" i love this mouthpiece as much as i love my prius. in fact, if i could drive and play at the same time i'd drive around the rest of my life, playing the DV. jody, you've outdone yourself. people have said the most interesting things to me along the lines of - WHAT HAPPENED TO YOU?!. they think i'm newly in love or have secretly won the lottery or just found out we had world peace. when i tell them i got a new mouthpiece, only the sax players understand. tim price suggested i superglue it on the neck so i never use anything else.

in other words...i'm thrilled to endorse this product. all the warmth you want and plenty of edge if you need it. i don't mess w/ equiptment much. in fact, i haven't gotten a new mouthpiece in years. this is the one that made me want to. "

Claire will tell you that her life changed on Sept. 23rd, 1971, when as a very (very) young girl, playing saxophone for 3 months, she heard a big band concert at the Westchester County Center. The saxophone section stood up for a soli, and Claire was on her chair screaming. After dragging her father to the stage door for autographs afterwards, she said of the Buddy Rich Band bus, "I'd do anything to be on that bus". It was the kind of epiphany that only young enthusiasm can breed, but enthusiasm is still the motivating force in her musical life. After attending the Berklee College of Music, she began an education of another kind -- making a living as a musician. Her career has included anchoring the sax section in the Diva Big Band for 7 yrs, freelancing in New York doing EVERY imaginable kind of gig (available on request!), recording 5 CDs with the brilliant, quirky composer/pianist Joel Forrester and their band "People Like Us", as well as two CDs as leader on Koch Jazz, ("Swing Low" and "Movin' On" now re-released on Dalybread Records) and a new release of her own called "Heaven Help Us All" (Dalybread Records). She has performed on numerous CDs, film scores, jingles, and of course in many festivals and venues.
She has backed up Aretha Franklin, James Brown, Joe Williams, Rosemary Clooney
among many others. Her missions in life have been to be an in demand baritonist in many styles,
to Lead her own jazz groups, and to pass the gift of music on to the next generation.

In the fall of '05, Claire began a new long term project, touring the
country playing gigs and tracking down some of the hidden treasures
of the jazz world, interviewing them on video, planning an eventual
documentary. In October '05, the William Jefferson Clinton
Library in Little Rock, Ark. requested a copy of her first CD,
Swing Low to be included in a listening station as a CD significant to
the former president while in office.

Five time winner of the Downbeat Critic's Poll "Talent Deserving
Wider Recognition" and winner of the Jazz Journalist Association
"Baritone Sax of the Year '05" category, Claire travels worldwide,
performing as a bandleader and sideperson.

Claire is working on a composition based on the life of her second
cousin Mary (Toppy) Joyce. Joyce was the first non Alaskan to travel 1,000
miles from Fairbanks in 1936 by solo dogsled. Her story is a great American
tale. Claire (collaborating with Steve Hudson) is currently planning a multi
-media event in honor of Toppy's life.