We are thrilled to welcome Tenor Saxophone titan JD Allen to the JodyJazz family of Artist Endorsers. One of the most important and brightest stars on the International Jazz scene today, JD Allen
has gained wide recognition and acclaim for his unique and compelling voice on the Tenor saxophone. “JD is one of the most important voices on Tenor Sax in the world today,” said Jody. “He has a unique and instantly recognizable sound and I am so
proud for JodyJazz to be a part of that. There is so much more music to come from JD and we are excited to hear him develop and to support him in what is sure to be amazing career.”
JD’s mouthpiece choice is the JodyJazz
GIANT Tenor 8 about which he had this to say, “A GIANT among mouthpieces. My JodyJazz Giant 8 makes it easier to express honest human emotions, which is the ultimate goal for any artist; translating the four basic human emotions of Happiness, Fear, Anger & Sadness - onto his or her horn. This mouthpiece is helping me realize this goal.”
JD Allen has been featured on NPR’s Fresh Air, in THE ATLANTIC, The New York Times (on the blues) and hailed by Ben Ratliff as, “a tenor saxophonist with an enigmatic, elegant and hard-driving style,” JD Allen is one of the most thoughtful jazz saxophonists on the scene today. A prolific composer, JD releases a new
album every year. Winner of Downbeat, JazzTimes & NPR polls in categories including NPR’s Best Jazz of the Year, Tenor Saxophonist of the Year, Composer of the Year
and Rising Star of the Year and JJA WINNER Short Form Jazz News Documentary, Mario Lathan, for VICTORY! – The Making of JD Allen’s Victory in 2012.
The Detroit native’s apprenticeship has largely been in New York, where he
has performed, recorded, and toured with legends from Lester Bowie to Betty Carter and Lawrence D. “Butch” Morris to contemporaries Cindy Blackman and Meshell Ndegeocello. Since making a strong impression during his early years in New York, serving an invaluable tenure with Betty Carter, JD has come a long way - now fully possessed of his own sound. JD has appeared on WNYC’S Leonard Lopate Show, Jazz Perspectives and Soundcheck and has headlined worldwide stages including the Village
Vanguard, Newport, Saratoga and Summerstage/Charlie Parker Jazz Festivals. At the request of saxophone colossus, Sonny Rollins and filmmaker Dick Fontaine, JD was invited to open up ceremonies for the screening of the lauded film, “Sonny Rollins – Beyond The Notes” at The 2013 Woodstock Film Festival to great acclaim. JD also appeared in Fontaine’s documentary on Betty Carter some 20 years ago. JD Allen performs regularly with his own trio and quartet. His latest recording, a gorgeous collection of ballads, entitled ‘LOVE STONE’ was just released on the Savant
label. Available now on iTunes, at Amazon and everywhere good music is sold.
JD Allen Photos: Bart Babinski © 2018
MPC Spotlight - GIANT Tenors
|
JD Allen is not the only player to have recently found his sound with the JodyJazz GIANT Tenor mouthpiece. A completely new mouthpiece concept at the time, the GIANT combines the outside shape and
look of a hard rubber mouthpiece with the precision of Hard Anodized Aluminum. Originally launched in 2014, the GIANT has become increasingly popular and the mouthpiece of choice for many top Tenor players from across the globe such as Gaoyang Li in China, Rodrigo Bento in Brazil, Xose Miguelez in Spain and Arno Haas in Germany.
As Jody puts it, “With the GIANT we offer the saxophone world a classic Jazz mouthpiece for all time. It
has a big beautiful sound that you won’t want to stop playing.” Made on our five-axis CNC mill in our factory in Savannah, the GIANT was developed to offer a warm sounding, high-performance metal
mouthpiece. Aerospace Grade Hard Anodized Aluminum provides the perfect tone and the ability to manufacture with extremely high tolerances. A new facing curve results in smooth response with no dead spots and the large chamber (hand finished to ensure the absolute best quality) produces a warm, beautiful tenor sound. The GIANT Tenor is free-blowing, but with a touch of resistance to allow for more individualized shaping of the sound. It produces an extraordinarily big, full, rich and timeless
sound.
During the development of the GIANT mouthpieces, world-famous tenor player George Garzone visited to the
factory which lead to the development if the GIANT Tenor Garzone Signature models in the larger 9* and 10* tip openings. “George Garzone is one of my favorite Sax players and in my opinion one of the greatest Tenor players of all
time. He is inarguably one of the greatest living Tenor players today, ” says Jody. “Larger tip openings give you more harmonics in the sound and a darker tone. The larger distance allows the reed to vibrate further, generating more harmonics. I knew these characteristics would truly lend themselves to the inherent qualities of the GIANT Tenors but larger tip openings are more difficult to play and require more control and practice. So I was determined to develop larger tip openings
to offer in the GIANT range that would be easier to play and working with George I’m proud to say we’ve more than achieved that goal.”
