[John_Dikeman]

Was just relistening to the Joe Lovano Quartets double album in the car. I love Lovano's soprano sound on Sail Away. I find it quite unique; he has that big woolly sound he's got on tenor on the little horn.
Can anyone recommend other recordings of Lovano on soprano?

Anyone know what his mouthpiece set up was? I know on tenor he was playing something like a .143 opening and Alexander 3.5s. I'd guess the soprano is relatively as big based on the sound quality, but it's hard to say.

 

[John_Dikeman]

From Joe Lovano's website: "I play a Francois Louis wooden mouthpiece which uses their ligature (which holds the reed). The mouthpiece itself is made from Granidillo wood, which is a hard African wood. I’ve been use these on my tenors since 1985 and on soprano starting back in 1982. Handmade, these mouthpieces are simliar to the Otto Link 10 Star mouthpiece which many musicians have used." I guess it states here that, both on tenor and soprano, he uses a 10* wooden mouthpiece by Francois Louis.
And then the SYOS website shows a picture of him with an orange SYOS mpc. He's probably like most of us, trying different setups and enjoying them for a while ;-)

Ha well, he's also known for endorsing basically anything he's asked to, or paid to... I remember seeing an ad of his for Blistex. Which is fine, but that's also why I'm curious if anyone here has some first-hand knowledge of what he was actually playing on a gig.
I do believe he plays a Francois Louis just curious what the soprano tip and chamber is. I've heard many times from numerous sources that the tenor is around .145. I've heard conflicting info about the chamber. I think Phil Barone used to say it was a pea shooter mouthpiece which. What do I know, but it definitely doesn't sound like a small chamber to me.

 

[John_Dikeman]

I was trying to remember if he played any soprano when I saw him live, and I think on both occasions he played tenor and straight alto but no soprano. His soprano sound hadn’t stuck out to me on recordings up until now, but this has piqued my curiosity.

Edited having listened to the above: I hear a strong Steve Lacy influence though with a personal approach and a rhythmic concept that’s less influenced by Monk.

Yeah, on these three tracks Tryptykon posted he definitely sounds more Lacy like. Of course, the first tune is called This One's for Lacy... However, I find his sound much fluffier as dexdex pointed out. And once he starts soloing and gets out of those really Lacy or Monk like themes, I hear the Lacy influence melt away.

On this one I don't really hear any Lacy influence: