Jazzocrat is an acoustics-grounded saxophone equipment analysis site. Its focus is evidence-based inquiry into mouthpiece design, saxophone acoustics, and gear claims, cutting through marketing language with careful measurement, expert collaboration, and acoustic research.
About Benjamin Allen
Benjamin Allen has been playing and formally studying the saxophone since 1989, and has been examining, modifying, and analyzing mouthpiece design since 1993. His interest in mouthpiece geometry began earlier still, introduced by his grandfather, Jack W. Allen, a mechanical engineer who first showed him how to measure and draft a mouthpiece curve and bore geometry on graph paper. His deeper engagement with mouthpiece acoustics began in earnest in 2005, shaped in part by the guidance of Dr. Paul “Doc” Tenney, a physician with specialized knowledge of the physiology of wind instrument performance.
His analytical approach is informed by formal training in physics and acoustics, a rigorous quantitative background in statistics, econometrics, game theory, and economics, and extensive experience in public policy research and federal service. He brings the same skepticism he applies to policy claims to manufacturer ones. If it can be tested, it should be. If it cannot, that matters too.
Expert Collaborations
The acoustics analysis on this site draws on knowledge from leading researchers in the field. Dr. Joe Wolfe’s research on vocal tract resonances in saxophone playing forms a core part of the scientific foundation for this site’s approach to mouthpiece and player analysis.
Benjamin has also worked extensively with Dr. Paul “Doc” Tenney, whose knowledge of woodwind performance physiology informed his understanding of embouchure mechanics, oral anatomy, and the physical limits of player compensation.
The essay Material Differences and Machining Realities was co-authored with Matt Ambrose, lead machinist and CAD designer at Theo Wanne Mouthpieces, whose expertise in precision manufacturing and material science shaped its technical analysis.
Why Jazzocrat?
The name was inspired by Kabir Sehgal’s Jazzocracy: Jazz, Democracy, and the Creation of a New American Mythology. Its central insight resonates: jazz models democracy in sound, listening, individual agency, collective responsibility, negotiated order. Jazz and democratic governance share a dependence on structure, dissent, and improvisation.
That framing also describes an analytical disposition. The same rigor brought to evaluating a policy argument applies here to a mouthpiece claim. Evidence matters. Sources are examined. Tradition and marketing are treated with equal skepticism.
Outside of all of this, Benjamin’s first devotion is to his family.
A complete list of all Jazzocrat essays can be found here.