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Select Jazz – Saxophone Mouthpieces

29th November 2021

If you want to branch out and try some new mouthpieces for your jazz set up, D’Addario’s Select Jazz Saxophone mouthpieces are a great place to start. In this blog we take a look at the design and production processes of these models, and how that rewards the player with a versatile and flexible tone.

Select Jazz Saxophone Mouthpiece

Tenor Select Jazz Mouthpiece Design

The D’Addario Select Jazz Tenor Sax mouthpiece has a unique inspiration behind it. This model was based on Jeff Coffin’s custom-made Freddie Gregory mouthpiece; Freddie Gregory’s are highly sort after and unique. Due to the uniqueness of the baseline model that D’Addario worked from, there is nothing quite like it on the market.

This mouthpiece has a medium chamber, medium facing length and a long roll over baffle – this baffle design was inspired by the Freddie Gregory mouthpiece.

The beak profile is also part of this unique design. It is larger than metal mouthpieces but smaller than the average hard rubber mouthpiece. This design gives the mouthpiece a really comfortable feel in the mouth.

The combination of internal and external design features give the player an ease and response in the lower register of the instrument, which is where the unique baffle and facing configuration really shine.

Each of the Select Jazz Saxophone mouthpieces for both Alto and Tenor are offered in four different tip openings. This allows the player the opportunity to fully explore the different timbral possibilities of each mouthpiece.

Alto Select Jazz Mouthpiece Design

The D’Addario Alto Select Jazz mouthpiece takes a Vintage NY Meyer mouthpiece as the inspiration for its design. From that base point, the engineers tweaked the design to create their mouthpiece.

The Alto Sax mouthpiece has a medium chamber and facing length. One of the changes D’Addario made to the baseline model was to the connection point between the baffle and chamber.

The tip rail has also been adjusted to make it slightly wider. What these two features give you as a player is an ease of response and a stability of sound in the attack.

The overall result is an even response and intonation across the range of the instrument. These mouthpieces give you the sound of a vintage mouthpiece, with the added response and consistency of a modern mouthpiece.

How the Mouthpieces are Made

D’Addario Select Jazz mouthpieces are all made from a solid rod of vulcanised rubber. Using vulcanised rubber creates highly durable mouthpieces, giving the player years of use.

The rod is milled down using a computer-controlled lathe. The rough blank is opened at the bore end, which is then immediately measured.   

The next step is for the mouthpieces to go through a rough cut which creates the flat table on the underside of the mouthpiece. These are then finished at a later stage.

D’Addario don’t hand finish their mouthpieces, instead they are finished by a computer-controlled machine. The finished mouthpieces are then washed, engraved and measured to assure the exact dimensions were achieved. By not hand-finishing their mouthpieces D’Addario are able to a produce a highly consistent product.

An interesting fact about these measuring tools: they are so accurate, they are also used by the Aerospace industry to measure precise dimensions!

Once mouthpieces have gone through the quality checks, they are packaged and ready to be shipped across the world.

Select Jazz Sax Mouthpiece Production
Select Jazz Mouthpiece Production: From a solid rod of vulcanised rubber

How To Try One?

All mouthpieces (and instruments) are available to try from Dawkes on 14 day approval. This means you can try one of these mouthpieces at home and/or in your playing environment to make sure it’s right for you. If not, you can simply return it for a refund, less £5 for a cleaning/re-stocking fee. Read more about our approval system here.

We’d recommend trying these mouthpieces with the Jazz Select reeds (Alto or Tenor). These are premium quality jazz reeds, available in filed or unfiled designs. Made from best quality cane, these Jazz Select reeds are vibrant and flexible and work perfectly with the related mouthpieces.