The Saxscape NAIMA is inspired by John Coltrane's sound that he got with an Otto Link with a built up baffle. The NAIMA seems to get the same kind of vibe. Currently, Ken Barry's (the manufacturer) favorite mouthpiece for gigging and recording.  Mouthpiece only, no ligature or cap.

Listen to a recording of the NAIMA mouthpiece from the Saxscape site HERE.

From Ben Britton's "Everything Saxophone" blog: "The Naima is Ken's most prized model. It's the mouthpiece he plays on the regular basis, and it was easy for me to hear why.  This is one of the best sounding hard rubber mouthpieces I've ever played on. Ken's goal, with the Naima, was to recreate the sound of the metal Florida-era Otto Link in a hard rubber (synthetic) mouthpiece, and that drive has brought about a really fantastic mouthpiece.

Full-bodied, colorful and powerful are all descriptors of the Naima's tone. It has a brilliance that give the tone focus and projection, but it also has a beautiful depth of tone that fills it out and colors it. Its sound isn't overly bright or overly dark but is a nice balanced combination of lows, mids and highs. There is enough punch in the tone to provide definition to the sound, but nothing that stands out as "edgy" or draws attention to itself. The Naima's sound really makes an impression (in my mind, at least) with its beautiful proportions of brilliance, depth, definition, and power.

Playing on the mouthpiece, thankfully, is also a great experience. It is easy to play the full range of the horn including altissimo. The response is good and leaves little to be desired. Of special note was the extreme ease of transitioning between a subtone and a full tone, which is a definite testament to Ken's craftsmanship. Most importantly, no matter the dynamic or intensity, playing the mouthpiece feels comfortable.

Conclusion: The Naima produces a gorgeous balanced and defined sound.  Its feels great to play, and for once I have nothing negative to say!"

Tenor HR: Outer shape similar to an Otto Link or Selmer hard rubber mouthpiece.

My goal is to work with the outer shapes that have become standards in the sax mouthpiece industry: Your favorite ligature will probably work fine with one of the available Saxscape models. The models are based on designs that have stood the test of time in many genres, from west coast cool jazz, to powerful rock and roll, and everything in between... straight-ahead, fusion, bop, all the sounds that today's player needs to bring to almost any gig situation. Of course years of practice is a given, none of these are "chops in a box." I have my concept of what it takes to get good at playing, but I leave that to the past masters and today's teachers to get you there.

Delrin (acetal) material:

• FDA appproved for food contact -- no health concerns about epoxy baffles or metal plating, no BPA compounds as in other resin products like polycarbonate
• Chemically very stable -- won't oxidize and give off bitter sulfur compounds like hard rubber
• Extremely durable -- harder than hard rubber
• Musically resonant
• Used successfully in the highly regarded Lamberson mouthpieces
• Easy to clean with soap and warm water

Acrylic material: Used to be my main material, but I phased it out because it ended up being prone to chipping when dropped.

Do I think material makes a difference? Not to the listener, but the vibration of the mouthpiece beak being transmitted through your top teeth and to your inner ear through bone conduction will vary depending on the material, so that may or may not change how you feel about the sound. That's a very personal thing. This is all my opinion of course.

About The Maker

After having been a player in the Miami, Kansas City, and North New Jersey scenes for over 20 years, I kept being frustrated by the inconsistency with mouthpieces that you'd find in the local music stores..... try out 10 of them and maybe one would work for you. I had taken some courses in engineering, so that gave me some of the technical chops I needed to analyze exactly what was going on, as far as reed movement and air flow and resonance, and that would become important as I got further into the world of mouthpiece making. I am applying these physics principles now in these mouthpieces, where I give the required attention to the tip curve, the tip opening, the facing curve, the rail shapes, and the baffle shapes, and I know that when I make a piece, it will be easy to play, give you a good dynamic range from a whisper to a shout, be reed friendly, and be easy to get in tune with your horn. Within the Saxscape brand, I've come up with a half dozen or so tenor styles, because different players need different types of pieces (Stan Getz and Lenny Pickett would have far different requirements!). I've got so far about 4 alto styles, and I haven't gotten started yet with soprano and bari...... but I've played both of those professionally so it is just a matter of having enough time and getting the correct tooling fabricated to be able to cut the right shapes on my machinery.

Musical Influences: John Coltrane, Charlie Parker, Cannonball Adderly, Don Myrick, Michael Brecker, Bob Sheppard, Rich Perry, Kenny Brooks, Jim Gailloreto, Dave Liebman, Ira Sullivan, Bob Franceschini, Gary Campbell, Jan Garbarek, Chet Baker, John Abercrombie, Allan Holdsworth, John McLaughlin, Joe Zawinul, Wayne Krantz, Keith Carlock, Artt Frank

Mouthpiece Concept Influences: Frank Wells, Bob Carpenter, Jon Van Wie, Ted Klum, Theo Wanne, Fred Lamberson, Ron Coelho, Bobby Dukoff, Wolfe Tayne, Dave Guardala, Otto Link, Frank Meyer, Freddie Gregory

Horn Preferences: Selmer Mark VI, Super Balanced Action, or really good imitations thereof.

Chief Consultant and Endorser: Nick Franciosa. Nick was the cheif horn evaluator for Dave Guardala back when Dave was doing the hand finishing, has studied saxophone with Bob Berg and Steve Grossman, and continues to play gigs in the NYC area.