Try an old Brilhart for the Desmond thing, or even use the Optimum with a different reed.
murphy235 said:So I've been looking for new mouthpieces for my alto.
As for jazz, I'm looking for more of a Desmond style sound. I want to sound LIKE him while still adding some of my own personal touches for obvious reasons.
Desmond used an MC Gregory mouthpiece. They are available on Ebay or from vintage mouthpiece dealers, but are very expensive. A modern Meyer 4M with a Rico Select Jazz 3H or 4S Unfiled works for me for that style sound.
Martin
martinm5862 said:Yes I'm aware of what he used. The price and availability of it were the exact reasons I gave up on what he had to be exact and was looking for some modern alternative.murphy235 said:So I've been looking for new mouthpieces for my alto.
As for jazz, I'm looking for more of a Desmond style sound. I want to sound LIKE him while still adding some of my own personal touches for obvious reasons.
Desmond used an MC Gregory mouthpiece. They are available on Ebay or from vintage mouthpiece dealers, but are very expensive. A modern Meyer 4M with a Rico Select Jazz 3H or 4S Unfiled works for me for that style sound.
Martin
But thank you for the tip!
"The Hoff" is right. The whole "Jazz" mouthpiece, "Classical" mouthpiece thing, is a bit misleading. Get a mouthpice that allows you some flexibilty and doesn't lock you into one end of the tonal spectrum. Which is to say, stick with what you've got. I play a soloist on Alto and now I can get pretty much whatever sound I like out of it. Took a while, after playing a JJ but it is possible.gary said:Regarding the Vandoren, I a guy in a concert band I direct plays one and he gets a beautiful, smooth and somewhat darkish sound. Absolutely beautiful. I kept his mpc for a week and it never rang my bell. There was just something missing -for me- so I have continued playing my S80 C*.
Funny thing is, IMO you already have the one mpc you need for both. If you were playing hard aggressive jazz or pop, maybe not, but I don't know why your C* can't do both of what you are looking for. I played jazz on a C* the first several years I played sax. I didn't know any better, LOL. It worked fine.
I which case, I've got a Caravan and a Lakey I'll sell you, LOL.RootyTootoot said:Aww! You guys are no fun!! How's about a nice vintage Berg duckbill for the jazz and one of Rascher's old pieces (with authentic documentation to prove it) for the classical? Get back to us when you've found them.
My post above notwithstanding, if the Selmer has too much edge for you, have you tried a Caravan?murphy235 said:I know the C* is a popular mouthpiece but it doesn't give the type of sound I'm looking for no matter how hard I try. It just feels like when I'm doing classical I have entirely too much edge to the sound and it feels hard to control the lower register, where on the AL3 I played I had none of those problems.
No, I haven't ever heard of Caravan mouthpieces. I'll check them out. Thanks.gary said:My post above notwithstanding, if the Selmer has too much edge for you, have you tried a Caravan?
That's probably a good idea - desmond's sound is really round and pretty and a "classical" peice might just do it for you. Otherwise try a Selmer Super Session or a Soloist - nice pieces just make sure you try like 5 of each in each facing that you try to be sure you get one with a nice facing/chamber etc.Martinman said:or even use the Optimum with a different reed.
No joke - google.murphy235 said:Or is that a joke I'm not getting? lol