What struck me immediately with this horn was the overall darker tonal colour compared to the others that I had tried. Also I had to stretch my right hand a little more to feel comfortable with the keys. It feels a big alto and did take a bit of getting used to. However, after 15 minutes or so, I was quite accustomed to the feel and was pleasantly surprised with what came out of the sax. Excellent clarity of sound, superb response with a smooth transition from note to note, especially with legato playing. There was a very good evenness of tone in all registers, which is so difficult to achieve on the saxophone, and this was achieved at all dynamic levels.

I will be perfectly honest when I say that before I played this sax I was sceptical about the rolled tone-holes, and I am still not convinced that they do make much difference. However, if they are responsible for the great response and the precision with which I was able to play then they are well worth having on a saxophone. Overall, playing this saxophone was an enjoyable experience.

Keilwerth The Shadow Alto

The Shadow has a new action, which is ‘ergonomically optimised’ and although not hugely different, it is still an improvement on the current SX90R. Compared with a standard SX90R, I found the RH finger spacing was slightly closer together & the key-work very light and responsive, involving no effort to bounce around the sax. The Shadow has noticeably cupped pearls, and although this felt a little strange at first, it held the tips of my fingers nicely. Overall the action was very fluid and an improvement on the current SX90R model, without losing that Keilwerth feel.

One of the best features of this sax is the tone. Like all Keilwerth saxophones, there is an individuality that is very appealing. The tone is big, fat and full so I could get loads of power with the sax producing wave upon wave of tone colour. Also interestingly,  when I experimented with different mouthpieces, there was still a sense of boldness and weight behind the tone. The name Shadow very much relates to the sound, which is hard to place but always in the background. Although I’m a bit of jazzer and I found myself whizzing around Bebop riffs, this sax would suit most styles of music.

If you want to standout and raise some eyebrows, the Shadow has a refreshing and distinctive look, and although I’m a bit of a traditionalist, I like it. The contrast between the black nickel plating and the sliver-plated keys, gives the sax an ethereal look. The engraving on the Shadow is just exquisite and covers most of the saxophone body, bow & bell. As a package, it comes with a quality individual case and good ebonite jazz mouthpiece (No. 7).

To conclude, I was previously a bit sceptical about Keilwerth saxes, but now I’m a convert. I’m sure the Shadow, like many others released this year, will go down in history as a classic saxophone. Surely many of the great saxes will now live in the shadow of this sax (pardon the pun!). However, the most frustrating part is getting hold of these saxes. Like Selmer and the Reference Alto, Keilwerth have created a huge demand but have not met this with a regular supply. So sorry folks, this sax won’t be easily available for a while but like all good things... TC