“I’m just back from my travels and felt inspired to write this in support of your amazing reeds.
I got hold of my first Carbon Fiberreed a couple of months ago. I wasn’t sure I wanted to trust an important European concert tour to an untested reed so I brought along a box of my tried-and-true reeds. I just got back from doing 28 gigs in 31 days in Germany, France, Austria, Netherlands, Switzerland and Slovenia. I only took the Carbon Fiberreed off of my mouthpiece to clean it. I didn’t open the back-up reeds once, never even had to use my back-up Hemp Fiberreed.
The Carbon Fiberreed gave a full, bright, but substantial tone that let me go up to about and octave and a half above the normal tenor range. The subtones were warm and easy. Playing in tune with the tuba, the harmonicas, the fiddles and the trumpet player seemed effortless.
The playing came easy but the conditions weren’t.
On this tour we played in all kinds of weather and altitudes: from humid city clubs to chilly stages on the North Sea, at sea level to the heights of the Austrian Alps. We performed in open-air country festivals, the dank interiors of castles and in elite concert halls. I was going between tenor sax, piccolo, Bb clarinet and on occasion the Armenian duduk. The sets were different every night and I never knew what instrument I needed to play next. That reed held up like champion. I landed back at JFK last Sunday, and went straight to a recording session at Electric Lady for a commercial spot on alto and tenor.
The tenor reed played as perfectly as it did when I first put it on the horn. Last night I played a jazz gig on Roosevelt Island outdoors in the high humidity and heat of NYC summertime. It gave a solid performance (well I helped).I play a lot of other woodwind instruments. Eventually I’d love to try your reeds for the alto, baritone and bass sax, and the Bb, bass and contralto clarinets. I’m hooked.”