[JoAnnPeeler]

All my life I've always wanted to spend some time with Paul Desmond's music both tone and phrase matching to add a bit of the west coast cool-factor to my own playing. I've used various mouthpieces with limited success. Mostly classical pieces using hard reeds. I just received a couple of pieces from Phil Engleman of Phil-Tone: a refaced modern Brilhart Ebolin and a Phil-Tone Orion. Both of these are awesome pieces but I'm currently gravitating to the Ebolin because it has more resistance which I feel I need to emulate Desmond's sound. I might be able to get the same result with a harder reed on the Orion and I'll be trying that. Currently, I'm using a Vandoren V12 #3 which works well on the Ebolin, but is a little too soft for the Orion. I'm like a kid in a candy shop right now. I don't think I've ever had a mouthpiece that fits my embouchure and style as much as the Ebolin. It is so easy to play the full range of my horn. In comparison, with a stock, modern soloist I have to really have a disciplined air stream to nail the bell tones and I have to work to keep the palm key notes from sounding thin, but with both the Ebolin and the Orion my horn has really opened up.

So, consider this a ringing endorsement for Phil Engleman. I know my endorsement doesn't carry much weight and its not like he hasn't been producing some great stuff for a long time, but in case there is anyone who doesn't already know you should check out his mouthpieces or refacing services.

 

[1saxman]

Its amazing how we are so adaptable that we can come up with all these 'techniques' to simply play the horn when we are suffering with bad/wrong equipment.

 

[JoAnnPeeler]

Its amazing how we are so adaptable that we can come up with all these 'techniques' to simply play the horn when we are suffering with bad/wrong equipment.

No kidding. For the first time I can easily say my limitations are all me. These mouthpieces are like mana from heaven. I think I'm going to have a hard time choosing between the Ebolin and the Orion. They sound very similar; however, the Orion's rollover baffle is a little more pronounced producing a brighter and easier blowing piece. Altissimo blows so easy on the Orion compared to the Ebolin but its also a little more difficult for me to control. I still need to try some harder reeds on the Orion which may tame it a bit.