The GIANT Tenor sounds even greater with the new POWER RING® Ligature. The POWER RING HRT1 is the one that
fits.
New Artist - Steve Wilkerson
|
Steve Wilkerson is a true master and virtuoso on both saxophone and clarinet, but it is on Tenor and Baritone sax that he truly made his mark on the world. He has played with
a veritable who’s who of the music industry; from Sarah Vaughan and Nancy Wilson to Glenn Campbell and Donna Summer, and everyone in between! Steve’s choice is the SUPER JET Tenor 7* and the JET Baritone 8 with the new POWER RING® Ligatures on both. He tried the new SUPER JET Tenor first and was immediately converted. He then tried the JET for his
Baritone and fell in love with that too.
Says Steve,
“Whether a ballad or a funk tune, or a roaring big band jazz tenor or baritone solo, these mouthpieces give me great tone, power, and control. Intonation is superb. Depending on what reed is used, they’ll give you a spectrum of great sounds from which to choose. That is truly remarkable for one mouthpiece. The POWER RING Ligatures are totally awesome. I play a great variety of music, from straight ahead and contemporary jazz to rock/blues/country and studio as well as symphonic work. These
mouthpieces suit my every need.” Steve began his professional career at age 11 when he joined his father’s dance band. He was awarded a full scholarship to the University of Tulsa where he was lead alto and jazz soloist
for their award winning jazz ensemble. He also won the coveted Downbeat Combo Award, which led to three separate appearances at the Wichita Jazz Festivals. After graduating from the University of Tulsa (having been awarded a full scholarship) he toured with the Stan Kenton Orchestra as lead alto and jazz soloist.
He then moved to Los Angeles where through numerous studio sessions and extensive touring he played with just about every major artist in Jazz and Popular music. Steve recorded and performed with Shelly Manne, The Frank Capp Juggernaut Band, The Jack Sheldon Orchestra, Barbra Streisand, Clark Terry, Blue Mitchell, Mel Torme, Sarah Vaughan, the Temptations, Count Basie, Billy May, Ray Anthony, Nancy Wilson, Tony Bennett,
Leslie Uggams, Sammy Nestico, Peter Nero, Lalo Schifrin, Pete Rugolo, Lanny Morgan, Jackie Kelso, Bill Greene, Leon McAuliffe, Eldon Shamblin, Glenn Campbell, Michael Bolton, Ray Barretto, Barry Manilow, Al Cohn, Andy Williams, Donna Summer, Sweets Edison, Ed Thigpin, Buddy Childers, Richie Cole, Don Menza, Chuck Finley, Pete Christlieb, Jay McShann, Warne Marsh, Herb Ellis, Herbie Hancock, James Gadson, Arturo Sandoval, Dianne Shuur, the New York Voices, Al Viola, Tommy Crook, and Phil
Woods. He also released several recordings as a solo artist earning raves from the legendary Jazz critic Leonard Feather who proclaimed him “a ruling master of the tenor sax”. His recent CD with organist Joey DeFrancesco titled “A Blues Sorta Thing” validates that statement and has received raves throughout the world as well as heavy airplay nationwide. His baritone sax release, “Shaw
‘Nuff” was featured in a major article in Downbeat Magazine and was hailed by Jazz Journal International as one of the top jazz albums of the year.
In 1979, Steve married singer, Andrea Baker and they were both signed to recording contracts for Skyline Records.
Together they produced five critically acclaimed albums and toured much of the nation with their quintet. Steve was inducted into the Oklahoma Jazz Hall of Fame in 2005.
Steve is also a much-sought-after educator and clinician. He has taught and/or given
masterclasses at just about all of the most prestigious music universities and colleges in the USA. His educational video, “The Art of Jazz Saxophone,” is distributed by Hal Leonard. Steve’s second jazz DVD, “Live and In Session” is also now available.
MPC Spotlight - SUPER JET Series
|
The SUPER JET Altos and Tenors can now be considered to be among JodyJazz’s most popular mouthpieces of all time. The SUPER JET Alto 7 and the SUPER JET Tenor 7* are both firmly positioned in
our ‘Top 10 Best Sellers’ list and The SUPER JET Alto 8 and the SUPER JET Tenor 8* are not far behind. The entire series is becoming increasingly popular around the globe. Developed specifically with the Smooth Jazz, Contemporary Jazz, Rock and Funk player in mind, the SUPER JET
Alto and Tenor are very contemporary sounding mouthpieces offering many characteristics that we have not offered in our range before. They are going to give you more power, more edge and more altissimo.
