1. Yamaha’s Jonathan Goldman. 2. JodyJazz’s Danielle Walker. 3. P. Mauriat’s Jeremiah True. 4. Victory Musical Instruments’ Melvin Quinones. 5. Buffet Crampon’s Matt Vance and Al Maniscalco. 6. Odisei Music’s Ramon Manas. 6. 5.
and our DV NY in terms of sound — some bright qualities but warm qualities, as well. It looks like the DV but it has Jody Custom engraved on the side and has ‘DV JC’ on the shank.” Just like any other year, JodyJazz had new production models to introduce as well, including the DV HR Baritone, the HH in gold and the SAV E-flat Clarinet Mouthpiece, which had particular appeal. “It’s our first E-flat clarinet mouthpiece,” said Tyler Harris, JodyJazz product special- ist. “There really aren’t a lot of options out there for E-flat players, so we thought it was important to add to our lineup. Our main goal was to make it as reminiscent of a Bb clarinet as we could, because it’s hard to find a clarinet player that loves playing E-flat clarinet. We wanted to make it really comfortable, particularly in the altissimo register where the E-flat lives.” ENHANCED DESIGN CONCEPTS Yamaha consistently creates special horns to generate dealer and consumer interest at The NAMM Show, and this year was no exception with the company releasing a limited-edition run — 150 altos and 100 tenors — of its 62 series professional saxophones. “We did the 62 alto and tenor both in gold lacquer and amber lacquer with silver contrast in the keys instead of nickel,” said Jonathan Goldman, senior product marketing special- ist of wind instruments for Yamaha. “And then we’re doing the amber finish with the
silver keys as well. It says ‘kanagaki,’ which is ‘wind instrument’ in Japanese. We included the Atelier Special (ASP) neck screw, which adds increased stability. We always like to do something at NAMM that’s a little out of the norm.” Yamaha also expanded its lineup of Xeno Artist Model trumpets with the new BR se- ries, which features a brass-forward design in lieu of traditional nickel-silver components. “Historically, the Artist Model series has been catered toward the orchestral player, but we have had some adoption on the com- mercial side and jazz side,” Goldman said. “Yellow brass is a little bit lighter, and has a little more resonance and vibrancy, so those upper overtones and frequencies are more present in the sound. We’ve found a lot of success with orchestral players that were looking for something that would give them more ease of play and efficiency. It’s going to give commercial and jazz players a different flavor of Yamaha to choose from.” P. Mauriat offered a new design concept with its new Venus alto and tenor saxo- phones, which are built on the same chassis as the brand’s rolled tonehole models, with the same body tube, bow and bell as its rolled tonehole 66R and 67R saxophones. “It has drawn toneholes, not rolled, so what you have is this hybrid instrument that is wide open from a tonehole palette perspec- tive,” said Jeremiah True, brand manager for P. Mauriat. “It’s a lot freer blowing than a traditional French-designed, French-style
saxophone. The bore ratio is larger, the bow is larger, the bell, everything is a little bit bigger, however it has traditional French drawn toneholes. It’s not the late-’60s era muscle car that our rolled tonehole horns are, where you’re on wet pavement and the road’s 50 feet wide and you’ve gotta know how to drive. With this, the lines are a little closer: it’s more like a Porsche, it’s got power and that’s what’s awesome about this. Our pros have been very intrigued by it because they have this perception of what it’s going to sound like, and when they play it they discover it’s a lot more diverse.” Innovative digital woodwind controllers continue to expand their presence in the band instrument market, and this year’s biggest buzz came in the form of the Travel Clarinet from Odisei Music, maker of the Travel Sax. A pocket-size electric instrument crafted from durable ABS plastic and designed for quiet practice, the Travel Clarinet features sampled clarinet and bass clarinet sounds, as well as other built-in MIDI tones, Bluetooth capability and USB-C output. “Now, we are presenting the clarinet, and our vision is to digitalize the whole wind instruments family, which is something that hasn’t been done yet,” said Ramón Mañas, inventor of the Travel Sax. “That’s our vi- sion. The growth market for us right now is intermediate-level players, amateurs and beginners who are just starting to learn. But we also have pro players who use it as a MIDI controller with their DAW.” MI
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