Morgan Dry Martini Model 18 Alto Saxophone Mouthpiece Review

Today, I am excited to be reviewing the new Morgan Dry Martini Model 18 alto saxophone mouthpiece released by Morgan mouthpieces. The great alto saxophonist Paul Desmond is quoted as saying, “I think I had it in the back of my mind that I wanted to sound like a dry martini.”, and since the newest alto saxophone mouthpiece from Morgan mouthpieces is inspired by the type of M.C. Gregory Model A 4A 18 alto sax mouthpiece that Paul Desmond used, Morgan mouthpieces named it the “Dry Martini”.

Morgan Dry Martini Model 18 Alto Saxophone Mouthpiece

Here is a description of the Morgan Dry Martini Model 18 alto saxophone mouthpiece from the Morgan mouthpieces website description:

“During the past 40 years of handcrafting saxophone mouthpieces, a fairly common question from customers is, “What model do you have that is similar to the mouthpiece Paul Desmond played?”

For much of his career, Paul Desmond played on a M.C. Gregory Model A 4A-18 alto saxophone mouthpiece. While we have alto sax mouthpieces that have approached the “West Coast” sound, the Dry Martini Model 18 is the first model we have specifically designed for that tone style.

The “Dry Martini” model is designed by Erik Grieffenhagen. Erik has spent decades studying and copying M.C. Gregory alto saxophone mouthpieces and has custom-made this style of mouthpiece for many customers in the past.

A few years ago, the Morgan Company acquired a bunch of antique original M.C. Gregory mouthpiece molds and cores. This acquisition included original cores for the M.C. Gregory 18 model alto saxophone mouthpiece. Using his knowledge of original mouthpieces and by studying the original molds, Erik developed the Dry Martini alto saxophone mouthpiece.

If you are looking for that West Coast “Desmond” sound, then the Dry Martini mouthpiece is the mouthpiece you must try. It is available in 4 (.063), 5 (.070), and 6 (.075) facings. Other facings are available as a custom order but we recommend the smaller tip openings with stiffer reeds for the most authentic “Dry Martini” tone.”-Morgan Mouthpieces

Morgan Dry Martini Model 18 Alto Saxophone Mouthpiece

Erik Grieffenhagen encouraged me to try the Morgan Dry Martini Model 18 alto saxophone mouthpiece in a 4 tip opening which is .063″. If you follow my alto saxophone mouthpiece reviews, you will know that I prefer alto sax mouthpieces with a tip opening between .076-.080 usually, so this .063 tip opening is a considerably smaller tip opening than I am used to.

Here is a snippet from an email I received from Erik about the Morgan Dry Martini Model 18 mouthpiece:

“I’ll tell you a little more about the Morgan Dry Martini alto sax mouthpiece first. We offer two models of chamber size similar to M.C Gregory, a 16 (small chamber) and an 18 (medium chamber). What I’d like to send is the 18. That’s the size chamber Paul Desmond settled on for the majority of his career. He also likely played a 4 tip opening or close to it. That has been our best seller. The tip is only .063″. That’s the one I’d like send if you could play something that close, with a reed in the 3-4 range. It produces the most Desmond like tone imo. All that said, we offer it in a 5 and 6 tip opening, too, 070″ and .076″. Given that it’s almost a purpose driven mouthpiece, I’d like to send you the 4, if you have some reeds that would work, 3 on the harder side are recommended. Let me know , and I’ll get one out to you asap.”-Erik Grieffenhagen

Morgan Dry Martini Model 18 Alto Saxophone Mouthpiece

The Morgan Dry Martini mouthpiece came well packaged in a beautifully crafted black box with the Morgan logo on it and a gold sticker on the side of the box with the model mouthpiece and tip opening on it. The mouthpiece was shipped with abundant padding to protect the mouthpiece through the mail.

