 2 1/2 reed on it. I tried playing it and thought “Wow, this is the worst mouthpiece I have ever played!” No evenness to the scale, high notes wouldn’t come out, low notes had to be honked out and the tone was really nasally.  In all fairness, it was a used reed that had already been used on another mouthpiece so I didn’t let that bother me so much.

I then tried a new Rigotti Gold 2 1/2 Strong reed which also sounded horrible.  I thought maybe it was too soft so I tried a Rigotti 3 Light reed which was too hard and stuffy sounding.  At that point I was frustrated and tired so I washed the mouthpiece, put it back in the box it came in and decided to send it back in the morning.

As I lay in bed disappointed,  I thought maybe I should try a Rigotti 2 1/2 Light reed on it. Maybe the  2 1/2 Strong reed was a bit too hard and I had gone the wrong direction with the reeds.  I got up out of bed around midnight, went to my office and put a 2 1/2 light reed on it.  “Click”, it played perfectly!  Perfect resistance, nice even sound, beautiful dark sound with a nice core! Just what I was looking for.

The next day,  I played it for about four hours straight in my garage.  I loved it!  I played it for the next three days with that same reed and loved every minute of it.

Finding Sax Mouthpiece Gold Among the Rubble

Why am I writing all this?  Well, the picture above is a picture of some other sax mouthpieces I hated at first. Another Barone Jazz, a Navarro BBS, a Lamberson J7, an EB Link and a Florida Link.  I can remember trying each of those saxophone mouthpieces for the first time and absolutely hating them. Trying multiple reeds and even sometimes playing for hours or days with them trying to make them work.  You might think I am exaggerating but I am not.

For each of these sax mouthpieces, there was a moment where something magically clicked.  It might have been a reed change or it might have been a subtle change in how I was blowing and all of a sudden “click” there was a noticeable difference.

What I experienced above with hating the mouthpiece happens quite often with players that are switching to a completely different mouthpiece design.  If you have been playing a higher baffle Berg Larsen or high baffle Guardala for years and try to switch to a lower baffle Otto Link type mouthpiece you will certainly experience this. The same is true if you switch from a lower baffle Otto Link type mouthpiece to a higher baffle mouthpiece.

In either case, you are radically changing the equipment you are playing with.  If you have been playing a high baffle mouthpiece for years,  you are used to picking up the saxophone every day and playing with a certain amount of air, support and blowing strength.  You have learned how to best “voice” your notes in the different ranges of the horn whether you have realized it or not.  You have learned exactly what you have to do to get the low notes out and play the altissimo notes reliably.  You don’t even have to think about these things as they just happen because you have played on this sax mouthpiece for countless hours.

Now, what happens when that same player plays a low baffle, large chamber mouthpiece for the first time?  The tone is usually weak and anemic. It sounds really spread and lacks any core focus in the tone.  Many times,  the high notes and altissimo won’t even come out.  There might be an unevenness in the scale with middle “D” being quite stuffy and muted sounding.

A surprising number of player’s will at this point take the mouthpiece off the horn and proclaim “This sucks!” and hand it back to the owner or seller.  If they bought it online they might package it back up and be angry because they feel ripped off.    They might demand a refund of the seller or just list it for sale again on ebay.

Now, before you wholeheartedly agree with me and say “Yeah,  that’s just Links, they aren’t chops in a box!  You have to put the work in! You preach it Steve!” What I have just said holds true for the situation in reverse also.  I have seen and heard many players who play an Otto Link type mouthpiece for years try a higher baffle mouthpiece with similar results.  Their tone sounds thin, strident, edgy and overly bright.  They can’t get any low notes out and their tone lacks any character.  They immediately hate it and immediately believe that high baffle mouthpieces are the worse thing ever invented.

Finding Sax Mouthpiece Gold Among the Rubble

My point with all this is that external change usually requires internal change from us as well.  We are not used to the new mouthpiece. We are used to playing on our old mouthpiece.  There needs to be some time where we reacclimate to the new mouthpiece to see what the possibilities are with it.  I’m not talking about months here but lets at least say 8-10 hours of playing over 3-4 days.  This means that you play the mouthpiece continuously for those 8-10 hours and don’t go back to your old mouthpiece during that time.

OK, so what should be happening during those hours of playing time?  Here is some suggestions from my own experiences:

