In Love with a Sopra[ni]no
Oska-T by Thelonious Monk. That’s me playing it on a sopranino sax.
Dontcha just love snow days? So far I’ve spent mine at Saxquest on Cherokee, where my visit was long overdue. Just weeks ago I bought a P. Mauriat soprano saxophone with all the fixins, and I’ve been fumbling with my Selmer S-80 D mouthpiece to no avail. This mouthpiece gives a warm, round sound to the thing, and I’m glad to have it for use with classical literature. But I sound way too much like an oboe for jazz. So I have my legit mouthpiece, and I went to the shop today to find a good one for jazz playing.
After narrowing my selection down from 7 to 3 mouthpieces, I decided to wait for the Tenny Select Otto Link mouthpieces to come into stock before I make my final decision. The current hit list is:
- Selmer Super Session with E facing
- Lamberson wood mouthpiece with .070″ facing
- Tenny Custom Select Otto Link 7
Who will win? Stay tuned!
The Lamberson is an excellent mouthpiece with an incredible sound. I’ve never played on a wood mouthpiece before! I might go with this one, but while I was sampling it I got curious about the other horns in the shop. So I checked out their vintage saxophone museum featuring some particularly rare finds. I played a mezzo-soprano “Con-O-Sax” in F, developed to replace the English horn (which is shaped like one too), an original Swanee Sax that uses a slide instead of keys, and a vintage Buescher sopranino sax (on which I’m playing Monk’s Oska-T in the recording above). The Swanee Sax, much like a trombone or Ondes Martineau, lends itself implicitly to the cello solo from Messiaen’s Quartet for the End of Time. So I serenaded the other saxes.
Gotta tell ya though: that sopranino is amazing! What a sound! Need to find one…
Hey, Lou! I loved the little Monk solo you played. Made me miss your musical magic massively. Tell me, with all the internets in abundance these days, hows come we ain’t writ muzik with the tubes as a proxy? I wonder…
And, yeah, you’ve played a wood mouthpiece before. Oh yes you have….
Hey dude, I have the Tenney Link for soprano and I love it! It’s an awesome mouthpiece and you might like it. I haven’t played the Lamberson m/p so I’m not sure how it would compare.
I’m gonna spend the day at Saxquest as well in the next couple of weeks hopefully. Need a new tenor m/p. I’ve been fighting with mine too much as of late.
Anywho, I hope you’re doing well. We still need to meet for the Alto. Give me a ring sometime and we’ll work out a time.
Yes we certainly do! I’ll give you a call… maybe we could even meet up at the quest…!