OUR STORY

One Man's Mission

Bari began with one man’s mission to achieve a unique sound. Wolfe Taninbaum, the designer of the original Bari reeds and mouthpieces was a musician who played under the stage name of Wolfe Tayne for such famous orchestras as Les Brown, Benny Goodman and Jimmy Dorsey. He also sat in with the CBS and NBC orchestras. Early on, Wolfe became so frustrated with the inconsistency of playable reeds that he began to make his own. After years of trying to perfect cane reeds, he turned to synthetics. In 1952 he developed his first synthetic reed. It was also the first one to gain acceptance from some of the world’s top musicians. Wolfe’s innovations didn’t stop there. he also helped create a unique facing for alto and tenor mouthpieces that Otto Link applied to his larger chamber blanks, calling it the “WT.” It produced a dark, husky resonance that was coveted by saxophonists and fetched top dollar. Today’s WT II and WT III mouthpieces are improved designs of the original. Now you can achieve that same coveted sound.

Bari Woodwinds manufactures mouthpieces of the highest quality achieving a unique coveted sound. We believe the mouthpiece is extremely important as it is the direct link between the player and the instrument. A Bari mouthpiece is easy to blow, plays in tune, and is very stable, consistently producing clean tunes without difficulty and producing a sound that is clear and resonant. We create traditional woodwind mouthpieces made from ebonite, hard rubber, and metal mouthpieces for saxophone, clarinet, bass clarinet, soprano, alto, tenor and baritone saxophone.Additionally, we introduced the Hybrid, an innovative design by Gary Spears, combining a metal chamber and a hard rubber exterior. Truly revolutionary!Gary also developed a second type of mouthpiece using vortex technology, the Cyclone, which is very popular with our professional artists.

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Bari Woodwinds also manufactures another innovation, the synthetic reed. Bari reeds are favored among players because they are more consistent than cane and have zero break in time. They do not need to be wet to play, so you are always ready for that next note. Our reeds are a must-have for every player’s instrument case, whether it’s your main reed or simply a reliable backup.