[Dixielandjazz] Bechet's Reeds

[Steve Barbone]

Bechet used all kinds of reeds.

Once, he ran out of reeds and whittled his own out of an old wooden cigar
box top. <grin>

Funny how we reed players get hung-up on who uses what. Here's a story told
by Benny Golson (Modern Jazz Sax Player) about that.

Benny and John Coltrane cut school in Philadelphia one day to se Charlie
Parker perform. After they were just mesmerized by what Bird did, they
stopped him on his way out of the venue whereupon Bird chided them about
cutting school. 

Not to be deterred, they asked him about his mouthpiece, and his reed
choices. He told them what he was using. Golson and Coltrane quickly bought
that mouthpiece and those reeds.

They compared notes about a week later.

"Hey John, said Golson, did you buy the mouthpiece and reeds like I did?

"Yep.". 

Make any difference?

"Nope, you?"

"Nah, me neither."

The sound of your instrument is in  your head, more than it is in your
equipment. Figure out what you want to sound like, then concentrate on
making it so with whatever you like to use. Think about the sound, and then
think about how to achieve it. Practice and you'll get what you are after.

Cheers,
Steve Barbone 

PS: I use a JB5 Van Doren mouthpiece and V12 reeds just like Davern did, but
still don't sound anywhere near as good as Kenny did. Not even when he used
his old hard rubber 1927 Conn Clarinet in humid venues and I used my top
line, circa 1952 Buffet. (Tom Fisher now uses that Buffet and he sounds a
lot sweeter on it than I ever did.)