"The Alexander Reeds give me everything I'm looking for in a reed. From triple pianissimo to triple forte, it's all there!! It's great to play on a reed that can handle the diverse musical settings I'm involved in. From orchestral concepts, big bands, electronic groups, and my quartet, these are the best and most consistent reeds I've played in years, they're great...I love them!! Alexander reeds are the BEST and in time the world will know it."

What can be said about consummate musician Joe Lovano that hasn't already been said? His influence is felt far and wide through the contemporary jazz scene and the sheer variety of projects he either initiates or is part of is awe inspiring! Blue Note Artist, perennial and multiple Down Beat Magazine Poll Winner, four time Grammy nominee, and one of the leading saxophonists in the world today, Joe Lovano has honored us for many years with his support as an endorser for Alexander reeds.

I first met Joe in the late '80's in Tokyo where he was on tour with a European band co-fronted by brass great Kenny Wheeler. Right then and there, I could hear that there was some very special music coming out of Joe's horn...a self identifying tone, a great interplay with the other band members, and a really interesting concept of lines that seemed to both lead and flow wherever the "river" of the group went.

A few years after this when we got "DC" into production, naturally I wanted to see what Joe thought of this new model and I sent him some samples. He just seemed to love them and that was the beginning of his association with us---one of our first really major players. And it has also quite gratifying to see Joe win award after award, whether from critics or fans, knowing that he has been using our reeds. If that is not a serious testament to the reliability and superior performance these reeds give, I don't know what is.

Joe continues to lead winning Down Beat and other magazine's coveted critic's and reader's Polls for "No. 1 Tenor Sax" selected from of a field some of the top jazz tenor players in the world today. And the sound you hear on many of his his own 24 CDs as a leader, as well as with with other major artists from the mid 1990's until today is the sound of our reeds.  Joe's sound expresses a vast range of emotion and meaningful musical statements, ones which are firmly rooted in the tradition but taken a step further in a way only Joe can produce...It still amazed me the last time I heard Joe in Tokyo, that completely distinct sound of his and the way he communicated so strongly and directly with listeners who sat there in rapt attention.
As Joe put it, these reeds are "the best and in time the world will know it" and it seems that his prediction made in the 1990's is coming to pass...it is truly a "Joyous Encounter" that our reeds have been a part of the great Joe Lovano's sound for almost a decade now and on into the new Millennium.