DCV:
Tell about where you went to school, who you studied with and which players
were major influences for you? This is always something that I'm interested in
finding out from MP makers because I like to know what their ideal
saxophone sound is.
RN: I went through the school of hard
knocks. I never studied music formally. I have a BA in Sociology and moved onto
Engineering and have worked as a sales engineer for 14 years. Music started
earlier for me. I started singing at 11 and by 15 was already singing with
local groups and so on. I picked the horn very late and worked the best I could
on my own by listening to records and just being ballsy enough to go to jam
sessions. I developed rather quickly, but stopped playing for a living at
33. Sound however; was very easy for me to produce, perhaps due to my
singing background. Nonetheless, I’ve listened and still listen to Lester,
Getz, Lee Morgan, Clifford Brown, Hank Mobley, Sonny Stitt & Rollins, Phil
Woods, Art Pepper, Joe Henderson, Bob Mintzer, Brecker, Malach, Oliver Nelson, Dexter, Stanley Turrentine,
Trane & Cannonball and goes on.
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To me, the perfect saxophone sound
has to have core and great balance ofmids, high and lows. Hank Mobley had a
great sound in that respect. Joe Henderson also had some of that too. So
perhaps, Mobley, Sonny Rollins, Henderson, Trane and Dexter are from
where my concepts come from tenor and Stitt and Phil Woods and Cannonball on
alto. Mintzer has a lot of that package with a modern vibe, but still he does
like the old school and is in his playing.
DCV:
I read the story on your site about how you first started working on pieces
when tried to save a mouthpiece that you dropped, then later you trained under
Pedro then eventually under Ralph Morgan. Can you tell me a bit about
how those two masters worked?
RN: Both Pedro and Ralph were pretty
knowledgeable craftsmen. Pedro is quite an exceptional minded human being. He
can do Jewelry, re-wire an alternator, make his on gold and silver bath’s, make
a mouthpiece, fix a horn, restore a horn, rebuild an engine, build houses, you
name it. I think Pedro was very influential on the way I approach things. He is
very methodical but also practical. He can see point from A to point B before
you even knew it. That of course comes with experience but I also think is part
of his factory package. Thinking ahead and learn how to use my hands and brains
together is what I really learned from him.
DCV:
I had a long talk with Ralph and he was a real character. He seemed to have
very particular ideas about what a saxophone setup should be. What was
it like to work with him and how did his ideas affect your own pieces?
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| Ralph Morgan |
RN: I really had a great time with
Ralph. I really never debated his thoughts but just watched him work and asked
lots of questions. We spent our time talking about saxophone and mouthpiece
making history. He let me opened a file cabinet he had and I started
reading and getting to see drawings and all kinds of stuff you can rarely see
around. I was like a kid in a candy store. On Sunday, I remembered he picked me
up and took me to Church. That was quite an interesting moment for me, because
the man took his bible really serious and he did operate on Christian values.
It was very interesting for me to see him as a whole package and not just as a
mouthpiece maker. I do remember him giving me the Joe Allard SBA prototype to
play. Man, it was a great horn. Right then, he saw me putting the neck towards
my left side. He basically said, well; I think I should just teach how this
thing works. Put the neck towards the lyre …I did so and noticed the sound did
changed somewhat, or perhaps was my imagination… As I remember, he thought it
was the way the neck was intended to be placed.
DCV:
What inspired you to begin making your own pieces, and what type of piece
did you first start with?
RN: I think I had it in me for 22
years. I really liked to manufacture things with my own hands and furthermore
make it available to people. It is not an easy task but I am trying and will
keep on doing it. Pricing on vintage pieces has gotten out of hand. I think we
all should try alternatives, and there are so many good ones out there.
DCV: What
were some vintage pieces that inspired your own pieces?
RN: On the vintage side, for the metal
Maestra the Zimberoff was very big influences, although my pieces do not
play like them, the chamber size is really close. I am of course influenced by
those great Dukoff Stubbies, FL links and Double Rings. My next two metal
Maestras are going to be influenced by those nice short roll baffle Florida Links
and the Double Ring. This will happen towards the summer. The prototype is done
on and now I am slowly preparing to produce them.
