Yesterday, I received a box from Aaron Drake at Drake Mouthpieces. I couldn’t open it fast enough. Inside were 3 brand new vintage resin alto saxophone mouthpieces for me to try. I’ve been wanting to try these for months now and I was very excited. This is the second mouthpiece I tried of the three. It is the NY Jazz model and has a 6 tip opening (.080).The NY Jazz model has a medium rollover baffle that slides down into a medium chamber. This mouthpiece has the fattest sound of the three Drake alto mouthpieces I received. It reminds me of a Cannonball Adderley type of sound. Big and fat with a nice sparkle to the sound. All the notes had a roundness to then that I loved. Down low it could get nice and lush and up high the notes were nice and round sounding. There was no harshness with this mouthpiece at all……………………
Drake NY Jazz Alto Saxophone Mouthpiece
- Appearance:
The tip and rails of this mouthpiece are perfect. The tip curve matches my Vandoren Java reeds perfectly. The baffle is a smooth rollover as you can see in the pictures and is completely even. The chamber looks to be a similar size to a medium chamber Meyer. The mouthpiece has a nice copper band around the shank end and the engravings on it are neat and nice to look at. The bore of the mouthpiece was bigger than my other alto mouthpieces and I had to wrap some paper around my cork to get it to fit on snuggly. The bore was even bigger then the Jazz and Contemporary alto mouthpieces that I received with it. No big deal. The outside dimensions of the mouthpiece are a bit smaller than other alto mouthpieces so you should be aware of that when trying to find a ligature. My Marc Jean ligature was too big and my Vandoren Optimum barely tightened on enough. I ended up using a Theo Wanne “Enlightened” ligature that tightened on well.
- Tone:
I provide the clips on here so you can make your own judgment on what the characteristics of the tone are. In my mind this mouthpiece has a fatter tone that leans towards the darker side of things. It’s close to that midway point between dark and bright. I felt the notes and a beautiful thick roundness to them that I loved. Not thin sounding at all. Like I stated above it had a Cannonball Adderley type tone to it when I played it. FAT! I also noticed that I could easily manipulate the tone of the NY Jazz. It seemed like it fit me perfectly. The slightest changes of embouchure, throat or tongue and I could hear a change in the sound. I really loved that.
- Intonation:
Intonation was great with this mouthpiece and within normal limits.
- Control:
This was a very easy mouthpiece to play and control. It is very even sounding up and down the horn. The tone of the mouthpiece really makes it easy to play fast. It’s almost like the notes just blend together on those fast runs. Large intervals were easy to play also.
- Volume:
The NY Jazz wasn’t as loud as the Contemporary model I played yesterday but it was plenty loud for a jazz gig. I was playing at about 80% air output for me and it filled up the room. If I was playing a Top 40 gig I would probably go for the contemporary model but I think this NY Jazz would do all right once you got used to it.
Great job Aaron Drake! If you are curious about trying Aaron’s mouthpiece you can visit his website at www.DrakeMouthpieces.com for more information.
Hi Steve I love your sound on the pieces and I’m wondering which do you prefer over the Drake NY, Theo Wanne Gaia, Aizen, and Theo Wanne Amma, if you were playing in a big band as lead, but you would feel comfortable enough to use on a combo gig?
Thanks,
Jack
I could seriously play any of them. I own an Aizen and Gaia and could play either. I’m not sure which I prefer the most yet. The Amma would be great too but it was louder and brighter than I like but many lead alto players love that sound. I think the Amma was the loudest of these.
Thanks for the response Steve. out of the MeYer Style pieces you have played, which one do you find have a nice Focused, but full sounding tone, and balanced in the regular 2.5 registers. I do enjoy good resistance in my pieces so I can shape the tone quality easier. and it also seem to help with Altissimo a bit.
Thanks for the help,
Jack
Most of the alto pieces I have played on here could fit that description. I would just pick one you really like the sound of on the clip and go for that one. It’s hard to answer your question because I don’t know how dark or bright you want your sound. The Drake NY was a very full and lush sound but darker for me than the Gaia or Aizen were. I think the Aizen and Gaia were more focused. The Amma was even more focused and full but it was a little brighter and I thought it was too bright for what I liked. You might like it though if you like that brightness. Usually, the higher the baffle the more focused the sound. I hope this helps.
Hey Steve,
Right now i’m trying to get a little bit more buzz in my sound if you understand. It seems like the mouthpieces i have played on that have a really Full tone quality, lack some buzz to them, and the ones that have the buzz lack body to the sound. Well thats just my experience with pieces.
but thanks for the info Steve,
Jack
Hi Steve
Was that a # 5 or # 6 on Your soundclip?
Thank You for Your kind answer
Linus
That was a #6 as it says in the description.
Thank You Steve an sorry for that.
Is this mouthpiece opening similar to a Meyer # 6 or Aizen # 6 or is it larger or smaller in Your opinion.
Linus
Yes, I think it’s pretty close. I can’t remember exactly as I don’t have the mouthpieces next to each other to compare.
Which mouthpiece do you feel has a darker vintage sound? The Drake NY or Aizen NY?
The Drake NY has a darker sound than the Aizen NY. The Aizen NY was pretty bright. The Aizen JazzMaster was darker and closer to the Drake NY but I think the Drake was still darker as I remember it.
Steve you did not talk very much about the Drake (Jazz) model ?? Did it sit between the (New york jazz) and the (Contemporary)
Many Thanks for your time.
Yeah. I posted a clip of it here. http://www.neffmusic.com/blog/2010/07/drake-vintage-resin-alto-saxophone-mouthpiece-comparison/ I seem to remember it as being in between the NY and contemporary. I think I did so many reviews that week that I was just burned out on them and decided to skip that one. For me it was a little brighter and more focused than the NY. The NY was fatter sounding which I loved. Hope this helps. Steve