To bring understanding to this weeks events, I must start with a little history. Even most luke-warm jazz enthusiasts today know who Joe Lovano is. He is a great saxophonist – and I don’t mean great like “hey man, you sound great” – no Joe is Great – clearly one of the most important saxophonists of our time.He’s also from my hometown of Cleveland, Ohio and I’m fortunate enough to have had him as my teacher, my mentor, dare I say friend? and even employer over the past 25 years. Without getting into too much history – I think I’ll start blogging little personal posts for musicians that have been important to me throughout my life, but now I’ll try to stay on topic- Joe’s unique sound really became codified about 20 years ago when a brilliant craftsman named François Louis from Brussels, Belgium made a mouthpiece out of Grenadilla wood (dark heavy wood from which clarinets are carved). This took Joe’s sound to a tremendous new depth and made him even more instantly recognizable than he had been to that point. This also put Francouis on the map as an elite craftsman whose hand-made pieces became so in demand that ten years later he had a five year waiting list for new orders.
One Monday evening in ‘97 I was playing at Visiones, a Village jazz club, with Maria Schneider’s Orchestra. Playing lead alto saxophone was Tim Ries, a beautiful musician who I’ve known since 1981 or so. Tim had also discovered Francois and was so into his mouthpieces that he had them for every horn in different sizes and made out of different material to suit the job he was playing them on. I think he had about ten in all. It turns out that on this evening Francois was in town and came by the gig to see Tim. I had met Francois previously with Joe and, knowing of the long waiting list, jokingly asked if he had anything he was trying to sell. “Funny you should ask” he replied, and told me to meet him at Joe’s loft the next afternoon.
What had happened in the weeks prior to that evening was as follows: Because of the tendency of wood to warp and “move” great care has to taken with these wooden designs of Francois’. Joe had asked Francois for an identical back up to the aforementioned mouthpiece which was now ten years old. Francois, knowing who this product was for, created an exquisite work of art, to the exact specifications of the original piece he had made for Joe ten years prior. When he brought the mouthpiece to Joe (the rest of us get a five year waiting list and Joe gets the maker to fly into New York from Europe; It’s Lovano’s world and we just get to live in it) Joe claimed that the tip-opening (the distance the vibrating reed travels that determines the amount of resistance offered by the mouthpiece-reed set-up) was too small. Francois thought this to be impossible (he keeps very specific records of each of his mouthpiece’s measurements) until he remembered that when he first brought the original piece to Joe, Joe had asked him to enlarge the tip opening. So Joe, while recognizing the perfection of this new mouthpiece, rejected it due to its smaller tip opening. Francois thought it better to build one from scratch than to mess with perfection. So he kept the new mouthpiece for his own use.
By the time I arrived at Joe’s loft the next afternoon, Joe had taken the piece to a rehearsal to make sure he would pass on it. While we waited for his return Francois offered to let me try another piece he had made for Craig Handy. Having only played machine made mouthpieces up this time, I was shocked at the sound that came out of my saxophone. After playing a couple of notes, I handed it back to Francois because, since that piece wasn’t available I didn’t want to know that it was possible for a mouthpiece to sound that good, I couldn’t buy one. A few minutes later Joe returned, confirmed that he would pass on the mouthpiece that was made for him and I was lucky to be in the right place at the right time. I played that piece for two years, and became wary of traveling with such an artifact. Additionally, my teeth started to dig a hole in the top of the mouthpiece and I became acutely aware that I would eventually ruin it. I’ve kept it and like to take it out occasionally, but have found another hand-crafted mouthpiece, made by Ralph Morgan, which gives me what I need right now, without the concern about damaging fine art.
Fast forward to two weeks ago. I got a message from Joe, panicked, wanting to buy my piece from me. His had warped in 110 degree heat in Israel, and needed the back-up now! I called back and offered to let him use it until Francois could make another. Then I realized that the specialness of the item was in large part due to him and what he has meant to me and that I couldn’t withhold it from him. He had left the country and I couldn’t figure out when he was going to be back in the states. Finally I found out he was to be at The Village Vanguard this week. So Tuesday Night, I headed to the Vanguard, mouthpiece in my pocket and resolved to give it to him. I couldn’t sell it too him. People have offered me a lot of money for it, but it is valuable beyond its inherent worth (which is considerable) because of him and the history which I am describing.
I walked down the stairs of the Vanguard and heard Joe through the closed doors. His sound sounded like him. I couldn’t believe he was getting that sound out of anything but Grenadilla. I walked in and saw the signature large, black look of Francois’ work and wondered if he had managed to get his mouthpiece worked on. I headed toward the back of the club and saw Judi Silvano, his wife and musical co-conspiritor at the bar. She greeted me exhuberantly and after we said our pleasantries (quietly as Joe’s band had already started the second set) she motioned behind me where who was seated, but a very frazzled, tired, but content looking Francois. He had stayed up for several days perfecting another masterpiece and flown in that day to bring Joe the Mouthpiece. So, I still have my little piece of history and when I’m in Europe next spring, Francois will install a plastic guard on top of the piece to prevent my teeth from damaging the wood. He didn’t offer to fly back with it next week, though…