The Morgan Dry Martini alto saxophone mouthpiece has a “MORGAN” logo engraved in gold on the top of the mouthpiece with “DRY MARTINI” engraved below the logo. On the underside of the shank is engrave “USA” in gold and above that is hand engraved “4-18” signifying the tip size and model number. Erik told me that the Dry Martini is machined on a five axis mill from German bar stock.

Morgan Dry Martini Model 18 Alto Saxophone Mouthpiece

The Morgan Dry Martini Model 18 alto saxophone mouthpiece looks great to the eye. The ebonite is smooth and shiny and I don’t see an imperfection anywhere. The tip, rails and table look even, flat, precise and perfectly crafted. The mouthpiece tip rail and side rails are even and symmetrical. The shape of the tip rail matched the shape of the Rico and Vandoren alto saxophone reeds I used on the Dry Martini mouthpiece very closely.

The diameter and beak profile of the Morgan Dry Martini alto saxophone mouthpiece felt very similar to the diameter and beak profile of a typical hard rubber alto saxophone mouthpiece like a Meyer. The body size of the Dry Martini is also similar to a typical hard rubber alto saxophone mouthpiece as well.

The baffle of the Morgan Dry Martini alto saxophone mouthpiece has a slight rollover near the tip but I would consider it to be a low baffled alto mouthpiece. The Dry Martini chamber looks to be a medium sized chamber and is similar in size to a Meyer alto mouthpiece medium sized chamber.

The Morgan Dry Martini mouthpiece came with a Rovner light ligature but I used a Francois Louis Ultimate alto sax ligature just because I had been using it on another alto saxophone mouthpiece I was trying out. The 3 1/2 reed and the FL Ultimate ligature played great for me so I didn’t want to jinx it by messing around with ligatures so I stayed with the FL Ultimate ligature for the sound clips.

In preparation for the review I went to a local music store and found some old Rico “Orange” box 3 1/2 alto saxophone reeds to use on the Dry Martini Model 18 mouthpiece. I recorded the one sound clip with one of these reeds as well as another two sound clips with a Vandoren Java (Red) 3 1/2 reed.

Morgan Dry Martini Model 18 Alto Saxophone Mouthpiece

When first playing the Morgan Dry Martini Model 18 alto saxophone mouthpiece, my first impression was that it had an incredibly beautiful tone to it. The tone is warm, round and even throughout the range of the saxophone. I ended up playing a lot of melodies on the three sound clips below as opposed to my usual flurry of fast lines I typically play on sound clips just because the Dry Martini sounded so lyrical and sweet. The tone is focused and concentrated while also having enough fatness that the tone never gets thin sounding but is beautifully round and full sounding while still having a light floating quality to the sound.

Typically, a 3 1/2 reed would tend to have too much resistance for my liking but with the smaller .063 tip opening the reed blew easily and with just enough resistance that it still felt comfortable to me. The tone was easy to manipulate with dynamics, vibrato and bends.

Morgan Dry Martini Model 18 Alto Saxophone Mouthpiece

One interesting point I would like to write about is that when listening to Paul Desmond, I have always been amazed at how he could play in the top register of the saxophone while keeping his tone so warm and pretty. Most alto saxophone mouthpieces I have played tend to get a bit brighter in tone and louder as you play in that higher register but Paul Desmond always seemed in complete control of that register. His tone always stays within certain volume parameters and always seemed warm and light. Although, I could attempt to sound like this on various alto saxophone mouthpieces, it was always a struggle to contain and limit the volume and brightness from appearing in those high notes.

Morgan Dry Martini Model 18 Alto Saxophone Mouthpiece

While playing the Morgan Dry Martini Model 18 alto saxophone mouthpiece, I finally understood more of the mechanics of how Paul Desmond was able to attain that high register beauty of tone. The Dry Martini alto mouthpiece with the .063 tip opening and 3 1/2 alto saxophone reed can only be pushed to a certain level volume wise. This is certainly not a lead alto saxophone mouthpiece at this tip opening (probably why I don’t recall Paul Desmond playing lead alto in a big band). I would say the Morgan Dry Martini is about a 5 to 5 1/2 for volume on a 1-10 volume scale. The Dry Martini mouthpiece keeps that top register controlled and limited in volume by it’s very design and the smaller tip opening. Some may view this volume limit as a weakness but if your goal is to achieve that “West Coast”, Paul Desmond type of laid back cool tone, this is one of the main strengths of the Morgan Dry Martini alto saxophone mouthpiece.