But they are beautifully free-blowing with enough bottom in the sound to make it more versatile than many mouthpieces in this category of small chamber pieces. The Tenor model in particular is going to give you a ton of volume and cutting power. The May 2018 issue of DownBeat Magazine features a great review of the SUPER JET Tenor mouthpieces.
Reviewer Bruce Gibson, who conducted last year’s review in DownBeat of the SUPER JET Alto, is similarly enthralled by the Tenor. Here are some of his quotes from the review:
"In play-testing both sizes (7* and 8*) of the SUPER JET for tenor, I
was impressed by the immense power and flexibility they provided."
"I started with the 8* SUPER JET and a Ponzol reed on the Sax Dakota, and the volume capacity was incredible. I had to go into a bigger room in order to appreciate the SUPER JET’s desirable tonal qualities and to fully harness its immense power."
"Both the 7* and the 8* models articulated and sub-toned smoothly and easily. Intonation was excellent throughout, and my altissimo range was bolstered in a major
way-playing the SUPER JET, you feel like you can wail way up in the stratosphere all night."
"Saxophonists desiring that big sound with great response for jazz, smooth-jazz and rock should consider the JodyJazz SUPER JET Tenor Saxophone mouthpiece......" The SUPER JET Alto and Tenor mouthpieces are
all made at the JodyJazz factory in Savannah, GA using five-axis CNC technology and are constructed from Silver-Plated Brass. For even more powerful and vibrant sound we recommend the new POWER RING® Ligature. For the SUPER JET Alto chose the ‘MA1’ (Gold) or ‘MA1S’ (Silver), for the SUPER JET Tenor chose the ‘MT1’ (Gold) or ‘MT1S’ (Silver).
JodyJazz Artist Mike Burton is no stranger to backing up some of the biggest names in the music business
touring regularly with the likes of Mary J. Blige and Jill Scott. At the recent BET Awards, playing with the Good Times Brass Band, Mike got to perform with several great artists, including Snoop Dog. Here's some pictures from the show of Mike and the horn section and with Snoop Dogg! Mike plays the SUPER JET Alto 8 with the
POWER RING MA1S Ligature. Dan White of the Huntertones will be on tour with the band throughout the summer and fall in support of their soon to be
released third album. Titled ‘Passport’, the new recording was inspired by their world travels, experiences and people they've met through their journey as a band. The band will make available a series of single releases leading up to the official worldwide release of the album in October. You can check out the official trailer introducing the album here. Dan plays the HR* Tenor 8 and HR* Soprano 6* and of the new recording says, “ I’m featured playing my JodyJazz Tenor and Soprano pieces all over this album, it’s really on another level!!”
If you haven't yet heard this awesome group of very talented musicians then you are in for a
treat!
Since our acquisition of the famous Chedeville company, Jody and the R&D team have been hard at work developing the new range of
Chedeville mouthpieces. All our Classical Clarinet and Classical Saxophone Mouthpieces will be offered under the Chedeville name. A team of experienced players and educators has already been assembled to assist in the development activity, offering feedback and advice throughout the process. We will be excited to launch the products at the 2019 Winter NAMM show.
As part of that development process Jody will
be attending the 2018 ‘ClarinetFest’ which this year takes place July 6th – 11th. Produced by The International Clarinet Association, the mission of ClarinetFest is to bring together the community of clarinetists and clarinet enthusiasts from around the globe for a week-long celebration of the instrument. The festival takes place annually in a different country with this year’s landing in Belgium in the beautiful seaside town of Ostend. The festival will feature a series of world-class
performers and orchestras and a large exhibition area which will house all the most famous names in Clarinet manufacture and related accessories. Jody will be at ClarinetFest on July 9th and 10th so please stop him to say hello if you see him there. Immediately following ClarinetFest, Jody will head to Zagreb, Croatia to attend the 2018 World Saxophone
Congress. Every 3 years the ‘World Saxophone Congress’ is held in a different city in the world and this year it comes to the famous city of Zagreb. Saxophone performers, composers, teachers, publishers, manufacturers, professionals, amateurs, etc. from all over the world come together to celebrate the saxophone and to experience hundreds of concerts, performances, panel discussions and often the premiers of many new musical works. It provides a unique and exceptional opportunity for saxophone
enthusiasts from across the globe to meet and share their knowledge and passion for the instrument. Jody will be there July 12th and 13th. If you will be attending the World Saxophone Congress also, please keep a look out for Jody and do say hello.
We have recently updated our privacy policy. JodyJazz is committed to protecting your personal information and your right to privacy. If you have any questions or concerns about our
policy or practices with regards to your personal information, please contact us at [email protected] |
|