Today, I am excited to be reviewing the new Morgan Dry Martini Model 18 alto saxophone mouthpiece released by Morgan mouthpieces.  The great alto saxophonist Paul Desmond is quoted as saying, “I think I had it in the back of my mind that I wanted to sound like a dry martini.”, and since the newest alto saxophone mouthpiece from Morgan mouthpieces is inspired by the type of M.C. Gregory Model A 4A 18 alto sax mouthpiece that Paul Desmond used, Morgan mouthpieces named it the “Dry Martini”.

Morgan Dry Martini Model 18 Alto Saxophone Mouthpiece

Here is a description of the Morgan Dry Martini Model 18 alto saxophone mouthpiece from the Morgan mouthpieces website description:

“During the past 40 years of handcrafting saxophone mouthpieces, a fairly common question from customers is, “What model do you have that is similar to the mouthpiece Paul Desmond played?”

For much of his career, Paul Desmond played on a M.C. Gregory Model A 4A-18 alto saxophone mouthpiece.  While we have alto sax mouthpieces that have approached the “West Coast” sound, the Dry Martini Model 18 is the first model we have specifically designed for that tone style.

The “Dry Martini” model is designed by Erik Grieffenhagen.  Erik has spent decades studying and copying M.C. Gregory alto saxophone mouthpieces and has custom-made this style of mouthpiece for many customers in the past.

A few years ago, the Morgan Company acquired a bunch of antique original M.C. Gregory mouthpiece molds and cores. This acquisition included original cores for the M.C. Gregory 18 model alto saxophone mouthpiece.  Using his knowledge of original mouthpieces and by studying the original molds, Erik developed the Dry Martini alto saxophone mouthpiece.

If you are looking for that West Coast “Desmond” sound, then the Dry Martini mouthpiece is the mouthpiece you must try.  It is available in 4 (.063), 5 (.070), and 6 (.075) facings.  Other facings are available as a custom order but we recommend the smaller tip openings with stiffer reeds for the most authentic “Dry Martini” tone.”-Morgan Mouthpieces

Morgan Dry Martini Model 18 Alto Saxophone Mouthpiece

Erik Grieffenhagen encouraged me to try the Morgan Dry Martini Model 18 alto saxophone mouthpiece in a 4 tip opening which is .063″.  If you follow my alto saxophone mouthpiece reviews, you will know that I prefer alto sax mouthpieces with a tip opening between .076-.080 usually, so this .063 tip opening is a considerably smaller tip opening than I am used to.

Here is a snippet from an email I received from Erik about the Morgan Dry Martini Model 18 mouthpiece:

“I’ll tell you a little more about the Morgan Dry Martini alto sax mouthpiece first. We offer two models of chamber size similar to M.C Gregory, a 16 (small chamber) and an 18 (medium chamber).  What I’d like to send is the 18. That’s the size chamber Paul Desmond settled on for the majority of his career.  He also likely played a 4 tip opening or close to it.  That has been our best seller.  The tip is only .063″.   That’s the one I’d like send if you could play something that close, with a reed in the 3-4 range.  It produces the most Desmond like tone imo.  All that said, we offer it in a 5 and 6 tip opening, too, 070″ and .076″.  Given that it’s almost a purpose driven mouthpiece,  I’d like to send you the 4, if you have some reeds that would work, 3 on the harder side are recommended.  Let me know , and I’ll get one out to you asap.”-Erik Grieffenhagen

Morgan Dry Martini Model 18 Alto Saxophone Mouthpiece

The Morgan Dry Martini mouthpiece came well packaged in a beautifully crafted black box with the Morgan logo on it and a gold sticker on the side of the box with the model mouthpiece and tip opening on it.  The mouthpiece was shipped with abundant padding to protect the mouthpiece through the mail.

The Morgan Dry Martini alto saxophone mouthpiece has  a “MORGAN” logo  engraved in gold on the top of the mouthpiece with “DRY MARTINI” engraved below the logo.  On the underside of the shank is engrave “USA” in gold and above that is hand engraved “4-18” signifying the tip size and model number.  Erik told me that the Dry Martini is machined on a five axis mill from German bar stock.

Morgan Dry Martini Model 18 Alto Saxophone Mouthpiece

The Morgan Dry Martini Model 18 alto saxophone mouthpiece looks great to the eye.  The ebonite is smooth and shiny and I don’t see an imperfection anywhere. The tip, rails and table look even, flat, precise and perfectly crafted.  The mouthpiece tip rail and side rails are even and symmetrical.  The shape of the tip rail matched the shape of the Rico and Vandoren alto saxophone reeds I used on the Dry Martini mouthpiece very closely.

The diameter and beak profile of the Morgan Dry Martini alto saxophone mouthpiece felt very similar to the diameter and beak profile of a typical hard rubber alto saxophone mouthpiece like a Meyer.   The body size of the Dry Martini is also similar to a typical hard rubber alto saxophone mouthpiece as well.

The baffle of the Morgan Dry Martini alto saxophone mouthpiece has a slight rollover near the tip but I would consider it to be a low baffled alto mouthpiece.  The Dry Martini chamber looks to be a medium sized chamber and is similar in size to a Meyer alto mouthpiece medium sized chamber.

The Morgan Dry Martini mouthpiece came with a Rovner light ligature but I used a Francois Louis Ultimate alto sax ligature just because I had been using it on another alto saxophone mouthpiece I was trying out.  The 3 1/2 reed and the FL Ultimate ligature played great for me so I didn’t want to jinx it by messing around with ligatures so I stayed with the FL Ultimate ligature for the sound clips.

In preparation for the review I went to a local music store and found some old Rico “Orange” box 3 1/2 alto saxophone reeds to use on the Dry Martini Model 18 mouthpiece.  I recorded the one sound clip with one of these reeds as well as another two sound clips with a Vandoren Java (Red) 3 1/2 reed.

Morgan Dry Martini Model 18 Alto Saxophone Mouthpiece

When first playing the Morgan Dry Martini Model 18 alto saxophone mouthpiece, my first impression was that it had an incredibly beautiful tone to it.  The tone is warm, round and even throughout the range of the saxophone.  I ended up playing a lot of melodies on the three sound clips below as opposed to my usual flurry of fast lines I typically play on sound clips just because the Dry Martini sounded so lyrical and sweet.  The tone is focused and concentrated while also having enough fatness that the tone never gets thin sounding but is beautifully round and full sounding while still having a light floating quality to the sound.

Typically, a 3 1/2 reed would tend to have too much resistance for my liking but with the smaller .063 tip opening the reed blew easily and with just enough resistance that it still felt comfortable to me.  The tone was easy to manipulate with dynamics, vibrato and bends.

Morgan Dry Martini Model 18 Alto Saxophone Mouthpiece

One interesting point I would like to write about is that when listening to Paul Desmond, I have always been amazed at how he could play in the top register of the saxophone while keeping his tone so warm and pretty.  Most alto saxophone mouthpieces I have played tend to get a bit brighter in tone and louder as you play in that higher register but Paul Desmond always seemed in complete control of that register.