DL: Well, without getting too technical, I use a brand called Keilwerth, made in Germany. I think they're just great saxophones, I'm a sponsor for the company and so forth. Most guys use Selmers. Selmers have traditionally been the instrument of choice for saxophonists, and particular Selmers are like purchasing vintage car- it's as if you can get, say, a '67 Selmer like you might buy a '67 Corvette.

Mouthpiece-wise, without getting too crazy, it's a real unbelievable situation where guys make mouthpieces and have empires based on their making mouthpieces, reeds, it's a thing. I basically feel that after you've been playing for a certain amount of time, I don't know, a couple of decades, you pretty much can take anything and make it play. I could take this chair and make it play, in the end, because I know the principles. So, what I try to say to a student is dance around, spend your money, test the waters, but in the end it almost is not going to matter too much what you get- it's going to be you- you're the master of the instrument, it's not the instrument. Too much stress is put upon the instrument. It's you playing the instrument and the mouthpiece and the reed. It's you controlling it, and you should be able to tame the beast, not vice-versa.

VLS: Your use of a plastic reed is controversial.

DL: I don't know why, because - last night I was talkin' to a guy, hey man, look, a plastic reed is technology's gift to saxophone players. Because we don't deal with change of weather, change of temperature, like good wine and bad wine, or because the sun didn't hit the cane at the right angle. Do you want to depend upon nature when you get up to play? I want to cut that variable out. I'd like to have as clearly as possible that it be me that's under control. A plastic reed works for those obvious mechanical reasons. And secondly, I like the sound better.

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