Theo Wanne

Theo Wanne is an American saxophone and saxophone mouthpiece designer.

Biography[1]

Theo Wanne was born in 1967 in California, USA.

1980 - 1986 Wanne was an apprentice of Joel Jensen of Da Da Bicycles in Bellingham, WA. He designed and built custom professional bicycle frames by hand. Here, he developed his metal working skills.

1987 Wanne attended Macalester College for a year, studying music composition. He then traveled to Thailand, staying in a Buddhist monastery, and studied meditation in India. Upon his return to the USA, he studied at Western Washington University, followed by California Institute of the Arts where his focus was Jazz Studies on Saxophone.

1997 Wanne graduated from the Naropa Institute, completing his BA in Musical Improvisation.

2007 Wanne began manufacturing his own line of mouthpieces with his brother Tom Wanne.[2] The corporation was called Wanne, Inc., with the DBA of Theo Wanne™. Saxophone Mouthpiece Heaven became inactive; however, its extensive resource material has been switched and updated to his current website.[3]

2009 Wanne released his first fully machined mouthpiece using aerospace CAD CAM technology.[4] He has five patents/patents pending and is known for creating very precise products.[5] In 2013, Tom Wanne left Wanne Inc. to pursue other business opportunities.[4]

2012 Wanne's first tenor saxophone, the MANTRA, was released.

2013 the MANTRA Soprano Saxophone was released.[4]

2014 Wanne moved his company to new facilities to enable further development and innovation in mouthpiece design. A full re-design of his mouthpiece line came in early 2015, beginning with the introduction of the DURGA3, followed by the GAIA2, SHIVA2, AMBIKA2 in 2016.

Saxophone Mouthpiece Heaven

In the period from 1987 to 1997, during his academic period, Wanne bought and sold vintage musical instruments to finance his schooling. He also studied the history and repair of saxophone mouthpieces with the help of Randy Jones of Tenor Madness in Iowa, and Bob Carpenter from Seattle, WA.

In 1998, Wanne relocated to Philadelphia, PA and repaired musical instruments with master repairman, Bret Gustafson of Gustafson Music. At the same time, Wanne bought and sold hundreds of vintage and his own custom mouthpieces, leading to the inception of his store, Saxophone Mouthpiece Heaven, in 1999. Saxophone Mouthpiece Heaven became the world’s most comprehensive resource for information on the design and history of saxophone mouthpieces, and Wanne's mouthpiece work was becoming acclaimed around the Globe.

Paul Haar, of Jazz Times Magazine, said, "Wanne’s Web site was and is a historian’s vault filled with information." [6]

Wanne worked with many of the world’s top musicians here, such as Joshua Redman, Chris Potter, Eric Alexander, Jan Garbarek, and Tim Price, and quickly became known as the leading expert in his field.

Mouthpiece Models

Wanne's line of mouthpieces is vast, and has undergone a number of changes throughout its history. Each model falls into one of four categories: True Large Chamber™, Core Sound, Classic Series or Artist Series.

The following list is current as of 2016

True Large Chamber™ Series

AMBIKA (2011-2016)
AMBIKA2 (2016–Present)
AMMA (2007-2012)
DURGA (2009-2014)
DURGA2 (2014-2016)
DURGA3 (2016–Present)
GAIA (2009-2015)
GAIA2 (2015–Present)
KALI (2010-2014)
PARVATI (2008-2009)
SHIVA (2014-2016)
SHIVA2 (2016–Present)

Core Sound Series

BRAHMA (2012-2014)
DATTA (2012-2014)
MANTRA (2012-2016)

Classic Series

New York Bros (2015–Present)
Slant Sig (2015–Present)

Artist Series

Mindi Abair Custom (2015–Present)

Notable Clients[7]

Mindi Abair
Gerald Albright
Eric Alexander
Jeff Coffin
Jan Garbarek
Courtney Pine
Chris Potter
Tim Price
Joshua Redman
Grover Washington, Jr.
George Young

References

  1. ↑ "An Interview with Theo Wanne". Bryan Vance Consulting. Retrieved 14 August 2016.
  2. ↑ "Theo Wanne's Local Recognition Grows". PR Web.
  3. ↑ "Theo Wanne - Knowledge". Theo Wanne™ Mouthpieces and Instruments.
  4. 1 2 3
  5. ↑ "Theo Wanne - Patents". Theo Wanne™ Mouthpieces and Instruments.
  6. ↑ Paul, Haar. "Theo Wanne Mouthpieces: A Roundup". Jazz Times Magazine.
  7. ↑ "Theo Wanne™ Endorsers". Theo Wanne™ Mouthpieces and Instruments. Retrieved 13 July 2016.

External links

  1. ↑ "An Interview with Theo Wanne". Bryan Vance Consulting.
This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 11/19/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.