Who’s in charge: you or the saxophone?

“Thanks for your Taming the Saxophone book. Lots of great stuff in their for both myself and my students – I sure wish I’d had the book fifteen years ago!”
– Dan Forshaw

I’ve been playing two years now, on a variety of alto saxophones and mouthpieces and just received the Onyxite PPT Alto MP in 6**  tip opening for my birthday today.

Typically, I started two years ago with the MP which came with my Jupiter 565-567, then a Yamaha 4C which was OK, then tried a Selmer C* which I didn’t get on with, nor a Runyon 22 6, and latterly a Bari Esprit II which is very good for a beginner, keeping the notes in tune with its fairly narrow tip opening.
I also tried three D’Addario MPs in 5, 6, & 7 openings recently but none of them suited me.
The Bari was replaced a few months ago with a Yamaha 6CM with 1.9mm tip opening as this gave me a jazzier sound with my favourite Rico Jazz Select 2S filed reed. This combo sounded great on my newly acquired Yamaha YAS-62 MkI “Purple Logo” (which came with the 6CM) but not quite so good on my Buffet SDA which I’d played for around a year prior (I’ve been through a good few horns on my short sax journey!).

So today I put an RJS reed on the new PPT (her name is Poppet!) and tried this combo on the 62. A little worried by its wider 2.1mm tip, I took my first breath and played… WOW!!!!! Suddenly I’m a professional!!!!!!??
I switched back to the 6CM to check… had I really been happy with its sound? Yes, I guess… but now IT HAS TO GO IN THE BIN!!!

“Blown” away by my new sound, admittedly with a few “getting used to it” squeaks here and there, I thought I’d give it a go on the Buffet, having tried and tried with other mouthpiece/reed combinations to get a jazzy sound out of what is sometimes described as a more classical instrument.

Oh WOW even more!!! This MP has transformed my SDA into a 62 Purple Logo! In fact, it is absolutely perfectly controllable on this horn without a squeak or bum note. This IS the holy grail MP for my SDA!!

And LOUD! On both horns I could blow as hard as I can and the sound kept coming.

I tried some other reeds, around a dozen different ones, but the RJS 2S filed is the best so far for me. I think the squeaks on the Yamaha horn are down to the wider tip and should come good with a few more hours. Talking about hours… my mouth aches! I’ve been playing for three hours and didn’t want to put this MP down! Don’t panic though, it’s an easy blow. I just spent too long testing it!

At £195 it’s over ten times what I paid for the Bari but for me it represents excellent value, just for the fun I’ve had today, let alone the rest of my playing life

“A great book, I use it every day to keep the chops in order”

– Bobby Wellins 

Bobby was one of the leading figures of the UK jazz scene. Featured with the Stan Tracey band

THANK YOU, I just downloaded the folder. I’m very grateful.
Yesterday the cd came by post and I and my Wife are listening constantly and still – beautiful phrases and sound.
I am a teacher of the Polish language, I am 56 years old, I play the saxophone from the 5th month.
I love it, thank you! – Szymon Malecki