Playing a higher strength reed doesn't necessarily mean you are a better player. Some mouthpieces just can't take really hard reeds (the opening is too big or other reasons). If you can get a solid sound from a 2.5 or 3 reed and make that reed last a while without changes in intonation as the reed is played for a while, stick with that. It is true that harder reeds last longer and keep more consistent tone and intonation, but vandoren blue boxes (in any size) I have found to be very inconsistant strength-wise. Some say that vandoren reeds are made .5 or 1.0 strength harder than most other reeds with the same strength number. Rico jazz are more consistant, try those.

ok... first off... just becuase you play on a "below standard" reed strength dosnt make you a below standard player, I know for a fact that a surprising number of famous jazz players played on soft reeds with a HUGE sound, and secondly, dont limit equipment to being Jazz or classical (and NEVER say legit... that is saying that jazz is illegitamate and quite an insult to those artists who make a living off of it) a Java is a reed, same as any other, it just has a different cut to it than the blue box, but either can be used for playing any kind of music. Think of the difference between jazz and classical this way: Music is a language, you use all the same words in any different dialect... but the difference between jazz and classical is more like the difference between say... a Michigan accent, and a Texan accent, or Georgian accent, or Mississipian. All the words are there, but the way you pronounce them and the context you put them in is different. Its the same way with equipment... The texan dosnt have any different lips than the Michigander, in the same way a Jazz player dosnt need any different equipment than a classical one. The only thing that should change between Jazz and classical is the way you interperet the music, you are still the same saxophone player. And in whatever music you play you should always sound like you. If saxophone were up to your equipment, than everyone with the same setup would sound the same, but they dont. so find a setup that gives you the sound you want, and then stick with it. No matter what anyone says... if you sound good, than your doing SOMETHING right. So dont worry about it.

I agree with pretty much all of ya...but this made me think of how you do have to find a good setup that MATCHES cause I tried zz's (jazz reeds) on my selmer s80 c* and its VERY held back...you can't play from high E up and every note you do play is...I dunno its jus really weird. Your mouth feels restricted almost....but then when I put the zz's on my stock cannonball mouthpiece it's like you get let off the chain lol you can play as loud and hard as you want (or soft) on every note. and on the other side of that when I put a regular old vandoren or a reed for "classical" playing on the s80 c* it is relaxin jus to hear yourself playing. theres no prob at all on any note...not exaggeratin its VERY easy to play low B flat pianissimo. You jus gotta search around and find a match that ya like....but definately have more than one mouthpiece. MY personall suggestion is selmer s80 c* and with vandoren selects for classical and meyer 6 with zz's for jazz. Rovner dark or if you wanna do it big, lol, go with the vandorem optimum ligature with both of them.

O yea Also I heard about soaking reeds in warm/hot water a lil ibit before you play....it REALLY helps the reed to be more responsive and "flexible" I guess you could say. and I may be just crazy but I was messing around with gettin rid of "airyness" today actually, and it seemed like when I moved my ligature closer towards the tip of the mouthpiece just to where its still on the bigger part of the mouthpiece still.....it seemed to help... I swear, lol.

Also consider trying other brands, rico has a classical model that I heard was very nice.