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Mouthpieces and the Working Saxophonist

By Paul NavidadBeginning in 1998, after attending a couple of saxophone masterclasses, I became convinced-or rather,

obsessed-with finding one mouthpiece for each horn, to play every style I needed (with the exception ofclassical, of course). Sounds like your every day, garden-variety saxophone player, right?!

Well, at the time, I was a year out of graduate school, and quite the gigging fool (or as my friend ScottStrecker termed it, "musical whore"), playing any and every style that was thrown at me. I was playing in aband at a major theme park during the day, and doing all sorts of casual, corporate, club, and recordingdates at night, many times never knowing what style I would be playing next, until the "leader du jour"started the next tune on the bandstand. I had no time to think about what mouthpiece would work for eachstyle; I just needed something that was flexible enough to cover the gamut.

In one masterclass, Brandon Fields gave a presentation that left a lasting impression on me. One of themain things I left with was a new philosophy about mouthpieces-a purist one at that. Simply put: roundchamber, little to no baffle. Translation: hard rubber Meyer for alto, metal Otto Link for tenor.

The Mouthpiece Chamber

Someone once told me a story about mouthpiece maker Ralph Morgan, who was working for Selmerwhen the C* 80 came out. For those of you who don't know, the C* 80 has a square chamber. Apparently,he caused quite a stir when he asked, "When are you going to make the saxophone square?" In his ownsarcastic way, Morgan makes an important point, after all, can you really put a square peg in a roundhole? Think about how the airstream is physically affected by moving from a non-round chamber into aconical pipe. I'm not going to get into details the physics of the situation, because I'm sure most of youcan see the logic involved.

For years in school, I played primarily horseshoe-shaped chambers (Rousseau 4R, Rousseau NC-4), andused square chambers for commercial work (Yanigasawa silver-plated). I was never satisfied, becausethere was always some kind of inconsistency in tone, pitch, or some other parameter. There was a slightadjustment period when I made the decision to go to round chambers for everything, but once I made thechange, I was much happier. I was able to blow effortlessly, without having to manipulate to get things towork. I was able to play with "one airstream," as my mentor, Leo Potts had tried to instill in me yearsbefore. The fundamentals of my playing became very pure.

One thing that I've noticed about mouthpieces with a round chamber and little to no baffle is the only waythey will work properly is if you are playing the saxophone correctly. So many new mouthpieces today areso "hot-rodded" for certain tonal qualities, ease of altissimo, etc., that they actually hide a lot of the faultsin our playing. But put an Otto Link on your tenor, and there's nowhere to hide. If you aren't playing thehorn correctly, everyone will know. Interestingly, I found out after a year of playing my Link, when Ipopped my Yanigasawa (square chamber) back on just for grins, I was finally able to play it properly.

Compare chambers for yourself. There are lots of interesting ones out there in addition to theconventional designs (for a time, I played the Rousseau Metal Jazz mouthpiece which has an inversetrapezoidal chamber). Go into your local music store or saxophone pro shop and spend a few hoursblowing through a variety of mouthpieces. If you can, bring a friend to be your sound consultant. If you areunable to find someone to go with you, solicit opinions from others in the shop, or bring some kind ofrecording device. Take notes on the differences in feel and sound between chambers. You will noticedifferences in back pressure up and down the horn, pitch variances, control issues, etc.

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The Mouthpiece Baffle

As I began venturing back into the world of contemporary jazz, I began to realize that my all-purpose set-ups would not be ideal for use in an entire evening of fusion, funk, or other styles that put a high demandon the altissimo register. Almost everyone I consulted recommended that I switch to a mouthpiece withsome kind of medium to high baffle. While I was determined to make my all-purpose set-ups work, Irealized I was fighting a losing battle and began both trying out mouthpieces with all sorts of baffles.

Some of you may be wondering what a baffle does. Quite simply what happens is the higher the baffle,the smaller the space just inside the tip opening. The result is an increased speed in the air entering thechamber. Typically this results in a brighter sound, and it can ease the production of altissimo pitches. Onthe down side, it can affect intonation for the worse, and thin out the tone.

I started with short baffles that had a sharp drop off. A friend of mine even constructed a few for one ofmy tenor Links. While this type of baffle moved my sound in the direction I was looking at going-brighterwith more edge-I didn't like the fact that my sound was markedly thinner, pitch-specifically in the upperand altissimo registers-was squirrelly, and altissimo control was inconsistent.

I moved on to roll-over baffles next, and for a while I thought that they were a panacea for me. This didn't

last long, as I noticed that pitch in the upper and altissimo registers was still a little squirrelly.

I tried the Jody Jazz DV mouthpiece on tenor, a relatively high baffle with a straight drop off in a "V"shape into a large chamber. I was intrigued by it because it didn't necessarily feel as if there was a bafflein the mouthpiece, however, I wasn't able to get the altissimo control I sought.

At this point, I gave up on baffled mouthpieces, and instead thought I could solve my problem by putting aRico Plasticover on my alto Meyer. It didn't have the feel and control I was looking for, but I decided todeal with it. This set-up had a good sound and decent control. On tenor, I switched from my Link to avintage pre-Hollywood Dukoff which had a big, ballsy sound, and had acceptable altissimo control. Theoccasional use of a Plasticover worked on this piece as well.

