Today, I am reviewing another tenor saxophone mouthpiece made by a young mouthpiece maker, refacer and saxophone player from Russia named Kirill Poudavoff.  Kirill is a great young tenor sax player that is in his fourth semester at Berklee College of Music in Boston.

Kirill sent me four 3-D printed examples of his tenor saxophone mouthpieces made of plastic after I asked if I could perhaps try out his mouthpiece work.  I have already reviewed the KPoudavoff Double Ring 7* tenor saxophone mouthpiece, the KPoudavoff Florida 7* tenor mouthpiece and the Kpoudavoff  Zimberoff Dukoff Hollywood 7* tenor saxophone mouthpiece.

Today, I will be reviewing the KPoudavoff Zimberoff Dukoff Hollywood 6* tenor saxophone mouthpiece with Dexter Gordon’s unique facing curve applied to it.  I have never played a Dukoff Hollywood tenor saxophone mouthpiece before so I am very excited to try out this KPoudavoff copy of this iconic (thanks to Dexter Gordon) tenor saxophone mouthpiece.  The fact that this tenor mouthpiece allegedly has Dexter Gordon’s exact facing curve applied to it makes me even more excited to try this mouthpiece.

KPoudavoff Zimberoff Dukoff Hollywood 6* Copy with Dexter’s Curve Tenor Saxophone Mouthpiece

Here is some information about Dukoff Hollywood tenor saxophone mouthpieces as well as the Zimberoff model Dukoff Hollywood mouthpieces from Theo Wanne’s mouthpiece museum page:

“Dexter Gordon played on a Conn 10m tenor saxophone and a Dukoff BD Hollywood tenor saxophone mouthpiece during the Blue Note era until the mid-sixties. There has always been a huge debate about which model BD Dukoff tenor sax mouthpiece Dexter Gordon played, the 1945 medium chamber or the 1949 large chamber model.  I know there was a 1949 Dukoff BD Hollywood tenor saxophone mouthpiece stamped “DG Special” on the side with a 6* tip opening. This might have been a ‘Dexter Gordon’ Special model, so I suspect he played on this model tenor mouthpiece.  About 100 of these tenor mouthpiece blanks were sold to Zimberoff -House of Note, who produced a tenor saxophone mouthpiece under their own name. Some of these tenor sax mouthpieces had the model name Vibra Metal.”-Theo Wanne

Theo’s page where this quote is from also states that there were only 200 1949 BD Hollywood tenor mouthpieces made (same blank as the Zimberoffs), and then only 100 Zimberoff Hollywood tenor saxophone mouthpieces made.  That is only 300 Dukoff Hollywood Zimberoff style tenor saxophone mouthpieces in total.  I would love confirmation of this fact if any of you out there have more information on this subject…….  If true, those numbers make the Dukoff Zimberoff Hollywood tenor sax mouthpiece pretty darn rare.

KPoudavoff Zimberoff Dukoff Hollywood Copy Tenor Saxophone Mouthpiece in Solid Silver

Here is also a post from SOTW (Sax on the Web) by Doc Tenney about the Zimberoff Dukoff Hollywood tenor saxophone mouthpieces:

“The Zimberoff tenor saxophone mouthpieces are actually “stencil” mouthpieces in that the “real” ones were made by Dukoff and marked “Zimberoff House of Music” with five 5-pointed stars in a circular pattern on the top of the barrel. The actual blank is a one-piece cast brass “B.D.” series Dukoff mouthpiece with a rather unusual and very sophisticated baffle design that has a very distinctive longitudinal concavity or trough running from just behind the tip rail into the back chamber of the mouthpiece. Many of us refer to any Dukoff mouthpiece having these particular features as a “Zimberoff” even though they are not “stenciled” with the Zimberoff markings. I have had several of these mouthpieces through my shop recently. The “voice” is just as smooth as the original very early “stubby” model mouthpieces and has much more color complexity than any of the later “B.D.” 2-piece model tenor sax mouthpieces with no loss of center. For many players, including myself, the Dukoff Hollywood Zimberoff model mouthpiece is the most preferred of the California Dukoff mouthpiece designs. Fortunately,  I have two of my own!”-Doc Tenney

KPoudavoff Zimberoff Dukoff Hollywood 6* Copy with Dexter’s Curve Tenor Saxophone Mouthpiece

If you haven’t heard of Kirill Poudavoff yet, check him out in the video near the bottom of this review.  Kirill sounds more like Dexter Gordon than any other tenor sax player I have heard.  It is so interesting to watch Kirill play the tenor saxophone because not only does he sound like Dexter Gordon but he also imitates many of the same mannerisms as Dexter Gordon.  The saxophone is hanging lower like Dexter held it.  Kirill’s head is tilted down like Dexter tilted his head.  Kirill’s embouchure and bottom lip position is similar to Dexter’s embouchure and bottom lip.  The way Kirill breaths is like Dexter when releasing his lower lip to take a breath.   Lastly,  I was watching a Dexter Gordon video and took note of Dexter’s eyebrows going up when he jumped into the higher register of the saxophone (If you don’t believe me, check out from 4:00-4:30 of the Dexter Gordon video at the bottom of this review).  Later that day, I was watching one of Kirill Poudavoff’s videos and he did the exact same eyebrow movement when jumping up to a higher note on the saxophone.  That cracked me up.

All of these commonalities between Kirill Poudavoff and Dexter Gordon go to show the power of imitation when it comes to reproducing an idol’s saxophone tone.  All of these factors, go towards reproducing a tenor saxophone sound that is similar to Dexter Gordon’s sound.   These are just the things we can see outwardly.  I am sure there are many techniques Kirill has discovered through his years of practice and imitation of Dexter Gordon that have brought him closer to sounding like Dexter.  Perhaps the position of his tongue, the puff of his cheeks, the strength of his reed and looseness of embouchure, etc…….   All this reminds me of a Tony Robbins quote I read years ago: “If you want to be successful, find someone who has achieved the results you want and copy what they do and you’ll achieve the same results.”  It looks to me like Kirill Poudavoff is doing just that.  Kirill is still a young man and I for one, can’t wait to see where he goes from here.

KPoudavoff Zimberoff Dukoff Hollywood Copy Tenor Saxophone Mouthpiece in Solid Silver

When I asked Kirill if I could try out some of his saxophone mouthpiece work, I had no idea that he would send me four 3-D printed tenor saxophone mouthpieces to check out. Here is what he sent me:

• KPoudavoff Double Ring 7*- copy of an Otto Link 7* Florida Double Ring Super Tone Master


• KPoudavoff Florida 7*- copy of an Otto Link 7* Florida Super Tone Master


• KPoudavoff Zimberoff  Hollywood 7*- copy of a Dukoff Hollywood Zimberoff 7* model


• KPoudavoff Zimberoff Hollywood 6* (Dexter’s Curve)- copy of a Dukoff Hollywood Zimberoff  (with Dexter Gordon’s 6* facing curve on it)

I have reviewed all of these tenor saxophone mouthpieces separately, one after the other, so you can get a complete sense of Kirill Poudavoff’s work.

KPoudavoff Zimberoff Dukoff Hollywood Copy Tenor Saxophone Mouthpiece in Solid Silver

First, I have to start with the disclaimer that Kirill Poudavoff told me that he doesn’t make these 3-