• First, I experiment with saxophone reeds.  To be honest, I hate this part and it is painful for me.  Right now, as I type this I have 32 reeds strewn across my desk (yes, I just counted them) from probably the last five mouthpieces I have tried or reviewed.  Although, I try to use new sax reeds for each new mouthpiece I try, I have to admit that due to economic factors I do usually try some used reeds first lately.  Sometimes I get lucky and find a great used reed that works on the new mouthpiece.  I have a ton of different sizes and a bunch of different brands of saxophone reeds.  The brands are important because some brands of reeds are brighter sounding and some are darker so I experiment to see what I like the most with each mouthpiece.
• I also experiment with reed position.  This can make a huge difference with how a sax mouthpiece responds and performs.  In general, I put the reed so that it is even with the tip of the sax mouthpiece as I look at it from straight ahead.  In this position, the reed is a little lower than the tip when it closes against the mouthpiece.  Sometimes,  I move the reed higher so it is slightly higher than the tip and the reed closes  almost exactly on the tip curve.  Sometimes I move the reed lower to experiment with that position.  The affects of these movements all vary depending on the saxophone mouthpiece, the facing curve measurements and the reed. Each sax mouthpiece and reed will have it’s own unique results from this experimentation.
• I also experiment with the ligature position.  I tend to have the ligature positioned on the back half of the mouthpiece body. Sometimes,  I move it up towards the front, sometimes I move it back even farther.  If it is a two screw ligature, sometimes I loosen the front screw slightly to see if that frees up the reed at all.  Many times it does, sometimes it does too much and I tighten it back down a little bit. (I don’t like the response of an overly tight ligature ever but that is just me……)
• Intonation is pretty straight forward for me.  I make sure the saxophone, neck and sax mouthpiece are warmed up.  Sometimes, I spend 45 second just blowing hot air into the mouthpiece as it is attached to the sax neck while my other hand covers the bottom of the neck opening slightly so that that part of the saxophone gets warmed up quickly.  When the saxophone is warmed up, I tune to middle B so that it is right on “0” on my tuner. Usually, all the other notes fall into place after that.

Finding Sax Mouthpiece Gold Among the Rubble

After this, I spend many hours over multiple days just playing.  Here are some suggestions for playing:

• I usually spend a good amount of time in the low register of the saxophone warming up.  I play middle Bb and go down chromatically to low Bb. I might do it slowly as quarter notes at around 72 but then usually get faster until I’m doing it as fast 16th notes.  I find this incredibly useful in getting used to a mouthpiece.  When going from a higher baffle sax mouthpiece to a Link style sax mouthpiece this process helps me blow more air into the horn and gets me used to the air required for the mouthpiece.  My goal is to blow at 80% air capacity and to fill the horn with air.  I also try to think of filling the whole room with sound.  Doesn’t matter if I am in a small practice room or large arena, I try to fill the whole room with sound. I’m aiming for making those low notes as fat and thick as can be.  If you are coming from a higher baffle mouthpiece this will take some adjustment and probably much more air and support.  This might take a while to get used to over multiple practice sessions and days.
• This exercise is also great if you are coming from a low baffle Link type mouthpiece to a higher baffle saxophone mouthpiece.  Most players that try to move to a higher baffle mouthpiece have trouble with their low notes so this exercise is very useful for them also. I do the same thing, I’m trying to get the most robust fat notes possible out of the low end of the horn.  My experience with high baffle mouthpieces is that the low notes get fatter if I blow more air and let my throat and neck expand naturally by relaxing.  Many players try to “open” their throat by trying to force it with muscles but I think this is a huge mistake and just causes tension which you don’t want. If you blow more air and focus on relaxing your throat and neck the area will expand on it’s own from the air column with no tension. It is not unusual for me to do this exercise for 15-20 minutes straight while I warm up.
• After that, I also do the same exercise with subtone also.  I am aiming for making the low notes as soft as humanly possible.  Barely a whisper!  Although this exercise uses less air, it needs equal if not more air support to keep the subtoned note steady and without wavering. This exercise also helps me adjust to the air and support that the new saxophone mouthpiece needs to work at peak performance for me.
• After that, I usually just play whatever I think of playing.  I usually will play something with rapid tonguing and articulation to see how the piece articulates.  Some pieces are as smooth as butter and some take more work from my tongue for some reason. The goal with either is to get used to how it feels when articulating.
• I usually mess around with saxophone overtones quite a bit also.  I play a note as big and as full as I can then I go to the overtone fingering and compare.  The overtone fingering is usually fuller and bigger sounding.  I usually go back and forth between the regular note and overtone fingering over and over while holding the note while I adjust my throat and tongue position to make the notes sound as similar to one another as possible.  This process is huge for me as it gives me insights on how to “voice” the notes the best.  I can’t describe exactly how this is done but I know that practicing this process many time helps me get to that magical  “click” moment I describe in the beginning of this article.
• The high palm keys and altissimo are equally as important to practice.  Most saxophone players moving to a Link type sax mouthpiece will have a harder time up high. Similarly, most Link type players going to a higher baffle mouthpiece might find the altissimo easier but at the same time it might sound thinner or more edgy.  For me,  this has to do with my lower lip of the embouchure.  I practice going into the altissimo from the front high E fingering. I play high E, the Front high F, then high G with just the top front F key, then high A and back down.  My goal is to get the transition smooth but also get used to the voicing of the notes as well as the best bottom lip firmness.  In general, I tend to make my bottom lip more taunt like a trampoline for Link type mouthpiece in the altissimo.  This makes the altissimo tone brighter and edgier up high. On higher baffle sax mouthpieces, I might try to get more of a pillowy softer texture to my bottom lip so that the notes become less harsh and edgy and maybe fatter sounding.

Those are just a few ideas and suggestions that I use while trying out saxophone mouthpieces.  I will add that I also like to try mouthpieces in different rooms of my house.  That is very important.  You can mistakenly judge a mouthpiece by the effect a room is having on your sound before it hits your ears.  I usually like to play mouthpieces while facing towards a mirror or glass window as I feel like the true sound of what’s coming out of the bell bounces back to my ears immediately.  I also like to try every mouthpiece in my garage (big reverberation) as well as my office (dry sounding).  I do that so I get a good idea how the mouthpiece sounds in those two sound environments.

Finding Sax Mouthpiece Gold Among the Rubble

So, what is this magical click moment I referred to at the beginning of this post?  For me, it is the moment where I feel like I cross a threshold with how to get the most from a new sax mouthpiece. It’s like everything falls into place and I and the mouthpiece are one.  I know, it sounds corny and like hocuspocus but what I am writing about is where everything just seems to fall into place.  The things I was working on above with air and voicing are no longer thought about.  I am doing them but now it is just happening and automatic. The mouthpiece is responding exactly how I want.  I love the sound and tone.   It is perfect.  The whole range of the horn is even and smooth like butter.  The low notes are full and fat.  The subtone is velvety smooth.  The altissimo pops and sings.etc……

Although all those things are amazing, the true value of this magical “click” moment is when I start creating lines and ideas I never thought of before and they are just flowing out of the horn.  I really believe that when you get to that “click” moment where you don’t have to struggle with not liking your tone, with the low notes, getting the altissimo, the high notes being too thin and edgy, with intonation being out of wack and things start flowing effortlessly, it frees up the mind to imagine and experiment.  That to me,  is the true click moment and when I get the most excited!

Here’s the thing, the five sax mouthpieces in the picture above were all hated by me the first time I played them.

The Barone Jazz on the left, hated it for two day and was about to send it back then “click”. Now one of my favorites!

The Navarro Bebop Special, borrowed it from a Skype student and was so surprised when I hated it.  I thought it was one of the worst mouthpieces I ever played.  Four days later, “click”….I begged him to let me buy it.

The Lamberson J7, I bought that because I had heard so much about them and my first thought after trying it was “Crap! This thing sucks!”  A few days later, it was my main piece and I gigged on it for a couple of years as happy as a clam.

The EB Link next to it was another big purchase. I received it and the first hour of playing it was a complete disaster.  I was so mad because I thought I had been ripped off!  Super resistant and would not play.  The next day I tried a really soft reed.  A Rigotti 2 1/2 Light that I just assumed would be way too soft on a 7* Link because it was too soft on every other Link 7* I had ever played………It played perfectly, I was in heaven! (turns out this mouthpiece has a short facing curve that likes softer reeds)

The Florida Link next to it was advertised as the best Florida Link the seller had ever played.  He had probably played thousands.  He was nice enough to let me try it convinced I would love it because it was the best.  I played it for two days and wasn’t impressed. I was about to send it back,  then on the third day, something “clicked”.  I remember thinking in that practice session that this was the best I had ever sounded!  I bought it from him with no regrets.

At this point, I’m not sure if I will ever sell any of these five mouthpieces.  They are really special to me because I got something out of them that seemed to be hidden at first.  I had to work to find that hidden treasure but once I found it I felt like I had discovered something very special and never wanted to let it go.

What inspired me to write this article is that I hear from players time and time again who try a mouthpiece once and say “It doesn’t work for me”.  I have sold some great playing mouthpieces to people over the years and then the next day see them on Ebay.  I email the buyer and ask what happened and they say “I played it and it wasn’t for me.”  I always ask “How long did you play it for?”  I’m astounded by the answers. 15 minutes, less than an hour, a couple of hours, etc…..Wow!

I guess my whole point here is that sometimes what seems to be an ugly duckling could be a swan. A little bit of effort and some time can reveal a lot in my opinion.  A mindset of “What can I do or change within myself to get the most out of this mouthpiece?” can unearth a treasure that you will never want to sell.

I am not in any way saying that every piece can work with every player.  That is not the point of this article.  I have talked to players struggling with a mouthpiece setup for 6 months or longer just thinking it will someday happen.  I’m not talking about that scenario but more about giving a new mouthpiece a fair shot and chance before writing it off.  I would certainly not of discovered those five pieces above if I had not.  They are now some of my favorite mouthpieces to play………..

I have played and reviewed many saxophone mouthpieces where that magical click never happens for me but I always try to go through this process to see what a mouthpiece can do.

I know what you are thinking “Steve, How do I know when the click happens?”  The answer is “It is obvious!”  Sorry to be vague, but answering that question is similar to answering “Steve, how do I know when I’m in love?”  When it happens you know it!  When that magical click happens with a mouthpiece you will know it!  Hope this helps in some way!     Steve

PS.  Let me know what you think in the comments below………..

Share :

A friend of mine emailed me a link the other day to a great blog post entitled “How to become a Master of improvisational blues guitar in one month“.  The writer of the article is Max Deutsch who describes himself as an “Obsessive Learner”.  Max has given himself a challenge to Complete 12 ridiculously hard challenges in 12 months.  Here is the list:

1. November: Memorize the order of a deck of cards in less than 2 minutes
2. December: Draw a realistic self-portrait
3. January: Solve a Rubik’s Cube in under 20 seconds
4. February: Land a standing backflip
5. March: Play a 5-minute improvisational blues guitar solo
6. April: Hold a 30-minute conversation in Hebrew on the future of tech
7. May: Build a self-driving car
8. June: Develop perfect pitch — identify 20 random musical notes in a row
9. July: Finish a Saturday NYT crossword puzzle in one sitting
10. August: Complete one continuous set of 40 pull-ups
11. September: Continuously freestyle rap for 3 minutes
12. October: Defeat world-champion Magnus Carlsen at a game of chess

If you are like me, you probably will read Max’s list above and think “Wow!”  As I read some of Max’s posts on these 11 challenges I found myself feeling inspired!  How many of us go through life with such a drive and focus as this?  What could we do if we were to set a specific goal and wholeheartedly pursue it each month?

