Rico Reeds
Technology and Tradition
By Matt Taylor
There's a joke goes, when two woodwind players meet, they don't greet each other with "how are you?" but rather "have you got a good reed?" Reeds are small in size, but their importance to reed players is huge. The musician produces sound by blowing air past the reed at a precise pressure, producing the vibration that creates the sound. Reeds that sound great are worth their weight in gold to serious wind players.
Rico Reeds: Technology and tradition Rico Reeds has been providing a diverse selection of reeds for wind players for close to a century. The company has recently renovated and upgraded their agricultural and production facilities, and has also introduced some interesting new products for wind players.
The Rico story
The Rico Reeds story goes back to 1926, when Frank De Michele, a clarinetist with the Walt Disney Studio, was frustrated with his inability to find good quality reeds. He turned to his uncle in Paris, Joseph Rico, a well-known musician, composer, and conductor, to see if he could send him some good reeds. His uncle complied and Frank was delighted with the quality. He kept requesting more reeds (his musician friends eagerly depleted his supply. Finally Frank convinced Joseph to send him a supply of cane so that he could try making his own reeds.
Rico's source was the large stands of cane found near his vacation cottage in the Var region in southern France. Joseph sent a large shipment to his nephew and Joseph started his commercial reed-making enterprise. The business was christened Rico and it has gone on to become one of the music industry's pre-eminent providers of fine reeds.
Where it all starts
The plant that produces reed cane is Arundo donax, is a variety of giant grass. The cane harvest is culled by hand, and then suitable canes are harvested, dehusked, and laid out in the sun. After this drying process, the canes are put into well-ventilated sheds for curing.
Rico Reeds was acquired by D'Addario a little over a year ago. Since then much research and development has gone into agronomy, fertilization, and irrigation practices. There has been considerable investment into more lands for growing. Rico has large tracts in the traditional cane-growing areas of France, with over 120 acres in production near Hyeres, and has recently expanded its plantations in South America with new growing areas.
Factory innovation
Rico has made significant improvements in its factories as well. The factory at Sun Valley, California, is a marvel of advanced technology. Rico is implementing an environment that's humidity-controlled around the clock for remarkable consistency and control of reed quality. New digital reed-making design and manufacturing equipment is allowing Rico to produce reeds that are the same across the line, with remarkably little variation. Artist studios and recording facilities for acoustical testing are on-site for constant monitoring of the sound quality of the reeds in musical performance.
A parade of champions
The Rico family of reeds has evolved into several lines to meet the needs of players ranging from classical and jazz virtuosos at the top of their careers to students just learning their instrument and everyone in-between.
Rico standard reeds are affordably priced and very versatile. They're made of a flexible grade of cane, so they are easy to play and the most popular reeds with beginning students.
Rico Royals are made with top-quality cane while still offering affordability. French filing (extra bark is removed above the vamp) gives these reeds great response. The low register is particularly impressive, allowing great clarity of tone and soft attack.
Rico Select Jazz reeds are optimized for contemporary and traditional jazz mouthpieces. They feature a strong, well-defined heart and upper vamp that yield great projection and clear, fat tone, with awesome flexibility and lightning-like response. Select Jazz reeds are available with or without French filing.
LaVoz is another line of reeds crafted of premium cane, unfiled for deep, powerful tone. They're the reed of choice for many top jazz players, including Michael Brecker.
The Grand Concert Select family of reeds features more heart material for tone that's exquisitely pure, warm, and transparent. The sound is stable and consistent in all registers. The cut provides unrivaled flexibility for precise articulation and interval changes. The consistency from reed-to-reed is amazing. These reeds are the choice of such virtuoso classical performers as Ricardo Morales, principal clarinetist with the Philadelphia Orchestra.
The ReedVitalizer
In the summer of 2004, in an event at NYU's School of Music featuring special guest hornman extraordinaire Michael Brecker, Rico introduced their new ReedVitalizer Humidity Control Pack. Brecker had queried Rico a couple of years ago to see if a product existed that would let him store his reeds in a humidity-controlled, ready-to-play condition. The ReedVitalizer accomplishes this simply and effectively. It consists of a reed storage bag and a Humidipack, which keeps the humidity at an ideal level as determined by the player. Three different humidity levels are available: 58% Stable Storage; 73% Minimal Wetting; and 84% Ready to Play. Humidipacks generally last a couple of months before they must be replaced.
The oboist in our local symphony gave the ReedVitalizer a try and she was very impressed. She remarked that it made a reed that was on the verge of being "played out" perform like it was in its prime again.
The sound of success
When it comes to your music, Rico Reeds offers you products that are the result of decades of experience combined with a constant quest for improvement. They've been earning the trust of many of the world's greatest musicians for decades. With Rico reeds and innovative products like the ReedVitalizer, you can be confident that your instrument will always be ready for peak performance.
