[jazzbird]

Hi blowers,
once a year reappears this post, and in the end nobody knows the answer.

We know that Brilhart, Tonalin and Ebolin, were his main mouthpieces, although some argue that the model was "Great Neck ", it is clear from the pictures and sound brighter and more edge, they were Streamline model with a standard ligature.

In another post, I explain the differences between the resin Brilhart models.

The problem comes in knowing the brand of metal mouthpiece he played in his last years. :dontknow:

Everyone knows that in his famous saxophone is a Master Link, but nobody has seen a picture with this mouthpiece, and the famous video with Coleman Hawkins, it is clear that Coleman played with a Berg Larsen mouthpiece but Parker is not clear which is.

In other post I read that was a STM, but it is clear looking at the pictures and video that has no top flap of the Links but the peak seems to stop while the vintage Berg do not.

Finally I've also read that could be a Selmer England, and really could be, although the peak seems longer...

I keep waiting for someone to decode the mystery before they become as mysterious as the JFK assassination! :a-run:

Keep swinging :tweety:

 

[BarrySachs]

I'm sure you've done many Google image searches already. There are several photos of Bird playing different types of Conns with Brilhart Streamline Tonalin. The King super 20 pics show him with the Selmer "England" mouthpiece. There are some shots of Bird with a Selmer Paris "New Large Bore" alto (the model just before the Cigar Cutter). I don't know what that mouthpiece was. There's also a famous shot of Bird wearing a plaid shirt blowing a Conn 6m (sans tuning neck) with an ivory coloured Runyon.

I believe that the last metal piece he had in later years was the Selmer "England". I used to think it was a Lelandais "Super Jazz" or Chedeville but It looks as if it was the Selmer "England".

 

[SAXISMYAXE]

Parker often played a white Runyon model 22, which is conspicuously missing from this list.

 

[ericdano]

I don't think it really matters. Charlie Parker could take two coke cans, mash them into a mouthpiece shape, stick a reed on it, and make it sound amazing.

 

[Nefertiti]

Fro what I have read, he was always pawning his horns and then getting new ones later. He probably wasn't too picky about what he played...........

 

[jazzbird]

I don't think it really matters. Charlie Parker could take two coke cans, mash them into a mouthpiece shape, stick a reed on it, and make it sound amazing.

Well, that's your opinion, I am interested in the subject and I think many saxophonists too.
Parker is the best and it is logical that his figure awaken curiosity.

True, I had forgotten the Runyon 22, then Santy used to make the Conn Comet mouthpiece, made espcially for Connstellation, horn

:tweety:

 

[Adam Niewood]

This is kind of off topic / and in a way related to this discussion.

Last time I heard Lee Konitz it was up in Rochester NY ... he sounded amazing, and totally like what I expect to hear... his personality, sound, ...everything. My friend picked him up at the airport, and apparently was surprised to find Lee didn't bring a saxophone. Just a small bag, for his personal items, etc. My friend shared this info with me in the intermission, after I had heard the first half... So Lee was playing on one of the students horns, with a different set-up... etc. New mouthpiece, horn... and he sounded every bit like what one would expect/want going to hear a Lee Konitz concert. It floored me.

So I expect - when Bird needed an instrument/mouthpiece... he would make music on whatever was available at the time.

All the input I've read sounds spot-on.

I also think Bird played on a Brass Otto Link Master Link, or 4**** model... White Brilhart.... And I've heard from a sound source, that he played the Fat Boy Meyer bros New York of the era... and that he would try all sorts of different set-ups, just like the rest of us... inquisitive. It's fun to try different set-ups, we all do it.

Charlie Parker's personality and creativity was his-own on whatever set-up he was playing...

 

[SAXISMYAXE]

I don't think it really matters. Charlie Parker could take two coke cans, mash them into a mouthpiece shape, stick a reed on it, and make it sound amazing.

Not from what I've read. In fact, Santy is quoted as saying that more than once, Parker called him freaking out that he had misplaced his favored model 22 Runyon made especially for him, eager to have a replacement dispatched to him asap.

His favored mouthpiece is the only thing it seems that he was particular about, storing it in his pocket everywhere he went, regardless of what horn it ended up on.

 

[whaler]

Fro what I have read, he was always pawning his horns and then getting new ones later. He probably wasn't too picky about what he played...........