All of the goals above are impressive but today I want to focus on Max’s goal of improvising on a blues. (His other goal of interest to you might be #8, Developing Perfect Pitch, but that is for another blog post…..)  Let’s see what we can gain from Max’s blues mastery journey.  The goal Max set was this:

Can I play a stunning, expressive, and engaging 5-minute-long blues guitar solo after one month of intensive practice?

March 1st

On day one, Max first tries to tackle what the endpoint is for this goal.  How does he measure if it is successful or not?  He freely admits that words such as stunning, expressive and engaging are hard to quantify and are subjective.  He decides to further describe his goal as to “be good enough to keep the attention of those who listen for five straight minutes”.  In my mind, this is still subjective but it demonstrates the goal making process and how there has to be an endpoint that is in some way measurable.  Although still subjective, I guess if Max and the majority of his readers listen to his solo at the end of the month and feel he has met the goal, then he has met his goal.

As an example of setting a goal with an endpoint, You might decide that for the month of December you might work on your bebop scales.  If you leave it at that, what is the goal?  There really isn’t one.  It is too vague.  There is nothing to be measured or aimed for.  You might go through December haphazardly going through various bebop scales but what are you aiming for? How do you know when you have achieved it?

What if you made a more concrete goal with an endpoint?  “In December, I will work on dominant and major bebop scales in all 12 keys from tempos 60-320.  By December 31st I will record a video of me using bebop scales on Cherokee at xxx tempo.“

Being more specific and detailed transforms a vague goal into a concrete aim that your mind can focus on.  To raise the stakes even more and maybe get the blood pumping,  you might decide to post this video on Facebook or even go to a local jam and play Cherokee with a band live.  The goal and end result has to be something that is challenging but that also motivates and excites you.

Any challenging goal you set will have some fear and anxiety attached to it. If it doesn’t, then it probably isn’t challenging enough.  Many of us tend to focus and obsess about the negative that could happen rather than the positive that will happen.  (Yes, I used the word will on purpose here…..)

When I was younger, I use to obsess with thoughts about what bad things might happen.  I would imagine the worst case scenario and dwell on it. I would picture myself on stage or at the audition totally messing up and failing over and over again.  I realized that this was causing a lot of anxiety in me so I decided to stop those thoughts immediately when they occurred.  Instead, I thought of the exact opposite positive thought.  I would put on recordings and imagine myself up on stage playing the solo I was listening to.  I would imagine every detail.  What I was wearing, how I was standing, the sounds of the crowd, the applause and cheers afterwards. If I had an audition, I would picture the room, the judge or judges, what I was wearing, what I would say, the confidence I projected, etc…  I would picture myself playing the piece perfectly and getting a perfect score.

This type of thinking and mindset started to change the way I felt about performing and playing.  It helped me become more excited and hopeful about where I was going and how I would do. After running the positive images through my mind so much it was hard to imagine that I wouldn’t do great.  Honestly,  after starting to think this way, I did do great!  Yes, there were times where I messed up or made a mistake but instead of being the nightmare I had expected the mistakes were more like irritating anomalies to me.  I would leave the performance or audition and instead of obsessing about the mistake (that is negative), I would turn it around and think about the 99% positive stuff I did.

Also notice in Max’s goal that he states “one month of intensive practice?”  It is obvious that Max is factoring in the work that needs to be done by the words “intensive practice”.  This is no “pie in the sky” dream that will somehow miraculously just happen with little or no effort.  Max has set the goal with the mindset “I need to work my butt off with focused diligent practice to make this happen!”

The second item Max tackles on day one is “Where is my starting point?”.  Any goal setting should start with a clear and honest evaluation of where you are currently at.  How are you going to know if you are making progress or on track to hit your goal if you don’t even know where you are at?  The first thing I do on day one of a new goal is write everything out.  If my goal is the bebop scales in all 12 keys I would get a piece of graph paper and write the 12 keys along the top.  Down the sides I would write tempo markings from 60 all the way up to 320 perhaps. I would draw lines across and down to create boxes that I could mark in.

I would then get out my metronome and see where I am at.  If I find I have the G7 bebop scale down from 60 to 320 then I would put an X on every box.  Why work on something that I already have down?  After figuring out what I have down and what I have to work on, then I can start moving forward.

As a side note:  My habit with these checkboxes, is to put an X when I have it down solid.  I have learned that even though I might get something down on one day, I might not have it down tomorrow or the next day.  My habit has been to put an X down when I have it down at a certain tempo.  The next day I try it again at that tempo.  If I do it perfectly, I put a dot in between two of the lines of the X.  the next day I do the same and the next day the same.  After four days there should be an X with four dots, each between each line of the X.  On the last day, if I do it perfectly again, I put a final circle around the whole X.  That signifies that I have it down and mastered at that tempo and can move on.  If I try it on one of those days and can’t do it, then I work on it and practice until I can do it but that doesn’t get the dot or a circle.  That only comes when I can do it the first time perfect……….This process helps me to not only perfect things I am practicing but also get the repetition in that is needed to solidify them in my brain.

