Just so there's no mistake, the author of this blog is a working musician, so when you don't hear from me for a few weeks that means my calendar has filled up with gigs. I live in a coastal city in central California, and play a lot of alto saxophone and clarinet. That being the case, you're probably wondering what brand of reeds I'm using.

Well, I've played almost all of them. It started with a rumor that Phil Woods got that great sound of his with La Voz reeds, which I then played for several years. I tried synthetics, found them to be expensive with sometimes an odd buzz. When I moved to Texas I tried a box of Rico Jazz Select Unfiled, 2H. I liked them, and there were way more giggable reeds per box, so I shifted over. Twelve years later I was still playing the 2Hs, along with Mitchell Lurie 3.5 clarinet reeds, when Bravo Reeds came into my life.

The last few weeks I've had the opportunity to try them out in a lot of situations, from ”serious“ music to Dixieland to big band lead alto, Bravo Reeds were up to every challenge I threw at them. Sometimes I'm in a section of as many as four other saxophonists, so I shared Bravo with them and found they were very receptive to the sound, the longevity, the price, and the lack of toxicity.

I will try to be a better blogger from now on, but just so you know, I'm out there playing, and when I play alto and clarinet, I play Bravo Reeds.