No white Runyon (that last one looks like a metalRunyon with the single screw inverted ligature), no metal Link and it seems he played the Super 20 from the Bird w/ Strings on to the end.

http://www.ne.jp/asahi/jazz/jazz/mouthpieces.htm

 

[Hornlip]

Fro what I have read, he was always pawning his horns and then getting new ones later. He probably wasn't too picky about what he played...........

Yes, but I've also read that he would pocket his set-up before pawning the horn. Of course, maybe he ended up hocking those, too, or losing them. Maybe he sounds like Parker on any old thing he found to stick on a horn because he got so used to having to do that!!

 

[RootyTootoot]

Not from what I've read. In fact, Santy is quoted as saying that more than once, Parker called him freaking out that he had misplaced his favored model 22 Runyon made especially for him, eager to have a replacement dispatched to him asap.
.

I'm not saying that isn't true, but Bird strikes me as the sort of guy who might at one time be freaking out about his setup and at another time not be remotely fussed about it. What I mean is that changes of mind and moodswings are pretty standard for people with drug problems. I don't mean that as in any way disrespectful to the man at all. Actually I think the intellectual side of Bird and his music is hugely underrated.

 

[Nefertiti]

Not from what I've read. In fact, Santy is quoted as saying that more than once, Parker called him freaking out that he had misplaced his favored model 22 Runyon made especially for him, eager to have a replacement dispatched to him asap.

His favored mouthpiece is the only thing it seems that he was particular about, storing it in his pocket everywhere he went, regardless of what horn it ended up on.

Yeah, misplaced as in pawned probably or sold to some fan then he came down off his high and freaked out. That would be my guess.

 

[Rackety Sax]

...

I believe that the last metal piece he had in later years was the Selmer "England". I used to think it was a Lelandais "Super Jazz" or Chedeville but It looks as if it was the Selmer "England".

Huh, did you say "metal Chedeville"?? Where were you when I was asking about these :bluewink:? And if you are standing by even the faintest possibility that Parker might have played one, I better rush over to my for sale list and add a 0 to the end of my asking price [rolleyes].

 

[ikbtops]

Can anyone identify this one?
http://lelandrucker.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/11/charlie-parker.jpeg

 

[SAXISMYAXE]

I agree completely regarding the "misplaced" quote and what likely transpired. Given Parker's reputation, I sort of took for granted that this would be the general interpretation.

It is worthy of note that he did intend on replacing it with an identical piece however, which shows some degree of attachment to a setup. Apparently he wasn't 100% cavalier about what he played, at least when sober.

 

[whaler]

Can anyone identify this one?
http://lelandrucker.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/11/charlie-parker.jpeg

That is the one that looks like a metal Runyon. I tried to grab one on eBay a while ago but, alas, didn't get it.

 

[artfulD]

Can anyone identify this one?
http://lelandrucker.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/11/charlie-parker.jpeg

That's the Selmer "England" mouthpiece, often mistaken for a Master Link, which, according to photographic evidence, appears to have been Bird's primary mouthpiece from about 1949 until his death.

 

[Black Obelisk]

Interestingly enough, there was one of those Selmer "London" metal alto mpcs up on eBay, around New Years.
I thought about bidding, but changed my mind. I think it only went for around $150.

Interesting looking mpc. Looked like a medium-ish chamber, squared off sidewalls, slight roll-over, from what I could tell from the pictures.

Selmer London/England was just a distributor, and really didn't make anything. In the early 60s, they put their name on guitar amps, that were used by the British Invasion rock bands of the time, which had nothing to do with saxophones or Selmer Paris.

That being said, its anyones guess who made that mpc, could very well have been Chedville, or Lelandias.

To my eye, almost every picture of Parker with the Super20 & metal mpc, the mpc is this Selmer. When they had the King at Jazz at Lincoln Center, a few years ago, I expected to see that mpc, but instead there was a MasterLink on it.

Also, that Santy Runyon story about Bird calling him up, freaking out....you know, these guys are not only mpc makers, but salesmen, too, so....just sayin'

 

[bruce bailey]

I doubt he ever sold or pawned a mouthpiece as they were not worth anything back then. Even in the late 60s a metal Link was about $35 at discount new and a Brilhart was cheap too. The horn someone plays really doesn't make a lot of difference and a great player can sound good with any decent mouthpiece. Sometimes a certain mouthpiece only helps make "your sound" easier to find.

 

[airmouton]

Bruce: $35 in 1970 comes out to $200 in 2011. A modern stm costs $130. I only point this out because it has become legion to talk of how "cheap" things used to be. False false false.

And now back to your regularly scheduled program.