Equipment

My tenors:

Working horse: P. Mauriat Black Pearl without high F# valve

Backup: Selmer Mark VI from the 1960s

I use metal mouthpieces:

Vandoren v16 T9 with a Rovner Versa ligature

Otto Link 9 and 8 with Otto Link ligature

Reeds:

Boston Black 3.5

D'Addario Reserve 3.5 filed and unfiled

Marca Jazz 3.5

I also carry with me a Fibracell Premier 3 as the last resort.

The Selmer Mark VI from the sixties is still a very good horn, but all the levers and valves are exposed to hectic fingerwork, and through the years the mechanics will ultimately be worn out despite being taken care of. The accuracy of the valves on it is already deteriorating, but still the horn will serve as a good number two if I don’t overuse it.

The P. Mauriat is fantastic. In mysterious ways it seems to adapt to the users personal style, like a dog to it's master. I bought it as new and had the option of having it delivered with no high F# valve, like the old Selmer. I don't need that, I have expanded the tonal range way upwards without it. And the fewer valves, the less potential for leaks.

My horn serves as the singing voice I never had. Depending on the loudness of bandmates and music style, acoustic instruments may disappear in the overall stage sound. Through the years I have tried different fairly open mouthpieces with medium hard reeds, to enable me to make much sound and bend notes almost like a singer using glissando. In fact I have been carried away by listening to electric guitar maybe even more than players of my own instrument, and that has had impact on my style. Good music is good no matter what instrument that brings it to the listener, if it has some degree of nerve to it.

Some sax players are so cool, or should I say cold, they hide their personalities behind impressive technique, may sound as sterile as synthesizers and appear more like autists than artists. Glissando has always been an ingredient in folk and popular music for a reason. It is a human way of distributing emotions and tones in music. Saxophone can be a very vocal instrument, almost like a singers voice.

Do I have a soprano or an alto in addition to this? No. I started out playing alto, but I had a tendency to overblow. When I tried the tenor I never had the need for an alto anymore. Tenor is a very versatile instrument, good for both soloing and backing. The tenor now reaches far above the alto, and down into the barytone sound. It serves all my needs.

And then... if music does not sound good, it is more likely due to the player than the equipment. Never forget that.