Aizen SO 7 Alto Saxophone Mouthpiece

This is a new Aizen SO mouthpiece that I received in the mail last week. It is a 7 tip opening. If you follow my blog regularly, then you might remember that I reviewed the very first limited edition Aizen alto sax mouthpiece when it first came out a few years ago. Since then, they have been a busy company and come out with a few more models. They now have the NY Jazz, the Jazz Master and the SO mouthpiece. I was curious as how these play compared to my first Aizen I had years ago so I asked to review these.

Aizen SO 7 Alto Saxophone Mouthpiece

This is the description from the Aizen website about the Aizen SO mouthpiece: “With its smooth flow and outstanding responsiveness, this is a high quality mouthpiece, suitable for both classical and jazz alike. The special chamber and short shank give a warm yet punchy tone. AIZEN has designed it to avoid the airflow problems that plague vintage mouthpieces hitting low notes.

Players using the AIZEN SO can experience that unique vintage mouthpiece sound, while also enjoying a stress-free, well-balanced sound over the whole range from top to bottom.”

Like all Aizen mouthpieces, the SO mouthpiece looks great. The rails and tip look terrific and the chamber and baffle are nice and smooth. The tip is perfectly matched to the Java and Ishimori Woodstone reeds I tried with it. The engraving looks pretty cool on it also. The chamber had straight side walls and looks as perfect as can be.

As far as sound you can judge for yourself from the recording. My first thought, when I played it with the same 2 1/2 reed that I used on the NY Jazz and Jazz Master, was that it was extremely easy blowing and responsive. The 2 1/2 felt so easy to blow on it even though it has the same tip opening as the NY Jazz and Jazz Master. In the other Aizen reviews, I talk about the resistance I like so much in these mouthpieces. This SO mouthpiece had hardly any resistance what so ever. I would just blow and it would play effortlessly. I found that I had to move up to a 3 size reed and even that was pretty easy to blow.

The sound was very pure and focused, almost classical sounding to me. When I played it seemed like the tone was tight and centered. The baffle seemed like it was close to the NY Jazz baffle. It had a pretty high roll over baffle at the tip that rolls into the chamber. The chamber is small and looks like a Selmer Soloist type horse-shoe chamber. I think it is this smaller horse-shoe chamber that focuses and centers the sound.

The first clip below is of the Aizen SO with a 2 1/2 reed. It is super free blowing and has hardly any resistance that I can feel. What’s weird is that the reed doesn’t feel too soft. It feels great. The only thing I noticed was how fast it responded and how loud and bright I could get it by blowing a little harder. It was a great all round sound and could get really loud because of the lack of resistance with the 2 1/2 reed. I think this was the loudest of the Aizen mouthpieces that I tried this week. When I played this downstairs around my family a few of my family members liked the sound of this mouthpiece the most of the Aizens I was trying that day.

The second clip is of the Aizen SO with a 3 Woodstone reed. I almost put up the clip of the 2 1/2 and walked away but last night I was thinking about how easy it was to blow and decided I would try it again today with a 3 reed. I put up both clips just so you could hear how it plays with both reeds.

In my opinion, the 2 1/2 reed was quite a bit brighter than the 3. The 3 reed had a little more character and depth to the tone. A bit darker and more controlled I think. My preference was the 3 reed. It gave me some of that resistance that I like to feel when I play a mouthpiece. This mouthpiece actually would be an excellent choice for those looking for a mouthpiece for both classical and jazz playing. One interesting aspect for me was that the overtones and altissimo on this mouthpiece were much easier to play than most other alto mouthpieces I have played. Also, usually my low C tends to gurgle with small chambered pieces but with this Aizen SO it didn’t at all. The low C was perfect……….I found that interesting.

Aizen SO 7 Alto Saxophone Mouthpiece

Give a listen to the sound clip below to hear for yourself what these mouthpieces sound like. If you are interested in trying one of these visit Aizen’s website at for more information. Thanks again to Aizen for letting me try another great mouthpiece. Please let me know what you think below in the comments…………….

Here’s the SO with a 2 1/2 Ishimori Woodstone reed.

Here’s the SO with a 3 Ishimori Woodstone reed.