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The Mark Vi is King agin , long live the King!

3K views 16 replies 15 participants last post by  Michael Ward 
#1 ·
Thought I would share an odyssey that seems to have taken me back to a starting point. That starting point was "the Street in NYC" circa 1986. I was a student at New England Conservatory visiting NYC in search of a tenor. I had mostly played alto and had two altos to trade. I walked up the steps to the second story of Rod Baltimore's International House of Woodwinds (I think it was that store) and met an English gentleman with great sales presence and a kind heart. He showed me several Mark VI tenors. They ranged in price from 1000 to 2000 dollars. The 2000 dollar tenor had recently been traded in by one Theodore "Sonny" Rollins. It was an 86,000 serial number horn , as I recall, and was wonderful. It had pads that had a name stamped on them Cheskey or Chenskin, or something with a C. I made my first trading mistake that day by not buying that horn and keeping it forever. I opted for a 169k horn with a lived in look and original lacquer that the shop traded to me straight across for a balanced alto and late Super 20 tenor. they threw in a Florida Otto Link Super Tone Master mouthpiece. That was the beginning.
Having made some cash finding and trading old violins, I began looking for horns. In my travels and through my connections I picked up scores of horns. I traded for many horns, Selmer Mark VI, Conn 10m, Chu, SBA, Buescher, Martin Committee, Big B, but for the most part I stayed with a Mark Vi. I have gone through periods of playing 10m's , even recording with them. i had a Chu period. I have fallen for the new Tiawan horns with special consideration of the great Viking horns, a brief endorsement of the Cannonball, and a nice time with a MacSax. I think I've at least played most of the options out there.
I just landed a factory re-lac 73k tenor from Kessler Music with their overhaul on it. they believe it to be a factory job since the horn came to them with the tell tale lacquer rings on the pads and over the key cups.
I matched the horn with a recently acquired no USA STM Link 7 from Marin Spivak and voila! I feel I am back home again. I have posted here and argued there for all the brands and types of horns mentioned above and I still believe they are all viable options for getting your job done. But , man, a great VI with a great set up and an old Link is a combination that is difficult to beat. Good luck to you all on your journeys sown gear highway. I hope you are as lucky as I have been.
 
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#2 ·
I remember playing Sonny's horn in 1986 at Rod Baltimore's shop. The salesman was Gary Window https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gary_Windo
After Gary left that shop, he worked for a bit at Dennis Eder's place which is now USA HORN.
 
#7 ·
Wow Barry, now that takes me back to another time and space! I met Gary in 1989 and he was my teacher for a while and I got to spend some time with him. A very eclectic man to say the least and his technique in the altissimo was the best I've ever heard in person. He could play on virtually any reed strength too and to that I also add that Ornette was quite a frequent visitor to Rod's shop to listen to Gary. I remember too when Dennis was just starting out and visiting his place in Jersey trying out a Keilwerth Couf Superba I tenor and I opted for a very nice MK VII as my first serious tenor. Gary was a big fan of the Superba I altos and a serious lover of Conn 6m altos, he would play them side by side and the Couf won out almost every time; he wouldn't say it but his facial expression told the story once he stopped playing.
 
#5 ·
In 1967, I was a high school student and had a Conn Director tenor that I wanted to upgrade, and went to Long & McQuade in Toronto. I played a new Selmer MKVi, a new King Super 20 brass tenor and a new King Super 20 SilverSonic. I kept rotating through those three horns most of the afternoon and finally bought the SilverSonic, even though it cost the most. I used a steel Berg 120/0 offset M. I stopped playing for many years, but started again several years ago and still play both today.

I have bought many other tenors and mouthpieces along the way, and while I play other horns at various times and on some gigs - don't want to risk the King on a bar gig - I keep going back to the Berg for all the horns.
 
#8 ·
I have just picked out my MKVI a 62xxx 1956 Tenor f ok Woodwind Exchange in Bradford. They had over 20 saxes for me to try out ranging from BA (1930) through SBA to some late MKVI (1974) and plenty in between. What struck me was that there wasn't a bad horn in amongst them. But they all had differing characters. I like the jazz standards and do not aim for a modern brighter tone. My findings were that the BA had a great warmth to its tone, but felt awkward under my fingers. Yes with some practice I would probably get use to it so I wasn't overly put off. The modern MKVI horns felt too much like my MKVII (which is a transitional model with same body and neck as the VI but heavy as hell and the more cumbersome key work.).
I played some mid range MKVI which played well but there was something about two of the horns that kept drawing me back. The one I eventually bought and a 65xxx horn. Its action was tight the tone was almost identical but the neck was loose and there were some repairs that would need tidying up, also the bell looked twisted and could only be straightened by taking the horn completely apart.

