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 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 and the KPoudavoff Florida 7* tenor mouthpiece.  Today, I will be reviewing the KPoudavoff Zimberoff Dukoff Hollywood 7* tenor saxophone mouthpiece which is a copy of a Zimberoff Dukoff Hollywood 7* tenor saxophone mouthpiece from the late 40’s-50’s.  I have never played a Dukoff Hollywood tenor saxophone mouthpiece so I am very excited to try out this KPoudavoff copy of this iconic (thanks to Dexter) tenor saxophone mouthpiece.

KPoudavoff Zimberoff Dukoff Hollywood 7* Copy 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 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 sax 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.  About 100 of these blanks were sold to Zimberoff -House of Note, who produced a mouthpiece under their own name. Some of these had the model name Vibra Metal.”-Theo Wanne

Theo’s page where this quote is from also says there were only 200 1949 BD Hollywoods made (same blank as the Zimberoffs), and then only 100 Zimberoff Hollywoods 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 the subject…….  If true, those numbers make the Dukoff Zimberoff Hollywood pretty darn rare.

KPoudavoff Zimberoff Dukoff Hollywood 7* 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 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. Many of us refer to any Dukoff having these particular features as a “Zimberoff” even though they are not “stenciled” with the Zimberoff markings. I have had several of these through my shop recently. The “voice” is just as smooth as the original very early “stubby” models and has much more color complexity than any of the later “B.D.” 2-piece models with no loss of center. For many players, including myself, the Dukoff Hollywood Zimberoff model is the most preferred of the California Dukoff designs. Fortunately,  I have two of my own!”-Doc Tenney

KPoudavoff Zimberoff Dukoff Hollywood 7* Copy Tenor Saxophone Mouthpiece

If you haven’t heard of Kirill Poudavoff yet, check him out in the video at the bottom of this review.  Kirill sounds more like Dexter Gordon than any other tenor sax player I have heard, which is very cool!

I would also like to add how refreshing it is to hear a young person like Kirill Poudavoff,  playing long notes and melodies while improvising.  I was listening to Kirill the other day, and like Dexter, he just played one note and held it for like 4-6 beats before continuing on with his idea.  I think it was a video from Wally’s in Boston.   I saw some Berklee students in the audience who looked totally confused and shocked as they thought, “Wait, you can play long notes when improvising?”.  I love long notes and you don’t hear a lot of young guys doing that.  For that matter, you don’t hear very many old guys doing it.  (If you don’t know what I am talking about, go listen to some Dexter Gordon………)

KPoudavoff Zimberoff Dukoff Hollywood 7* 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 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 model


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

I will be reviewing 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 7* 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 plastic tenor saxophone mouthpiece models any longer.  Right now, at the time of this review,  he is only making the tenor mouthpiece models listed above in solid silver for 750 dollars each.  I have posted a few photos of the tenor mouthpieces in metal throughout this review so that you can see how the mouthpieces look in solid silver as well.

That being said, Kirill did say that these four plastic tenor saxophone mouthpieces were a good representation of his work and played similarly to the solid silver versions of these mouthpieces.

The four KPoudavoff  tenor saxophone mouthpieces I received look to have the same outward size (diameter and length), shape and contours of the Otto Link and Dukoff Hollywood tenor saxophone mouthpieces they are copies of.

The KPoudavoff Zimberoff Dukoff Hollywood 7* tenor saxophone mouthpiece has a similar engraving and lines on the shank as an original Zimberoff Dukoff Hollywood tenor mouthpiece but instead of having “Zimberoff Hollywood” engraved on the shank, it has “KPoudavoff Hollywood” engraved on the shank.   The tip opening of 7* is engraved on the corner of the body to the right of the table.

KPoudavoff Zimberoff Dukoff Hollywood 7* Copy Tenor Saxophone Mouthpiece

On initial examination, you can see the sanding marks on the plastic material of the mouthpiece where Kirill sanded the table and worked on the baffle area of the mouthpiece.  Although the sanding marks look rough, the baffle area and table feel very smooth to the touch.

I know these sanding marks will bother some of you,  but I am not bothered in the least.  In my mind, they don’t matter to me. What matters the most to me, is how t