The Ted Klum Yardbird Alto Saxophone Mouthpiece is now fully available for purchase in tip openings 6, 7 and 8! Although not making it to full
production by the 100th anniversary of the birth of Charlie Parker as Ted Klum had hoped, they are finally in full circulation. This has been
the most difficult and most important mouthpiece he belives he has developed. "I have been chasing aspects of, or my version of this sound
for well over 40 years with very limited success! It is difficult to try
to convey with words how important Bird is to me musically but to quote
him from his tv appearance "Music speaks louder than words" and
although he set the bar so very high, those of us who love his music pay
tribute to him every time we play! It is my hope that this piece will help and even inspire those who
love Bird as I do to strive to reach even closer to the spirit and sound
he blessed us with. A very special thanks to Jesse Davis and John Bowes
for their generosity in providing the original London Selmer pieces for
the design inspiration." - Ted Klum.
The Yardbird Brass model is a sincere effort of creating
a piece that offers a sound closer than anything available to the Bell
metal brass cast London Selmer which Charlie Parker played from late ‘49 on and has
all the elements of power, cut, warmth, and that full, dark, Tenor-like
woodiness that we all love!
The Hard Rubber version of Ted Klum's Yardbird is finished in polished German ebonite (hard rubber). This is the same core design as their acclaimed brass Yardbird model, but with that extra warmth and reed flexibility that hard rubber is known for. It has that same power and “pop” as the brass but a bit more “reed friendly” and accommodates a normal HR alto ligature (included).
This mouthpiece now includes a ligature as well. For the ultimate experience, we highly recommend the Marc Jean Ligature II!