I had done much reading about the various serial number ranges, but it is only when you have the horn in your hands and try them that you can fully appreciate the various characters these horns have. I am sure there are bad horns out there. But my experience was that out of the 20 or so I tried they were all as good or better than my VII. But 5 of the horns had that little something extra on the tone front. 3 of the older horns had older style ergonomics (narrowing the field to 2.). I checked intonation and they were equally good. So it came down to looking at th mechanics and seeing which one had had a harder life. The older one was in better condition.

Thought I would share my experience when searching for my perfect horn. I am aware if another player had been looking then their perfect horn may hav Ben one I had rejected. But for me, I have the biggest smile on my face and struggle putting the horn down!
 
#10 ·
I remember Rod Baltimore. Growing up in central NJ (just a 50-minute train ride into Manhattan), I played my dad's Martin Handcraft alto in grade school. As I got into junior high, the horn needed an overhaul. This would have been around 1971 or so. We went to Rod's place and gave him the horn to overhaul. Some time later (I don't remember how long it took), the horn came back, clean and shiny. I'll never forget how easy it played compared to before the overhaul. I eventually bought a Mark VI, but still have the Martin as a back-up. It still sits in the then-new case Rod gave us as part of the overhaul, with his sticker inside.
 
#12 ·
Sorry to desert the thread. But , you know , Christmas and all. I have a 10 year old kid. Anyway, I think there were two altos and one was a late super 20, as i remember. Not a tenor. I don't know what happened to Sonny's horn. It was great as I remember and I should have gotten it, but I think it was priced near 2k and the average 6 tenor was about 1k at the time. Thanks Barry for the name of the salesman. I heard he passed away somewhere from someone in NYC in the last 15 years or so. I remember at that time there was not such a serial number craze with the Selmer horns and the SBA and BA horns were generally cheaper than the 6 horns. People seemed to just go for the hot they liked then. Barry can probably tell you more about that time in NYC but I remember hearing that the commercial studio gigs would require certain horns, mostly mark 6 tenor or soprano, for sessions. That might be a myth. Emilio had many, many vintage Selmer horns and he reveled in dealing with players and making them happy. I bought two horns from him without paying where he told me to take my time and pay when I could. I will never forget that. One time he called me after a month and I told him I would have the cash in two weeks and he said; "Ok, don't worry...". I think it was different when the horns were not so much money and you could scrape the money together to get a good horn rather easily. I also think that my fascination with the Elmer horns relates to that period when they were the standard issue of most players on the East Coast and so coveted and yet available. Owning one gives me a connection to that past, maybe...
 
#13 ·
my VI is also King again...

over the summer I got a nice Buescher tenor & a Link STM...great sound...and since I'm an alto player having a tenor was new & exciting

playing the tenor was so much fun I didn't want to put it down

of course I can't allow my VI alto to be in 2nd place so I got a Dukoff mp for it....and now the VI is the sax I don't want to stop playing...it's the King again
 
#15 ·
I just got my 127k Euro engraved tenor that was from Canada. Kim Bock at KB Saxophone Services in Long Island City did the overhaul and it is sublime. The poppin'ist horn I have played in years. I really recommend his work. He is a great player and totally straight about all his business. I now have a Eric Griffinhagen link that he opened to 107 that is a powerhouse but the Spivac is still king with the VI's. I have a tone master coming back from a repair and a more open (9*) florida also coming home. this horn sounds great with any mouthpiece I put on it. Really, in the end, the VI is hard to beat when you have one that is properly set up and playing right. Vi still king for me...
 
#17 ·
It was around 1985 I met Gary Windo in NY. I was working with the arranger Paul Riser and I was at a large studio in the city with Don Was watching him through the glass conducting a large orchestra. Gary was there for some reason. I knew him from his records in Britain. He urged me to move to NY. We also appeared on an album by Hal Wlllner.. " That's the Way I Feel Now" A Tribute to Monk. The line up on that album... Gil Evans, Steve Lacy, Johnny Griffin , Elvin Jones, Charlie Rouse to Steely Dan and Joe Jackson.. It was incredible. I played tenor sax with Was not Was and I managed to get a solo lick in there...I was playing a VI with a Lawton piece... it didn't matter. I have a cassette of it here. Amazing Experience.

I also met Lew Tabackin at Rod Baltimore Shop.
 
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