Sax Comparison: Eastman 52nd St. alto, Selmer Mark VI alto, H.N. White 1920 King alto

I own several great alto saxophones so I wanted to play a few of them back to back and compare them. Not in a "which is better" comparison but more of a "what are the characteristics of each horn?" What does the individual sound of each horn bring to the table? Right off the bat I would say that the Eastman was the most free blowing horn of the bunch. The Mark VI was the most comfortable in my hands...maybe because I've been playing that horn for more than 17 years!! The H.N. King is the Wildcard!! The ergonomics take some getting use to (and I haven't played it enough to feel 100% on it yet) but I think it has the most unique sound of the 3. Definitely not as versatile as the Eastman or Selmer but it has a core sound that I really dig for an acoustic, straight up bebop session. That's where it's strength is in my opinion.

Most times when I hear demos of horns I feel that the saxophonist is showing off their chops (I'm guilty of this myself) and not really showcasing the sound of the horn. So in this video I just play a scale the full range of the horn and then I play THE BLUES! At the end of the video I play a quick melody on each horn back to back so that you can instantly hear the difference in each sound.

All demos were recorded using a RE20 microphone,
Focusrite iTrack solo into an iPad Air.

Mouthpiece: Otto Link EB (.085) refaced by Brian Powell
Reed: Vandoren V16 size 3
Ligature: Silverstein