Lastly, Max writes about his influences.  This is so important in any goal setting because you want to learn from the past great players that came before you and already did the work.  It is also important because you need to focus on who and what your influences will be during this time.  Who and what do you want to sound like?  You can’t copy and sound like everyone in 30 days but you can copy and sound like someone in 30 days.  Max picks B.B. King and John Mayer.  He also adds that stylistically he likes the blues playing of Stevie Ray Vaughan and Albert King.  He picks four players of the blues that he is passionate about.  Four players that represent what he would love to sound like and play like in 30 days.

Now, if I had to guess, I would guess that Max started listening to those four players on an endless loop from Day 1. Over and over again. The great thing about music is that you can have it playing wherever you go and behind whatever you do.  It’s going into your ears and whether you realize it or not, I believe your brain is learning from it.  The sound and bend of the scoop, the phrasing of the lines, the space in between the lines, the flow of the lines moving up and down, the shape of the lines, the emotion and energy connected to the lines, the tone and sound of each note, etc……All this information is going into your ears and being processed and experienced to some degree by your brain.

Notice that although Max picks four different players he adds this:

“Nevertheless, I can probably learn from all these guitarists, blending their styles with my own sensibilities to create my ideal sound.“

It is clear that Max just doesn’t want to mimic or sound exactly like any of these players but instead, he has a clear vision in his mind of mixing the best elements of each together with his own sensibilities to create “my ideal sound“.  Even on Day 1, Max is making it personal and envisioning himself playing and expressing himself with “his ideal sound”.  The end goal is to take from these masters , combine everything with his own desires, feelings and sensibilities and then produce something of his own.

I also want to point out that although Max is picking four different players, they are players that are in the same vein and style of music.  They are players whose styles can be put together.  I think that is important.  I get emails from sax players all the time and I read things like “I want to sound like a combination of Michael Brecker, Stan Getz, Paul Desmond and Clarence Clemons. (Ok, maybe not that extreme…..)  My point being that Max picked four players that have aspects of their playing of the blues that he loved and would love to play.  He might love other players as well but for the purpose of this 30 day goal, it probably wouldn’t be helpful to pick B.B King, Allan Holdworth, John Scofield, and Ozzy Osbourne.  I think you get my point……..

The purpose of this series of blog posts is to take a look at Max’s musical journey and to see what we can learn from him.  If you are like me, you probably will jump to the last day and listen to his end result to see if all this is worth it.  You might have already done that.  If you listen to the Day 6 video and compare it to the last day their is definitely a vast improvement in my opinion.

I’m looking forwarding to going through each day and seeing what we can learn about goal setting, practicing, and moving forward in our own musical journeys.

Do you set monthly goals?

Are you working towards a specific goal?

Why are you practicing?  What do you see yourself achieving this week?  this month?  this year?

Let me know what you think in the comments below.   Thanks,   Steve

Share :

If you’re not sick of the sound of my voice from all my lessons you have watched, then you might be interested in this. Nick Mainella over at 10minutejazzlesson.com posted an interview that he did with me over the summer. If you are curious about the origins of neffmusic.com or my personal path with the saxophone Nick asks a lot of great questions!

Steve Neff Interview

PS.  The title of this post was given to me by my teenage daughter who thought the title “Steve Neff Interview” was completely lame………..

Share :

Here is a cool chart of the serial numbers and models of Selmer Saxophones through the last 100 years.  This chart was researched by Douglas Pipher  and shared on SOTW today.  The cool aspect of this chart that I have never seen before is that Douglas has included the quantities of each type of sax with each model run.   I think this is so cool!

There is a serial number chart on the Selmer website  which breaks the serial numbers down by year but doesn’t go into detail about the types of saxophones made nor how many.  I always wondered how many Selmer Super Balanced Action (SBA) tenor saxophones there were and according to this, there were 9,100 made of which I have one. There were 83,530 Mark VI tenor saxophones made.  That gives me hope that there has to be one in someone’s garage or attic up here in Vermont somewhere……..I’ll have to keep looking and stopping at those garage sales……..Thanks for the research and chart Douglas!   Very interesting!

P.S.  I would love to see this chart broken down by year also.  Not sure if that is even possible but it would be cool to know that my sax was from 1951 and 600 tenor saxophone were made that year for example……….

Improved Selmer Saxophone Model Chart

(If you want to save the chart above, click on it so it opens in your browser. Then click on “File” and then “Save page as”)

Share :

Today, I am reviewing a new saxophone neckstrap that I received from my saxophone repairman Jack Finucane at the Boston Sax Shop.  Jack has been my sax repairman since 2013 when my long time repairman Ernie Sola died.  The last 3-4 times I went in to see Ernie before he died he told me about a young kid who was apprenticing with him.  His name was Jack Finucane and Ernie always had good things to say about Jack.  When I last saw Ernie, he wasn’t feeling very well and he looked completely exhausted.  Even feeling the way he did, he was still willing to see me and work on my horn that last time.   During that visit, Ernie told me that Jack was really coming along and doing great.  I asked him if Jack could overhaul a saxophone like he could and he responded that he thought he could which in my mind was a great review of Jack’s skills and passion.

