A few years ago some bootleg recordings started  traveling around the internet of various acapella solos that Chris would perform at clinics he was giving.  I remember the first one I heard was “All the Things You Are”.    I was totally amazed at what Chris Potter could do with a standard like that.  I believe he played for about 14 minutes.  The amazing thing about his performance was that it was 14 minutes of pure creativity and technical virtuosity like I had never heard before.  Most players repeat stock licks or run out of ideas after a few minutes of playing.   Every time I thought he was done amazing me with some new creative idea, he would come up with another one that would also blow my mind.  This feeling of awe continued for the full 14 minutes. Afterward, I just turned off itunes and sat in silence staring at the computer.

Since that time,  there have been many of these bootleg acapella recordings floating around the internet.  I have collected most of the ones I could find.  There have even been a few people who have done some transcriptions of some of them.  A couple of months ago, I heard about a new PDF book  by Eli Bennett called “Chris Potter plays Acapella Standards” that was soon to be released .  In it he had supposedly transcribed 11 of these amazing Potter acapella solos.  Now, you have to understand that transcribing just one solo is a an amazing task.  I can’t even imagine how much time and energy it would take to transcribe even one. Eli Bennett has transcribed 11!  This blew my mind!

Chris Potter plays Acapella Standards

The first day the book was released I bought it.   I had to have it.  The tunes that are transcribed in the book are:

All the Things You Are

Tune Up

I Love You

26-2

Have You Met Miss Jones (2 Versions)

Just Friends

It Could Happen To You

Confirmation

LadyBird

I Hear A Rhapsody

To take a quote form the book

“The intention of this book is to provide an extremely accurate representation of Potter’s acapella work over familiar tunes and chord changes that are directly applicable to developing musicians. A wealth of knowledge can be learned from studying a master’s approach to playing over a standard – knowledge and concepts that can be directly applied in the practice room from the basics of harmonic, rhythmic, and melodic concepts to triadic generalization and superimposition, intervallic concepts, forward motion, and various colors and applications of melodic content while spontaneously creating an inspiring work. The possibilities are endless. Potter’s approach not only demonstrates this through his expressive voice but provides a vast encyclopedia of musical knowledge derived from past masters as evident in each transcription where he often quotes Charlie Parker, Sonny Rollins or John Coltrane, while adding the “Potter spin”.”

This is an amazing book and resource.  The wealth of knowledge and insight that can be gained from these solos is unimaginable. I am very excited  to have this book on my shelf.  It will give me years and years of material to delve into.  I started last week with “I Hear a Rhapsody”  and plan on working through the book one solo at a time.  Being able to just play these along with the recordings is a phenomenal feat and more than worth 19.99.  Understanding the why behind the notes and rhythms and  transferring that knowledge to your playing and improvisation…………..Priceless!

Thanks to Chris Potter first and foremost for his amazing playing and creativity.  Thanks to Eli Bennett for the countless hours  he must have put into this project.  This is a resource that every serious jazz musician should check out!  To get the book yourself, you can visit Eli’s site at www.elibennett.com . I give this book 5 stars.  Now I have to go practice……………

Aizen Gold JazzMaster Tenor Saxophone Mouthpiece

This is the description from the Aizen website about the Aizen Gold JazzMaster mouthpiece:

“This mouthpiece is designed for realizing the superior breath comfortableness and the legendary smoky saxophone sound.  AIZEN manufactures this mouthpiece by shaping the special vintage alloy using our precise milling technology.  The AIZEN’s technology gives you the powerful, fat, dark, and rich saxophone sound through this mouthpiece.  This mouthpiece is very easy to blow and easy to control from a pianissimo tone to a fortissimo. We can recommend this mouthpiece for both of the beginners and the experts.”

Like all Aizen mouthpieces, the Gold JazzMaster mouthpiece looks great.  The rails and tip look terrific and the chamber and baffle are nice and smooth. The tip is perfectly matched to the Rigotti Gold and Ishimori Woodstone reeds I tried with it.  The engraving looks pretty cool on it also. The chamber and sidewalls are curved and looks as perfect as can be.  It has a slight rollover baffle near the tip but then the baffle descends quickly down to the bottom of a large chamber.  The chamber is slightly larger than the bore of the mouthpiece.  You can see a slight ridge inside the mouthpiece where the bore starts when you look at the pictures below.

As far as sound, you can judge for yourself from this recording.  My first thought, when I played this mouthpiece was “Come to the dark side, Luke” (Star Wars quote).  This mouthpiece plays about as dark as I’ve ventured in my saxophone playing lifetime.  The closest I think I’ve come to this is a Lebayle LRII that I reviewed a couple of years ago. I think this might be a tad darker but it seemed to have a nice sparkle to the sound that I don’t remember the Lebayle having.  The tone of the Aizen JazzMaster is thick and full bodied.  The low end was gorgeous and the high end was full and thick while only getting minimally brighter.

