Expertly-designed and made in the USA by a team of top musicians and engineers, Select Jazz mouthpieces are milled, not molded, from solid rod rubber. These mouthpieces capture the classic sound and response of the most sought-after vintage mouthpieces; they have even intonation across the entire range of the saxophone for all styles. They feature a medium chamber and facing length, and are available in tip openings 6, 7, 8 and 9.
For review, I received model MKS-D9M with 2.92mm tip and medium chamber. I turned it over to Ron Dziubla who plays sax for Duane Eddy, Joe Bonamassa, Nick Waterhouse and many others. Dziubla plays both tenor and baritone and tested using a Yamaha Custom Z tenor saxo- phone with Vandoren V16 size 3 1/2 reeds and a gold Harrison ligature.
Ron comments, “As an L.A. session and touring player, I demand quite a bit from a mouthpiece. It is not uncommon for me to go straight from ‘paint peeling’ rock & roll to Sinatra-like swing in the same set. I love this mouthpiece and I found the intonation to be even throughout the horn. The lower register blew nicely, and playing sub-tones was fairly easy. What was surprising was the big and fat sound of the mouthpiece! I was able to easily take it to full-on rock & roll and the altissimo popped out all the way to an octave G.”
In trying out the D’Addario Jazz Tenor, Ron blew some Bozza etudes and a few of his favorite Bobby Keys tenor solos. Dziubla continues with, “I’ve been using a metal Dukoff D8 since the early 90’s—it’s what I’m used to. So for this D’Addario mouthpiece to enter that ter- ritory at my standards was a surprise. I haven’t played a hard rubber mouthpiece capable of a big sound before playing the Select Jazz. It’s great to have a hard rubber option for all genres.”
D’Addario Woodwinds’ Select Jazz Alto or Tenor Mouthpieces come in all sizes and sell for $149 (MAP).
Barry Rudolph is a recording engineer/mixer who has worked on over 30 gold and platinum records. He has recorded and/or mixed Lynyrd Skynyrd, Hall & Oates, Pat Benatar, Rod Stewart, the Corrs and more. Barry has his own futuristic music mixing facility and loves teaching audio engineering at Musician’s Institute, Hollywood, CA. He is a lifetime Grammy-voting member of NARAS and a contributing editor for Mix Magazine. barryrudolph.com