Balam Saxophone Backstrap

Since Ernie’s death, I have been driving four hours down to Boston once or twice a year for Jack to work on my horns.   He started the Boston Sax Shop and it is great to see his reputation and business expanding and doing well.  If you ever visit the Boston Sax Shop, Jack has a growing number of vintage horns in his collection (I’m not convinced he wants to sell them as much as collect them……..).  Besides that, he has a coffee machine (maybe it’s espresso…..I don’t know the difference) and a state of the art high fidelity sound system that he plays classic vinyl jazz records on.  Every time I am in there,  I just want to hang out all day but I know Jack has a lot to do so I try to make my visits short and to the point.

Balam Saxophone Backstrap

I’m giving you all of this intro just so you know the background here.  When you give someone your most beloved saxophone you have to trust them. I trusted Ernie Sola and I trust Jack Finucane now.  He has a passion for the saxophone and music that is palpable when you talk to him.   If Jack likes something, I know that I want to check it out also.  Last year, he was telling me about the Ishimori tenor saxophone and how great it was.  Next time I came down to Boston, I tried it out and sure enough, I was blown away by how great it played.  Recently,  when I saw on Facebook that Jack had a new Balam Saxophone Backstrap that he really liked it peaked my interest also.   I messaged Jack and asked if I could try one out and review it.  At the time , he had just sold out of all his Balam saxophone straps but he ordered some more and put one aside to send to me when they came in.

Balam Saxophone Backstrap

Here is how the Balam backstrap is described on the Boston Sax Shop website:

This innovative neck strap is the answer for any player looking for serious neck relief. An alternative to traditional harnesses, the design does not contact the neck at all and places pressure solely on the shoulders. Beautifully handmade in Korea, the strap features premium full grain leather straps with antiqued cast brass fixtures. 

Incredibly adjustable for all body types and can be used for soprano, alto, tenor and baritone. 

Strap includes velvet travel bag, and can be stored in most saxophone bells

Balam Saxophone Backstrap

I have been using the Balam Backstrap for the last month and absolutely love it.  As you can see in the pictures and the video I made below, the strap doesn’t sit around the neck but is more on the upper back and shoulders.  I love that the neck has no pressure on it whatsoever. The metal pieces that go over the shoulders are aluminum wrapped in leather.  The aluminum is a good idea because it is light, strong,  yet bendable so you can shape it to your body dimensions. The hook and all the metal adjustment pieces are made of brass and have cool looking designs to them.  The main metal piece on the center of the back looks like a butterfly of some sort.

The brass hook that hooks to the saxophone has a clasp on it that shuts when the saxophone is hooked so that it doesn’t accidentally come off. (I’ve had other straps that accidently came unhooked and I almost dropped my sax a couple times…..no thanks!) The brass hook is also wrapped with clear rubber on the bottom part to avoid metal on metal contact with the saxophone.  This is good because you don’t want the metal of the strap hook to wear away at the ring on your sax over time.   Adjusting the Balam backstrap is easy and the metal piece that adjusts how high or low the strap is slides up and down easily and doesn’t move after being set which is also important.

If you are like me, you might be looking at these pictures and thinking “Yeah, but what about that rope looking part? If that breaks my sax is toast!”  Jack tells me that the rope looking material of the strap is actually “super strong military spec paracord”.  I don’t know what that is but my guess is that is is used for parachuting and maybe tying up terrorists so I would think it could handle the weight of a saxophone with no problems.  The cords that are on the back of the backstrap near that metal butterfly are braided leather of the same grade the paracord is.

Balam Saxophone Backstrap

There is some adjustments that might have to be done when you first receive the Balam saxophone backstrap.  I was a bit overwhelmed at first as there are so many strings and connections in the back that I didn’t know what to start messing with and didn’t want to mess it up.  Jack sent me this video with some directions on how to best adjust the strap which helped relieve my anxiety.

Jack Finucane’s Tutorial on How to Adjust the Balam Saxophone Backstrap

I have included an 11:35 minute video below as a review but also a comparison between three other neck straps that I own.  I was just going to video the Balam backstrap but since I have done reviews in the past of the Jazzlab Saxholder and the Just Joe’s neckstrap I thought it would be good to compare all these straps to each other.  I also threw in my first neckstrap, a trusty Ray Hyman strap!   If you just want to see the Balam review part of the video you can skip to the 7:30 minute mark on the video.

Steve Neff’s Review and Comparison of the Balam Backstrap with the Jazzlab Saxholder, Just Joe’s Strap and trusty Ray Hyman strap.

If you are interested in the Balam Saxophone Backstrap you can get one on the Boston Sax Shop website.  If they are out of stock make sure to sign up for the waiting list so you can get one the next time they come in. Word has it they just got 60 in this morning so if you move fast you might be able to get one of those. Hope you like it as much as I do.    Steve

Balam Saxophone Backstrap

Share :

Mark Sepinuck, 10mFan as he is known in the saxophone world, came out with a line of tenor saxophone mouthpieces five years ago that have been very popular with saxophone players.  Mark, created a very detailed three category system of tenor saxophone mouthpieces and he designed (with the help of Eric Falcon) what he considered to be the best tenor sax mouthpieces in each of those three categories.  Mark offers four hard rubber mouthpieces that cover these three categories whether you’re playing warm ballads, funk music or straight ahead jazz. These models are the Merlot, the Robusto, the Black Widow and now the Classic which I am reviewing today.