Aizen Gold JazzMaster Tenor Saxophone Mouthpiece

I have to admit that it took me a little time to get used to this mouthpiece.  I think the reason was that on my tenor there are usually certain notes that pop out as brighter than the others.  The second octave E, the high C#, etc…….When I played this mouthpiece I felt like it had an equal effect of “darkening” those notes.  Even though the piece is darker it still feels vibrant and alive to me.  The notes also have a smooth and smokey quality to them that was nice.

This wouldn’t be the mouthpiece I would grab to run out the door to a loud R&B gig but for a night of jazz this would be a great mouthpiece to try.  I rated it slightly less for volume because I felt like I couldn’t push it to my usual “10″ on the volume scale.  I could get it to a comfortable 7-8 volume wise.  I am comparing it to other smaller chambered higher baffled mouthpieces so keep that in mind.  Even though the volume might be less than a “paint peeler” type mouthpiece, I think the thick full body of the sound makes up for that fact.

Aizen Gold JazzMaster Tenor Saxophone Mouthpiece

Give a listen to the sound clip below to hear for yourself what these mouthpieces sound like.  If you are ready to “Go over to the darkside”…….visit Aizen’s website  for more information. Thanks again to Aizen for letting me try another great mouthpiece.  Please let me know what you think below in the comments…………….

Here’s the JazzMaster with a 2 1/2 medium Rigotti Gold tenor reed.

MacSax D Alto Saxophone Mouthpiece

Here is what is said about the MacSax D model on the MacSax website:

The new MACSAX ® D-Jazz Hard Rubber mouthpieces are designed to deliver the timeless sounds of the most sought after vintage pieces while delivering a more efficient contemporary feel.

Made from pure hard rubber, the D-Jazz benefits from an extensive amount of handcrafting. The table, facing, rails, and baffle are all carefully hand crafted. This delicate time consuming process leads to a mouthpiece with a rich and balanced sound that responds instantly and evenly.

The D-Jazz Alto mouthpiece features a medium chamber and a long, low baffle. This combination gives the piece a rich sound with strong projection when needed. The hand crafted facing assures a consistent and reed friendly feel.

The mouthpiece that I tried had a 6 tip opening.  I used a Woodtone #3 reed on it.  It played great right out of the box.  It has a slight rollover baffle at the tip.  I felt like the tone was very even and smooth sounding.  It had a nice bright ring to the sound that I really liked.  Something about the tone is very smooth and round sounding to me. The tone is focused and reminds me of a great playing vintage Meyer type sound.  The sound is easy to manipulate and control and the intonation is right on.  The tip and rails are perfect and hold to Eric Falcon’s high standards.

MacSax D Alto Saxophone Mouthpiece

Overall, I believe this is a great mouthpiece if you looking for a beautiful sound with some nice highs and “zing” in the tone. This would be great for straight ahead bebop type playing, lead alto in a big band or even more modern playing.   If your looking for that classic “vintage” Meyer type sound but can’t afford their price tag, this is a great alternative.  If your interested in trying one of these mouthpieces yourself, visit MacSax.com. and talk to Eric Falcon yourself.  Thanks so much to Eric and MacSax for sending me this MacSax D model alto mouthpiece to review.

MacSax D Alto Saxophone Mouthpiece

SaxZ Dave Sanborn Hard Rubber Alto Saxophone Mouthpiece

Man, I wish I had this mouthpiece when I was a kid.  When I was in junior high school, one of the first alto players I listened to was David Sanborn.  I remember going to the library and getting the album “Voyeur”.  That was the first time I listened to Dave Sanborn.  It blew my mind because his sound was so different than the alto players I had listened to until then.   I remember trying to play along with him and copy his sound.  I spent many hours each day trying to get down his licks and sound.   I did get many of his licks down but his sound was always very elusive for me.  I knew nothing about mouthpieces back then and had no idea that there were different kinds.  I didn’t know that you could sound different by choosing another mouthpiece.  I actually remember going through a stage where I was playing a Caravan mouthpiece for classical auditions and I was still trying to get that Sanborn sound out of it.  That was rough! (this Caravan had one of the darkest tones) The reason I would have loved this mouthpiece is that it propels you into the neighborhood of  that raw Sanborn sound without too much effort.

SaxZ Dave Sanborn Hard Rubber Alto Saxophone Mouthpiece

I feel like the “Sanborn” sound is more of an extreme sound tone wise.  It is very raw,bright,edgy and tough sounding.  It’s right in your face.  What Michael Brecker did for the tenor sound,  Sanborn did for the alto sound.  It’s not a middle of the road type of sound.  If you are going for  that type of sound you have to be bold and unapologetic about it.  You have to play with confidence!

Here are some words about the mouthpiece from SaxZ:

SaxZ Dave Sanborn Hard Rubber Alto Saxophone Mouthpiece

The mouthpiece does indeed look to be a replica of a metal Dukoff mouthpiece.   The baffle is high and even and angles down into a medium small chamber.  The high baffle and smallish chamber are what speed up the air and give a brighter more powerful sound to the tone.  In comparison to the metal Dave Sanborn model I reviewed this seems to be a bit darker ,warmer and rounder sounding to me.  I’m listening to the clips side by side as I write this, and it sounds to me like the metal Dave Sanborn is quite a bit brighter and more “metallic” sounding.   For the sake of comparison I have also posted the metal mouthpieces sound clip below so you can hear them side by side.

Now,  there has been countless discussions on the effects of different materials on the saxophone sound.  Many people say that different mouthpiece materials have an effect on the tone.  Others argue that the material has no effect on the tone what-so-ever.  This review is a great example of two mouthpiece with the same tip opening and design that have different sounds and tones.   Whether this is from the material used, reeds used, or subtle differences in the design of the mouthpieces is up for debate.

SaxZ Dave Sanborn Hard Rubber Alto Saxophone Mouthpiece

I really enjoyed playing these two mouthpieces.  If you are a fan of Dave Sanborn and would like to get a mouthpiece that will help you towards that sound concept I think these are great choices to consider.

“Sax-ccessories” in CA is carrying SaxZ mouthpieces and some other accessories. Brian at Sax-ccessories and Mitsu at SaxZ were kind enough to let me borrow this mouthpiece to review.  If you like the “Dave Sanborn SaxZ” sound visit his website and check one out for yourself! http://www.sax-ccessories.com/ .

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

SaxZ Dave Sanborn Hard Rubber Alto Saxophone Mouthpiece

SaxZ David Sanborn Metal Alto Saxophone Mouthpiece

Lamberson F Major Alto Saxophone Mouthpiece

This F Major alto mouthpiece is made out of Delrin, also called acetal. This is what Fred says about it on his website:

“I am now making mouthpieces from acetal. This is a type of nylon that has a translucent milky white color and it has it’s own unique sound. It’s a hard, very tough material and is louder and stronger than rubber, just not as warm. Even though it is pure plastic, it has a lot of the warmth and playing characteristics of rubber. I think this is so because it is flexible and vibrates freely like rubber. It’s not a brittle material at all and it’s so tough you could drive a truck over it.”

Lamberson F Major Alto Saxophone Mouthpiece

The F Major alto mouthpiece is described as having little to no baffle on The Lamberson website. Contrary to that description, this mouthpieces has what I would consider a medium baffle in it and is quite a bit brighter and crisper in tone than the other F Majors I have played. It doesn’t have a high rollover baffle at the tip but the baffle gently slopes to a medium height at the chamber and then drops into the chamber at that point. The tip and rails look perfect and the mouthpiece played very easily with a Woodstone #3 reed. The Delrin material, although really hard, has a very soft and smooth texture to it.

Lamberson F Major Alto Saxophone Mouthpiece

The tone of this mouthpiece was brighter in comparison to other F Major alto mouthpieces I have played before. It has a strong centered core to the tone. My first thought when I played this mouthpiece, was that it has a killer lead alto tone. The tone has a enough brightness and power that I believe it could be heard over a sax section easily. Even though the tone is brighter, it is still jazzy and would sound great playing bebop type lines. If you wanted you could easily morph into a Sanborn type sound on this mouthpiece also.

If you are interested in a mouthpiece like this, you’ll have to keep your eyes peeled for one. They are not very common. You could try contacting Fred Lamberson and get on his waiting list but that could take a while. In the meantime, check ebay a lot. This mouthpiece is actually for sale on ebay by the owner even as I type this so if your quick…………….

Thanks again to Fred Lamberson for his service to the saxophone community. He is a true artist when it comes to making mouthpieces and has helped many saxophone players find their perfect mouthpiece.

