By David Harrell
Kutten says he hasn’t played his alto saxophone enough to notice whether cryogenic treatment has improved it, but he believes his tenor sax is significantly better. Not only do the very highest notes seem to be “released” and more readily available, but there’s “more evenness of response and an increased tonal palette throughout the range of the horn. It’s easier to make the notes sound the way you want them to. The overall playability of the horn has been opened up.” He says he’s so impressed with the effects that he plans to have his baritone sax frozen too, but he stops short of a blanket endorsement. “It’s a subtle difference, and I don’t think everybody’s that attuned to the subtleties of sound.”
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Last December, Tanabe contributed his facilities and know-how to the “great freeze-off,” a small study conceived by members of the Trumpet Players’ International Network. Four players–Ponzo, Hagstrom, Drozdoff, and amateur Stanton Kramer–tested and rated four trumpets for various qualities before and after cryogenic treatment. Unbeknownst to them, one trumpet–the Bach–was left untreated. Drozdoff found the results fascinating. “I liked the Besson a lot before freezing, but I liked it even better after. The Benge played well before, but noticeably better after. And the Blackburn didn’t impress me a whole lot before, but afterward I would’ve given any amount of money to buy it. It was incredible. I think most of us really picked the Blackburn as the one most improved. The Bach I didn’t notice anything better about.” The other three participants responded likewise: they noticed improvements in the three treated trumpets but not in the control.
Mark Ponzo, the professor at Northern, also believes cryogenic treatment relaxes the silver solder that holds instruments together, further improving their resonance. He believes there’s something to cryogenics, even though its benefits haven’t been scientifically proved. Yet many musicians are willing to try anything that might improve their music. “Trumpet players are the kind of people who, if you tell them ‘Go out and buy this mouthpiece, it’ll make you sound better,’ we’ll all go out and buy it.”
