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I am fortunate to live close enough to George Mason University in Virginia to attend the Navy Band International Saxophone Symposium every year. I really enjoy catching up with other players who attend yearly, hearing some great music, learning from the lectures, and testing out all the gear in the vendor area. This year there seemed to be a few less vendors in years past but still plenty to check out. Here, I will list my impressions of the gear I play tested. My opinions are all for tenor, I did not try anything not for tenor. Of course, your opinions may differ!
1. SYOS. I was impressed. I must admit I was very skeptical. I have seen the posts on SOTW discussing the various attributes of their mouthpieces and read Neff's reviews so I know that some people really do not like them and others, including several name artists, are fans. My first impression, just looking at them, is that they look like toys. The plastic has a cheap feel to it and there are obvious imperfections in the material. The tip of the mouthpiece did not line up with the reed on some of them, the beak profiles were not uniformly smooth (as in the beak was not perfectly contoured), and there is no way someone would look at one of these and think it would play well. Then I tried one, the Chad Lefkowitz Brown piece and it had a huge tone, lots of power, and a good balance for a bright piece. It was effortless to play the entire range of the horn well into the altissimo range. I then played the Leland Whitty model and wow, what a piece! Not as bright as the Lefkowitz Brown piece, but huge, maybe bigger, with a rich tone and a fantastic response. I probably played 3-4 others including the dark but powerful Tivon Pennicott piece, the Dan Forshaw piece, and some others. They all had excellent response, lots of nice overtones, and played top to bottom. I have no idea how they do it, but these pieces are worth checking out, especially for under $200 a piece.
2. Morgan mouthpieces. Morgan has some new models coming out that do not currently have a name. Dave Hoskins of Junkdude let me try a prototype based on but not identical to their Indiana model and it was an excellent player. These pieces are CNC machined and hand finished. They look beautiful and play as well as they look. It had a big medium tone, easy response, and loads of power. I really enjoyed this piece. When they are ready for prime time, I hope Dave posts in this forum so that SOTW members can get their hands on these new pieces.
3. Lupifaro. I played the Lupifaro tenor at the Chuck Levin's table and this is a great horn. It is more of a Selmer style blow, which is not usually my thing as I prefer vintage American horns, but this horn was a player. It had a lush core, nice response, lots of power, and a quality feel. I spoke to Eric Beach, a great tech who works for Chuck's, and he says they are well built, top notch horns. If you are a fan of Selmer but looking for something a little different, try Lupifaro.
4. Rampone and Cazzani. I remain impressed by the Rampone brand. They are beautiful to look at, and unlike Lupifaro, they are trying to be more like a vintage American horn rather than a Selmer. I played a silver plate and bronze tenor. I liked the bronze one better because it seemed to respond a little better but they were not too different (in the noisy vendor room). They really do have a rich, full tone not like most other stuff out there today.
I played a ton of Taiwanese horns and I feel they all played well. There were differences but I think the quality of the stuff coming out of Taiwan is rather high. There was not one that I tried that I felt was bad, but there are so many of them it is hard to remember the differences after playing through 20 or so. The top end horns from Selmer (I actually preferred the series II, which surprised me), Yani, and Yamaha played well too. It is a great time to be a musician, there are lots of great choices. If you attended the symposium, please post your impressions.
1. SYOS. I was impressed. I must admit I was very skeptical. I have seen the posts on SOTW discussing the various attributes of their mouthpieces and read Neff's reviews so I know that some people really do not like them and others, including several name artists, are fans. My first impression, just looking at them, is that they look like toys. The plastic has a cheap feel to it and there are obvious imperfections in the material. The tip of the mouthpiece did not line up with the reed on some of them, the beak profiles were not uniformly smooth (as in the beak was not perfectly contoured), and there is no way someone would look at one of these and think it would play well. Then I tried one, the Chad Lefkowitz Brown piece and it had a huge tone, lots of power, and a good balance for a bright piece. It was effortless to play the entire range of the horn well into the altissimo range. I then played the Leland Whitty model and wow, what a piece! Not as bright as the Lefkowitz Brown piece, but huge, maybe bigger, with a rich tone and a fantastic response. I probably played 3-4 others including the dark but powerful Tivon Pennicott piece, the Dan Forshaw piece, and some others. They all had excellent response, lots of nice overtones, and played top to bottom. I have no idea how they do it, but these pieces are worth checking out, especially for under $200 a piece.
2. Morgan mouthpieces. Morgan has some new models coming out that do not currently have a name. Dave Hoskins of Junkdude let me try a prototype based on but not identical to their Indiana model and it was an excellent player. These pieces are CNC machined and hand finished. They look beautiful and play as well as they look. It had a big medium tone, easy response, and loads of power. I really enjoyed this piece. When they are ready for prime time, I hope Dave posts in this forum so that SOTW members can get their hands on these new pieces.
3. Lupifaro. I played the Lupifaro tenor at the Chuck Levin's table and this is a great horn. It is more of a Selmer style blow, which is not usually my thing as I prefer vintage American horns, but this horn was a player. It had a lush core, nice response, lots of power, and a quality feel. I spoke to Eric Beach, a great tech who works for Chuck's, and he says they are well built, top notch horns. If you are a fan of Selmer but looking for something a little different, try Lupifaro.
4. Rampone and Cazzani. I remain impressed by the Rampone brand. They are beautiful to look at, and unlike Lupifaro, they are trying to be more like a vintage American horn rather than a Selmer. I played a silver plate and bronze tenor. I liked the bronze one better because it seemed to respond a little better but they were not too different (in the noisy vendor room). They really do have a rich, full tone not like most other stuff out there today.
I played a ton of Taiwanese horns and I feel they all played well. There were differences but I think the quality of the stuff coming out of Taiwan is rather high. There was not one that I tried that I felt was bad, but there are so many of them it is hard to remember the differences after playing through 20 or so. The top end horns from Selmer (I actually preferred the series II, which surprised me), Yani, and Yamaha played well too. It is a great time to be a musician, there are lots of great choices. If you attended the symposium, please post your impressions.