Lamberson F Major Alto Saxophone Mouthpiece

MacSax FJIII Tenor Saxophone Mouthpiece

If you look at the pictures here of the FJIII and compare them to the pictures of my Warburton LA tenor mouthpiece review (also made by Eric Falcon), you can see some similarities between the two mouthpiece designs.  Both have a similar body and long elongated window.  The baffles seem to be a similar length but if you look closely you can see that there are some differences.  The baffle in the FJIII is lower than the LA mouthpiece.  It also has a straight edge at the end of the baffle where the LA model has a little trench or pit.

Although, I loved the LA models volume and fatness, in the end I thought it was a bit too bright for what I’m looking for in a tenor mouthpiece.   I was very interested in trying the FJIII because it has the lower baffle which I knew would give it a darker sound.

MacSax FJIII Tenor Saxophone Mouthpiece

Boy was I right,  the MacSax FJIII is a much darker mouthpiece than the Warburton LA model.  Besides how incredibly free blowing it is,  I didn’t find much in common with it and the LA.  I don’t know what Eric does with these mouthpiece to get them to blow so easily but they are incredibly freeblowing. Personally, I  like a bit of resistance when I play the sax so playing this mouthpiece was a bit of an adjustment for me.  It is an 8 (.110) tip opening.  Usually when I play .110 tips,  a 2 1/2 reed works great.  The first 2 1/2 I put on blew like a wet noodle.   There was nothing to it.  I tried a few other 2 1/2′s and experienced the same thing.  When I moved up to a 3 I expected it to be too hard but even the 3′s were too free blowing for me.  What I really wanted was a 3 1/2 but I didn’t have any so I had to make due with the Rigotti 3 that I played on this clip.  It was slightly harder than the others in the box and I thought it was a good match for this mouthpiece.

The tone of this mouthpiece is very dark in my opinion.  It does have a bit of kick and guts to it when you really blow but the overall tone is thick, rich and dark.  The response and intonation were good.  The volume was ok for me.  I couldn’t get as much as I would like but it was certainly enough to play a smokin’ jazz gig with.  The lack of brightness in the tone would make it hard to play a loud R&B or rock gig on this piece in my opinion.

The free blowing aspect of the mouthpiece was the hardest thing for me to wrestle with.  I feel like a certain bit of resistance lets me push against the sound and mold it easier.  In that way, I can be more expressive.  I did gain some resistance with the harder Rigotti 3 reed but still wasn’t feeling the resistance that I normally like when I play.  I would think that over time, I could get used to the way the mouthpiece blew and be able to adjust to it.

MacSax FJIII Tenor Saxophone Mouthpiece

The mouthpiece comes with a neat looking Rovner Platinum ligature that looks cool and hip.  I’m not a big fan of ligatures that clamp on the outside edges of the reed.  This is what the Rovner did.  To me, it made the tone more hollow sounding.  When I put on the Rovner Eddie Daniels ligature the tone was much more centered and focused sounding for me.   This is just my opinion so you guys that think ligatures don’t matter can do what you want with this opinion.

Overall,  I believe this is a very good mouthpiece if you like free blowing and dark.  This would be an especially good choice for any of you who have tried the Warburton LA model but found it too bright for your tastes.  This has the same free blowing feel of the LA mouthpiece but is quite a bit darker and lusher sounding.  If your interested in trying one of these mouthpieces yourself, visit MacSax.com.  and talk to Eric Falcon yourself.  Thanks so much to Eric and MacSax for sending me this FJIII tenor mouthpiece to review.

MacSax FJIII Tenor Saxophone Mouthpiece

Marmaduke Large Chamber Tenor Saxophone Mouthpiece

This Marmaduke LC (Large Chamber) tenor saxophone mouthpiece looks great.  The tip and rails are thin and even. The tip matches the shape of my Vandoren reeds perfectly.  The mouthpiece has a slight rollover baffle. The chamber  looks to be similar in size to a hard rubber Otto Link size chamber.

Marmaduke Large Chamber Tenor Saxophone Mouthpiece

The 7* (.105 tip opening) had a very rich complex sound to my ears.  In comparison to the normal Marmaduke mouthpiece in the review above,  I feel that this mouthpiece is a bit darker and richer in tone.  I played a Vandoren Java 2 1/2 reed on it and that reed was perfect for it. The intonation was normal and the response was clean and immediate.  The low end had a smokey round quality to the tone.  I had a lot of fun sub-toning on this mouthpiece.  I loved the rich low end.

Many times, with a large chambered piece you will gain a darker richer tone but lose a bit of volume and brightness from other mouthpieces that have a smaller chamber and/or higher baffle.  This mouthpiece had a nice full tone and volume  even with the larger chamber.  I don’t think I would choose it for a loud rock gig because of the darker tone but this would be a great mouthpiece to go out and play a burning jazz set with.