10mFan Classic Tenor Saxophone Mouthpiece

Here’s the description of the Classic in Mark’s own words from SOTW (Sax on the Web):

“I made my mouthpieces to play better for me than the vintage mouthpieces in the different categories I have them in.  I am well aware that many people who play vintage pieces want something that feels and sound  familiar to them. As a player always wanting more than what the vintage pieces could do for me, I made my Merlot, Robusto, and Black Widow hard rubber pieces.

There are loads of guys out there who love the vintage feel and blow who have asked me to make something that’s right in that classic zone BUT with LOTS OF POWER AND BODY available— and more focus than my other pieces….so now I have.

The 10MFAN “Classic” plays with a powerful warm, full, OPEN sound– and is super even blowing top to bottom. I don’t consider it “dark”…its warm and it can let loose. For me, my main objective has been to make a piece that has a vintage focused feel, but also records incredibly well. Fullness with tons of power, fatness, depth, richness, core, etc…  This new piece projects incredibly well.

This will satisfy all of you players who love the classic large chamber hard rubber vintage tenor pieces, especially in the Link vein, but want more clarity and power than those without sacrificing originality and uniqueness.  It’s got a larger round chamber and undercut sidewalls. There are lots of Link copies out there, so I didn’t feel we needed another.

*** WHAT I FELT WAS NECESSARY, WAS MAKING A PIECE THAT HAD THE GOOD STUFF THAT THOSE VINTAGE MOUTHPIECES OFFER, PLUS MORE STUFF THAT THOSE PIECES DIDN’T OFFER! ***

This will give players the openness and power they want, but unlike anything they have had with the vintage pieces.  An opportunity to have a piece that is more Link-like, but not dull, stuffy, or boring.  Powerful, open, and focused with a warm and incredible sound. More power than the original Resos, Slants, and Early Babbitt hard rubber pieces. We have really done it right here. ” 

10mFan Classic Tenor Saxophone Mouthpiece

Mark was nice enough to send me a sample 10mFan “The Classic” tenor mouthpiece in a 7** tip opening to try out.  I was excited to try this mouthpiece after reading Mark’s description above because I really love great Otto Links and this was reported to be a sax mouthpiece more along those lines.

From above, the 10mFan “The Classic” saxophone mouthpiece looks very similar to the rest of the other 10mFan hard rubber sax mouthpieces I have already reviewed.  It has the signature three white lines on the shank which I think is a great marketing idea.  You can spot these three lines from pretty far away and know what mouthpiece brand a player is using.

The mouthpiece has “The Classic” engraved in white on the top as well as 10mFan in cursive engraving.  When you look at the table side of the mouthpiece the table is flat and smooth and the rails and tip look even and perfect as all of Eric Falcon’s work does.

The baffle and chamber is where you see the difference between the Classic and the other 10mFan mouthpieces. The Classic has a more traditional rollover baffle. After the baffle’s rollover, it angles straight down towards the back of the chamber.  The chamber really doesn’t have a flat bottom to it because the baffle is traveling at an angle though it.  The sidewalls are really scooped out also.  I don’t think I have seen another mouthpiece with sidewalls as scooped out as this one.

The beak height is a little bit higher than the other 10mFan hard rubber sax mouthpieces.  I was a bit concerned about this as I really love the beak heights on the Robusto, Black Widow and Boss models that I have tried.  The Classic did feel a little higher to me at first but I found that after a few days of playing it,  I got used to it and didn’t notice it anymore.

I asked Mark why he went with a slightly higher beak and he said that he felt like a lower beak would brighten up the tone too much. A slightly higher beak would help keep the tone warmer.  I found this to be an interesting concept that I hadn’t thought of before.  (On a side note: I do remember really digging a piece and sending it to Brian Powell to have the beak taken down so I would feel more comfortable.  Interestingly enough, I remember thinking the piece was brighter when I got it back even though nothing else on it had been touched………Interesting…….)

10mFan Classic Tenor Saxophone Mouthpiece

The scooped side walls and the long baffle slope extending into the Classic’s chamber makes the chamber of the Classic more oval shaped as you look in from the tip side of the mouthpiece.  When looking in from the bore side,  the chamber looks round to the eye but you really can’t see how the sloping baffle affects the chamber shape from that side.

As I look at the Classic in comparison to my Early Babbitt hard rubber Link (made from the mold of the Otto Link Slant), the first half inch of rollover baffle looks very similar to the EB.  They both have a similar height in the beginning of the baffle and they rollover at a similar spot.  After that, they differ in that the baffle of the Classic looks to be a bit higher in it’s angle of slope into the chamber. The sidewalls of the Classic look and feel as if they are much more scooped out than my EB Link also.

10mFan Classic Tenor Saxophone Mouthpiece

I played the Classic for about three weeks and used it while practicing, jammin’ to tunes and on Skype lessons all month.  Testing different reeds on the Classic was interesting also.  I found that the Rigotti Gold reeds I usually use tended to be a lot brighter on the classic than some other reed brands.  I tried a LaVoz medium, Gonzalez 2 1/2 and a Rico Select Jazz 3S which were all much darker and warmer than the Rigotti Gold reeds in my opinion.

