 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Mary Evans
Date: 2025-07-21 15:37
I'm transitioning from classical to jazz clarinet and looking for recommendations on mouthpieces that offer a warmer tone and better projection for small ensemble settings. I've heard good things Official Website about Vandoren and Selmer options, but I'm open to other brands too. What do you use, and how does it affect your sound and articulation in jazz contexts?
Post Edited (2025-07-22 08:44)
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Author: super20dan
Date: 2025-07-21 15:54
i play a lot of jazz clarinet and recommend brilhart mpcs for this esp the tonalin. tip opening isnt as important as attitude. vandoren b46 is a good one too.
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Author: Chris P
Date: 2025-07-21 15:55
Experiment with different strength reeds first as that's less costly than getting a new mouthpiece. Try a half to a whole step softer than you use when playing in a Classical setting to see if that gives you more flexibility with your existing mouthpiece.
Don't do the thing that many older sax players turned clarinet players do and go for a wide tip opening and soft reed (and have their barrels shortened to nothing) to match what they use on sax using a sax embouchure as both instruments can't be any more different from one another, as well as the fact that Bb soprano clarinets are soprano instruments as opposed to alto or tenor instruments.
Former oboe finisher
Howarth of London
1998 - 2010
Independent Woodwind Repairer
Single and Double Reed Specialist
Oboes, Clarinets and Saxes
NOT A MEMBER OF N.A.M.I.R.
The opinions I express are my own.
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Author: lydian
Date: 2025-07-21 18:53
I play a very wide tip on sax and tried the same when I started jazz clarinet. Huge mistake. Tone was dull and hard to control and volume was actually less. Returning to my classical piece solved the issue.
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Author: NOLA Ken
Date: 2025-07-21 19:18
You don't say what type of clarinet you are using. I'm no pro at this, but have found that each of my clarinets gives me a preferred jazz sound with a different mouthpiece. And I tried a lot of mouthpieces to zone in on the sound I want. My favorites right now (depending on the clarinet) are Vandoren M30 Lyre, Woodwind Co. Crystal (really hard to find), Leblanc/Woowind Co. K15M, Behn custom Med-Open, and even a 100-year old Peddler. A good friend gets a great sound on his Selmer Signature with a Selmer C85-120. But I'm afraid I can't help you if you play classical Buffet. I just wouldn't get too wild and crazy starting out. The softer reed suggest is important too.
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Author: Ed
Date: 2025-07-22 01:49
I think the idea of trying a softer reed and perhaps a slightly different style may help a lot. I agree about not going to facings that are too open, which can cause the tone to be a bit more diffuse and can be hard to control. I personally don't like the jazz players whose clarinet sound is pretty close to soprano sax and prefer those who maintain a quality traditional clarinet sound. (and yeah, I mean somewhat "classical" sounding)
One of my favorite mouthpiece makers, Clark Fobes, has lots of options to consider and if you reach out to him, he is always helpful. I always find his mouthpieces very playable. For some work I do where I am looking for good projection and good projection and resonance, I got a Fobes Nova- 3L facing. It is a bit more open than mouthpieces I use for classical, but still very easy to control with a good sound. I found it to have a great feel and response with good articulation and projection. It is quite reed friendly and not terribly expensive.
I rarely hear people talk about Clark's Nova line. They are really good mouthpieces. He makes 2 facings on this model and I highly recommend them.
https://www.clarkwfobes.com
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Author: ruben
Date: 2025-07-22 13:22
I'm not so sure one needs a specific type of mouthpiece to play jazz. Three jazz greats that I knew personally: Jimmy Hamilton, Tony Coe and Buddy diFranco, played on pretty ordinary-though high quality-mouthpieces used for Classical music.
rubengreenbergparisfrance@gmail.com
Post Edited (2025-07-22 16:26)
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Author: Michael E. Shultz
Date: 2025-07-22 14:50
The traditional jazz mouthpiece for clarinet is the Vandoren 5JB. They also started making the 7JB, which is even more open.
"Outside of a dog, a book is man's best friend. Inside of a dog, it's too dark to read."
Groucho Marx
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Author: Ed
Date: 2025-07-22 19:23
I somehow suspect this is another one of the fake postings that seem to pop up with single posts and funky links embedded
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Author: Chris P
Date: 2025-07-22 20:24
Portnoy mouthpieces seem to be popular with some big band players who've learnt clarinet properly and not gone for a massively wide tip opening to match their 7* sax mouthpieces.
Former oboe finisher
Howarth of London
1998 - 2010
Independent Woodwind Repairer
Single and Double Reed Specialist
Oboes, Clarinets and Saxes
NOT A MEMBER OF N.A.M.I.R.
The opinions I express are my own.
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