Along those same lines, the high register is also limited with how bright it will get. I found that even when I pushed more air through the Dry Martini it would get louder but still stay wondrously warm sounding like Paul Desmond’s sound which I really loved and marveled at.

The intonation on the Morgan Dry Martini Model 18 alto saxophone mouthpiece was excellent up and down the saxophone and the mouthpiece was a great match for my Selmer Reference 54 alto saxophone.

My impression was that the smaller tip opening of the Dry Martini alto sax mouthpiece also made the articulation clean, crisp and light as well.

Morgan Dry Martini Model 18 Alto Saxophone Mouthpiece

On the sound clips below, I try to give a good range and variety of alto saxophone sounds and textures so that you can hear the Morgan Dry Martini Model 18 alto saxophone mouthpiece perform in different styles. There are three unique sound clips that I have included below with reverb added as well as dry (no reverb).

The first and second sound clip below is a recording of me playing a bunch of random lines and ideas like I usually do with a dry recording (no effects) on the sound and then another clip with reverb added. I try to run through a variety of bebop lines, jazz melodies, articulations and miscellaneous ideas up and down the range of the horn that you can listen to to get an idea of how the Morgan Dry Martini Model 18 alto saxophone mouthpiece sounded and performed for me.

Morgan Dry Martini Model 18 Alto Saxophone Mouthpiece

The third and fourth sound clip is of me playing mostly just the types of melodies Paul Desmond was known for with a slight reverb added on the fourth clip and no reverb on the third clip. While recording this sound clip, I kept thinking, “What would Paul Desmond play?”. I played some melodies that came to mind but I have to admit that my vibrato is very different than Paul Desmond’s vibrato. I wish I had the time to spend a week trying to copy that beautiful vibrato and his other inflections but I don’t have that kind of time these days.

The last two sound clips is one I added a week after recording the first two clips with a harder old Rico 3 1/2 orange box alto saxophone reed. Like the other sound clips, the first has a no reverb added and the second clip is the same but with reverb. When I listen to this clip it sounds a bit different than the other four clips in that the tone is a bit reedier because of the slightly harder reed.

Notice that in all these clips, the Morgan Dry Martini sounds just as beautiful in the “dry” recording as the recordings with reverb added. I actually like the “dry” recordings more. This is a testament to how good the Morgan Dry Martini alto saxophone mouthpiece sounds naturally in my opinion.

Morgan Dry Martini Model 18 Alto Saxophone Mouthpiece

In my opinion, the Morgan Dry Martini alto saxophone mouthpiece is a perfect alto saxophone mouthpiece for those of you looking for that “West Coast” Paul Desmond type alto saxophone sound. Obviously, you don’t just put the Dry Martini mouthpiece on and immediately transform to Paul Desmond, but for me, as I was playing the “Dry Martini” with my own licks and style, I could hear that Desmond tone in the sound. It’s like that “Dry Martini” Desmond sound is in there and just needs to be sussed out and nurtured. If the Desmond sound is your ideal then the Morgan Dry Martini alto mouthpiece definitely steers you in that direction of alto saxophone sound.

If you love the beautiful sound and look of the Morgan Dry Martini Model 18 alto saxophone mouthpiece by Morgan mouthpieces, you can find them for sale on the Morgan website.

If you try a Morgan Dry Martini Model 18 alto saxophone mouthpiece or have any thoughts, comments or questions on this review, I would love to hear what you think in the comments below. Thanks, Steve

*To hear the most detail from these clips it is best to listen to them from a computer with nice audio speakers or headphones rather than from an iPhone or laptop speakers. It makes a world of difference!

Sound Clip 1

Audio Player