The 10mFan “The Classic”  was incredibly reed friendly for me also.   I don’t know how Eric Falcon does it but the Classic seems to work with almost every reed I put on it.  Usually when I try a mouthpiece,  I have no trouble finding the best reed strength and settling in.  On the Classic mouthpiece,  I had more trouble doing this because every reed played really well on it.   One day I played a bunch of Rigotti Gold reeds trying to figure out what strength to use and I seriously played a 2 1/2 Strong, 3 Light, 3 Medium, 3 Strong and a 3 1/2 Light.  They all played great for me and I couldn’t figure out which one was the best. For the sound clip below, I ended up going with a Lavoz medium reed because I liked how warm and lush it was on the Classic mouthpiece.  I found the Rigotti Gold reeds to lean to the brighter edgier side for me and I found the darker warmer tone of the Lavoz to be more compelling and beautiful to me.

10mFan Classic Tenor Saxophone Mouthpiece

The sample recording below is almost 6 minutes long.   I apologize for that as I usually try to keep the clips under 3 minutes in general.  I was having such a good time playing the Classic mouthpiece that I totally lost track of time.  When I came back to my senses, I played the clip and realized I had been playing for 22 minutes!   I had to trim this sucker down!  What you hear on this clip are what I decided to keep because I feel like it shows a good range of characteristics of the 10mFan The Classic mouthpiece.

I start the clip with “The Man With the Horn” which to me is an amazing tune that highlights the low end of the tenor.  I love the subtone and lush warmth of the Classic on this tune.

At the :55-1:36 and the 2:32-3:05 mark I demonstrate some faster jazz lines and slurred lines to show how smooth, buttery and even the range of the horn is.

At the 1:36 mark I demonstrate some subtone falls which I seem to always do when I am playing a warmer lush tenor mouthpiece.  I just love the way these sound on a mouthpiece like this.

At 1:40 I go into a more full tone “Someday My Prince Will Come” which I think demonstrates how focused the tone can be but still remain warm. Of special note for me is the 2:12-2:23 mark where I play a high B and High D in the melody of “Someday My Prince Will Come”.  These notes stuck out to me because usually they pop out as brighter and edgier than the rest of the melody when I play this tune.  On the Classic,  they come out full, warm and round in my opinion.   They don’t stick out but are the same timber as the rest of the horn in my opinion. I really dug how these notes sounded!

At the 3:06-5:21 mark I go into Stella By Starlight.   It seems like overkill to keep over two minutes of soloing on Stella in a mouthpiece clip but I really dug this solo because I found myself playing unique lines I don’t usually play.  I was kind of going for a Rich Perry kind of laid back vibe on it.  I know this can be attributed to many things but I played this mouthpiece for about 3 weeks and I experienced many moments like this.  I felt like the ease of playing and the beautiful tone brought me to different places in my improvisations.  The day before I recorded this clip, I spent about 3 hours playing in my garage and it was one of the  most enjoyable practice sessions I have had in a very long time.  I just felt like the creative juices were flowing and the sound and playability of the mouthpiece was just stoking those creative juices even more.   It’s a great feeling to have!

Lastly, at the 5:22 mark I going into a small bit of a funkier more full tone bluesy line with altissimo.  I didn’t do much of this on the demo but thought it would be good to add this little part in to hear what it sounds like for me.

10mFan Classic Tenor Saxophone Mouthpiece

In my opinion, the 10mFan “The Classic” is a great tenor mouthpiece for those of you looking for a more “classic” mouthpiece along the lines of a vintage hard rubber Otto Link.  Although I use the Vintage Link as a comparison,  I think the “Classic” has it’s own thing going on.  I find it to have a focus to it that I don’t find in many darker and warmer Links I have tried.  Usually,  these vintage hard rubber Link mouthpieces play with a very “spread” tone for me.  The 10mFan classic is much more focused in my opinion.

As an example of what I mean by this, when I play a spread toned mouthpiece into a big room I hear a big wash of sound coming back to my ears.  When I turn towards a wall and play into it the sound dramatically changes because it is immediately more focused as it bounces back to my ears. With a focused mouthpiece, I can play into a room and I don’t hear as much of that “wash” of sound.  It sounds more focused and distinct as it comes back to my ears.  When I turn to the wall I hear a much smaller difference in sound.   It’s slightly more focused but is basically the same sound I heard in the room.   That for me is the big difference between focused and spread saxophone tones.

I have played Early Babbitt hard rubber tenor mouthpieces with more focus than the more spread Otto Links but in general those EB Links are a lot brighter also.  The 10mFan “The Classic” is unique in that it keeps the warmth and depth of tone while also adding a focus and center to the tone.

I think Mark Sepinuck and Eric Falcon at 10mFan did a great job with the Classic tenor saxophone mouthpiece.  Mark is great with his descriptions of his mouthpieces and I feel like he has come out with another “gem” of a mouthpiece.  Well done guys!  If you are interested in the Classic tenor saxophone mouthpiece contact Mark Sepinuck at 10mfan.com.  As of this review, the Classic is not on his website yet but if you contact Mark, I am sure he can hook you up with one.  Mark is a great guy and he can answer any questions you might have about his mouthpieces…….

10mFan Classic Tenor Saxophone Mouthpiece

Share :

I just came across this great interview that Rick Beato did with Chris Potter on Sounding Off a few days ago.  Chris Potter is one of the most amazing sax players on the scene today.  I love how down to earth, humble and real he is when answering questions.  Great stuff!   Enjoy!

Great Rick Beato Interview with Chris Potter

Share :