Hi. Can I just expand on that theory. A theory that I have been working on for some time. Put aside Parker for a couple of seconds. Mouthpieces. The pain in every saxophone players life. You spend loads of hard earned cash on getting the right sound. Even Horns, ‘Do I spend ?2K on a pro horn, or spend a little less on a Yamaha?’ It’s the same story through almost every posy on this site! Includes Reed, Ligs….. Now, back to Parker. The greatest Saxophone player of all time! Period!! If he was still alive today he would still be giving everyone a run for their money. If he was still alive today he may even be using a Selmer Humming Bird. But somehow I don’t think it would bother him. Now to my point. Yes, he did porn his horns, and mouthpieces for that matter. And yes he did borrow and play on a number of different horns and mouthpieces. Now here is the interesting thing. Every time he sounded like Parker! No matter what horn he used, or mouthpiece, he still sounded like Parker. I tried something a few months ago, maybe you could also try this. I recorded myself on a bunch of mouthpieces. During the recording I though how different they sounded. On the way to work the next day I listened to all of it and I could not tell the difference.! Anyway, I’m going on a bit, but I think you get my point. Regards Paul.

i have a question. on what grounds is bird the best sax player of all time? im not saying that bird was absolutely phenomenal and i would do anything to be as good as he was, but really i dont think he was the best. i think what he had going for him was insanely fast fingers, especially in regards to improv. but as a musician i think that brecker and coltrane could dance circles around bird. they have overall better technique and sound, in my opinion. of course you cant really put an alto player up against a tenor player(although bird did play tenor, especially in his earlier years). but is anyone else with me that bird was not the best ever?