Marmaduke Large Chamber Tenor Saxophone Mouthpiece

If your interested in trying one of these mouthpieces yourself, visit Marmaduke Mouthpieces and talk to Alex Miyatake yourself or you can also get them at Saxccessories.com.  Thanks so much to Alex for sending me this LC tenor mouthpiece to review.

Marmaduke Large Chamber Tenor Mouthpiece

I’m using a white Lamberson 7DD tenor mouthpiece on this clip.  This is a great example of how recording in a studio can change the sound of your sax.  I had just gotten the Lamberson a few weeks before this recording and wasn’t sure how it would perform in the studio.  I had a fear that it would be too bright sounding.  I was very pleased with how it came out.  I don’t think it is bright at all but nice and fat sounding.  It actually sounds rather dark to my ears which really surprised me!

This solo was done on the first take.  It was one of those deals where the guy in charge said “Steve, why don’t you doodle a bit on the end”.  We recorded it once and when it finished I was about to say  “Ok, can we do that again?” .  Before I could,  I heard “That was perfect……Let’s move on”.    The perfectionist part of me thought I could do it better but it is what it is.   I hope you like it.  You can check out some more clips of the Lamberson 7DD elsewhere on this blog if you do a search for it in the top right corner of the site.     Thanks,    Steve

Marmaduke Hard Rubber Alto Sax Mouthpiece

These Marmaduke alto saxophone mouthpieces look great.  The tip and rails are thin and even.  The tip matches the shape of my reeds perfectly.  I used a Ishimori Woodstone 3 reed on these clips and both mouthpieces played great with that reed. The mouthpieces have a slight rollover baffle.  The chamber is about the size of a medium Meyer chamber.

Marmaduke Hard Rubber Alto Sax Mouthpiece

I played the .072 tip mouthpiece first.  This was the 5.  It had a nice crisp brightness to the sound.  Even though the notes were bright and tone was thick and fat in my opinion.  It reminded me of that vintage “Meyer” type brightness and power.  A nice compact powerful tone.

The 6 (.078 tip opening)  had  a slightly darker sound to it for me.  The two clips below are a good example of how increasing the tip size by just .006 can change the sound.  Many times moving to a larger tip can make the sound a bit darker and more open sounding.  The tone sounded a bit rounder and sweeter to me than the 5 tip opening.  The 5 seemed a bit brighter and more aggressive to my ears.

Marmaduke Hard Rubber Alto Sax Mouthpiece

If your interested in trying one of these mouthpieces yourself, visit Marmaduke Mouthpieces and talk to Alex Miyatake yourself or you can also get them at Saxccessories.com.    Thanks so much to Alex for sending me these alto mouthpieces to review.

Marmaduke HR .072 Alto Mouthpiece

Marmaduke HR .078 Alto Mouthpiece

“Just play the blues scale!”  All across the country, you hear this advice given in every band room. Students sit with blank looks on their faces as band directors tell them to use this or that blues scale on their solo. The advice usually doesn’t go much further than that and many kids end up playing solos that they are less than happy about. What many of these students need is a jump start. A few examples of what to play and how to play it………..Here you go!

In Mastering the Blues Scale Volume 2, I demonstrate using the Blues Scale to create great blues licks you can use over dominant grooves on the blues, funk or rock and roll. I show you how to go about getting your blues vocabulary together as you greatly improve your technique with these essential blues licks and scales. Play along with this book at your own pace, as you learn hundreds of great sounding and easily adaptable blues licks and patterns in all 12 keys. Playing these patterns is a fun and exciting way to make that transition from knowing the Blues Scale, to actually having it in your ears and under your fingers.

These blues licks combine many of the idiomatic sequences, intervals and finger patterns, you really need to have down, if you want to get burning on the blues scale. If you are stuck playing your blues scales straight up and down, practicing these licks will soon have you playing with the technique and flexibility required to be able to play what you hear.

Mastering the Blues Scale Volume 2 Dominant Chords has 127 great blues licks in all 12 keys.  It is a PDF file that you can download immediately so you can get to work.  I have also included two sample mp3′s of the G7 lines in the book.  One for alto sax and one for the tenor sax.  The alto track is 29 minutes long and the tenor is 24 minutes long.  I have had many requests for audio samples that students can listen to as they work on the book.  I think these will be a real benefit for those who want to hear how I play the licks and play along with me.

Here is a mixed sample of the alto and tenor mp3.

Thanks,

Steve Neff

This book is a pdf file and can be opened and printed immediately after you download it. The exercises are written in all 12 keys and are great concepts for any musician involved in jazz improvisation.  2 mp3′s are provided for alto and tenor saxophone of all 127 licks in the key of G7.