Bb Soprano sax reed vs Bb Clarinet reed

Bryan: My take is that one should try MANY clarinet reeds on his/her soprano before concluding that it works good enough to do it regularly. Personally, switching clarinet reeds for soprano reeds never worked all that well for me. DAVE

Hodges allegedly studied with Bechet, although I don't know what kind of reed or mouthpiece either used.

As to Albert clarinets, that is true that many old timers from New Orleans played Alberts. And, some hard-core traditionalists today STILL play Alberts.

But to me, a clarinet is a clarinet, regardless of the fingering system. I have two Albert System Bb soprano clarinets and they certainly don't sound much different than my preferred Boehm clarinets. In fact, they all sound like me on clarinet. While I claim to be a traditionalist, I prefer Boehm System and don't believe the fingering system really matters as far as tone goes. DAVE

Let's throw Bob Wilber into the mix, as he also studied with Bechet. The conclusions to be drawn would be mind-boggling. Wilber plays Boehm, I think.

I agree that all sorts of reed/lig combos can be tried at home but when the rubber meets the road (a public performance) - THAT is what proves it all out - to the player.

I just don't buy the Albert vs. Boehm tonal thing, though, REGARDLESS of what the traditionalists claim. Sorry. DAVE