Mouthpieces and the Working SaxophonistPart II - Mouthpieces for Specific Situations

By Paul NavidadConsistency in Your Sax Set-ups

I had resigned myself to using my all-purpose set-ups for contemporary gigs, and was content to do sountil the 2005 NAMM Show . . .

I was hanging out at the Keilwerth exhibit with saxophonists Greg Vail and Wayne Mestas. Greg is well-known in the contemporary jazz community, having played several years with the group Kilauea. Both

Greg and I were trying out alto saxes, and passing them back and forth. I played on a black nickel horn,and felt I sounded good . . . that is, until I passed it to Greg and heard his sound. I realized that Greg'ssound was far better suited for the contemporary arena than mine, and that I needed to find a set-up thatwould work for me on contemporary gigs. The great mouthpiece search was back on again.

What ended up working was a long low-to-medium baffle that didn't have the appearance of a wedge, butran the length from the tip to the chamber. It was a Beechlerbellite #7, the old fusion standby whichvirtually every contemporary alto player was using in the late 1980s (in fact, I purchased it in 1989).Granted, it's a very genre-specific mouthpiece, so I choose to only use it for contemporary work.However, the Meyer still serves as my all-purpose set-up, and I am able to switch between the two

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mouthpieces easily.

Solving the contemporary question on tenor is still an issue, however I've reached a temporary solution.

My vintage Dukoff is great if I am playing an entire night of acoustic straight ahead, and can even work ina concert band or saxophone quartet context, where a dark sound is preferred, since it has no baffle. Ona casual, it's a decent all-purpose set-up, and can cut the contemporary material, provided that I have amicrophone. But it just doesn't do it for an entire contemporary gig. Since I was playing the Beechler onalto, I thought, "Why not play one on tenor too?" Sounds logical, right? Unfortunately, the tenor metalBeechler cut like a laser, and even the darkest sounding reed wasn't enough to tame the beast.

I flew to St. Kitts in the Caribbean for a gig, and it was extremely humid. Knowing that the climate wouldbe a factor, I brought a variety mouthpieces, reeds, and ligatures. I had some considerable down timeprior to sound check to experiment. I ended up selecting a Guardala laser-trimmed Crescent (low bafflethat looks like a skateboard ramp, round chamber) with Rico Plasticover reeds. It did the trick, but I endedup sacrificing the tonal spectrum in the process-the sound was very mid-rangey (lacking in lows andhighs). Fortunately for me, this setup worked even better once I got back to Southern California. Again,this set-up has some similarities in feel to my vintage Dukoff, and I am able to switch between the twomouthpieces relatively easy. Moreover, this makes it comfortable to switch between alto and tenor on thesame gig.

Improving Your Set-up: Selecting the Right Reed and Ligature

So what happens when you have a mouthpiece that you like for the most part, but doesn't feel totallydialed-in? Typically, I will go into a music store and pick up two of every reed model in stock andexperiment. I will consult other musicians-not necessarily saxophone players-and collect opinions as tomy sound. I may even record myself.

Once I have selected the optimal reed, then I will experiment with different ligatures. I have a number ofligatures at home, and am pretty familiar with what each does. If the mouthpiece needs taming (i.e. theharmonics are out of control), I will use a ligature that compresses the harmonic spectrum (similar torolling off the low and high frequencies with a graphic equalizer) such as a Rovner or Olegature. I'm not

particularly fond of Rovners as they tend to deaden the resonance of the mouthpiece a bit too much, butsometimes you need that to tame a particularly bright mouthpiece. In contrast, if I need my sound to havemore brilliance, then I will use a more vibrant ligature such as a Brancher or Selmer. What I like bestabout the Brancher is that there is very little contact with the mouthpiece, thus allowing more of themouthpiece to vibrate. There are plenty of ligatures that fall in between, and it just depends on yourpreference on if you desire more control or more resonance. Other ligatures that you may want to tryinclude the Winslow (out of production, but you can still find them), the Francois Louis Ultimate Ligature,the various models of BG, and the Bonade.

Some players are fortunate to find something they like (or at least something with which they are willing towork) and use it their whole lives. For many of us however, who have to work in a multitude of capacities,the setup may be ever changing. If you can at least find a variety of equipment that is consistent andsimilar, you will be able to move between setups with relative ease. Best of luck to you on your journey.by Paul NavidadPaul Navidad is active as a freelance professional musician in Southern California, but his work has takenhim all over the world. He holds a Masters in Music degree with a concentration in SaxophonePerformance/Jazz Studies from California State University, Long Beach. Some of his performance andrecording credits include Perry Farrell, Deborah Harry, Isaac Hayes, Al Jarreau, Dave Koz, Lisa Loeb,and Lou Rawls. He has also recorded on numerous film and television soundtracks. Paul currently servesas the Director of Jazz and Commercial Music Studies at Orange Coast College in Costa Mesa,California. For more information on Paul Navidad, you can visit his website at www.PaulNavidad.com.