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| Maestra |
As far as rubber tenor pieces, The
Maestra was greatly influenced by the Reso Chamber. The body length of my piece
is longer, but the chamber is perhaps a hair bigger than a Reso. This is also
the case with the original Maestra I. The series has been revised to produce
three types of pieces. The first one is already done and it takes after a later
clam shell slant sig Link. The other two Maestra rubbers are influenced by a
Reso chamber and an early Babbitt with a short step baffle for those who want
that type of zing .
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| Bahia |
The Rubber and Metal Bahia's came from
a modification I did on a Reso-Chamber by adding a slope baffle. They are more
centered and could be bright for some and focussed for others.
The Mintzer is a hybrid of everything
I've seen. I of course have played Freddie Gregory's pieces, so in many ways
his work influenced the way I finish my pieces, however our work and pieces
sound and feel different. Freddie's work is so impeccable and all his
pieces reflect the highest quality in work and sound.
DCV: You said that you are getting your rubber from Germany, the same stuff that
Zinner blanks are made from. Did you consider resin compounds or other sources
of rubber?
RN: Yes, my rubber comes from the
same factory Zinner gets his blanks from. It is the oldest and actually the
inventor of rubber in collaboration with Goodyear.
DCV:
I've talked to different mouthpiece makers about the difference between the old
rubber and the stuff that they are making today and have never really gotten a clear
answer. Can you tell me more about the manufacturing process?
RN: I spent a great deal of time
understanding the process of making rubber.To do that I went to Germany
and served as an apprentice at the factory that Iget my rubber from. I
worked in the factory for 15 days and rotated onevery station in order to
understand how the rubber is manufactured. Needless tosay, it was a
great experience, but also let me now how expensive it is toproduce
rubber. In fact, it cost me more to make a rubber piece than metal(raw
materials only.)
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I started by getting rubber from NYH
in Germany and later found another company nearby who is making the same
product only better in the sense that the marble tint is 100% FDA approved and
the rubber seems to be as friendly to work as the rubber used on those early
pieces. One of the guys that leads the production in NYH, went to this company,
so the process was transferred and the quality control improved. I also tried
other rubbers from Italy, France, US, China and Japan. None of them, with the
exception of the Japanese rubber, were good. The Japanese rubber is good but
does not machine, grind and buff the same way the German rubber does.
In my case, I machine from rubber
bars and I don't compress mold my parts. A rubber bar is simply denser in
qualities. But lets keep in mind, that given the chance to mold with the right
rubber, I would also do it as it will be a lot more cost effective. It is also
equally important to have the right design otherwise, it doesn't matter which
material you use, the end result is greatly influenced by the design.
DCV:
What are the different pieces that you are making at the moment and how do
they play differently?
RN: I am glad you said “at the
moment” because there is more to come. I started making traditional sounding
pieces, darker than most, yet they still have some of the traditional sounds.
The Bahia is brighter but not overly bright to a great extent is like a link
with more power and color.
DCV:
You recently started working with Bob Mintzer on a Mintzer signature piece, can
you tell me how that came about, also how is the Mintzer piece different from your
other tenor pieces?
A: The Bebop Special has a unique
palette of colors. It is not a bright piece, but rather more lush and velvety
sound. It has a lot of buzz to the sound but you can also push it and get some
edge from it. It has a great core and centered. It is more centered than all of
my other models and I still think is darker to a great extent.
I don't have kids, but if I did have kids I would be reading them Gary Golio's new book Spirit Seeker: John Coltrane's Musical Journey. As soon as I saw this book I new I had to have it, even without kids. The illustrations are stunning and fairly psychedelic. The story is about Coltrane's triumph over drug and alcohol addiction and his spiritual journey to create music that would bring happiness and healing to listeners. Golio is also an addiction counselor for teens, so I would guess that he wanted to present young inner city kids with a model for overcoming addiction through art and spirituality. Trane's drug problems are not a major theme in this book for youngsters, but it is worth mentioning.
