ALPHONSE MOUZON was the rhythmic foundation for the far reaching musical explorations of pianist McCoy Tyner. He was a charter member along with keyboardist Joe Zawinul and saxophonist Wayne Shorter, of the group Weather Report. Along with guitarist Larry Coryell, MOUZON was co-founder of The Eleventh House. In 1991, he performed with Miles Davis on the movie soundtrack album entitled “Dingo” . MILES DAVIS even spoke highly of ALPHONSE in his book entitled “Miles ‒ The Autobiography” .
Review by George Lawrence:
This is a very beautiful instrument. The gold finish on the lugs, hoops and tension rods glistens against the dark brown wenge wood. Wenge has a very subtle striped grain that gives the finish a deep look. The outer and inner plies are wenge.
The throw off is Canopus's standard P85-ish strainer which is very smooth. The tension knob is very snug and won't loosen during playing.
I love the leather tension rod washers. Everybody needs to get hip to these. The tension rods will not back out or detune with these washers. You can feel them grab the head of the tension rod when you turn it with a key. It's a very simple solution to an age old problem
Very big, meaty, solid, fat sound. I always thought of Alphonse as a fusion and jazz drummer with a fatback R&B sound. This drum achieves "his" sound.
Though Canopus characterizes birch as a dark sounding wood, I'm not hearing dark as much as full. It has a very full, big sound with that "thump" that you want to feel in a fatback drum.
Rim Shots: I hate to use the word "crack" to describe drum sounds because it's been overused, but this one definitely has a nice snappy crack that will cut through the mix. The combination of this wood and the die cast hoops is a good one for rim shots.
I tried the drum wide open with no muffling and, while that is the way I usually do it on gigs and sessions, I wanted to see what this one sounded like with some muffling to get a dry sound. I used a credit card on top of the head to dampen some of the head ring, and got a very pleasing, tight and dry sound with just a slight bit of "honk" to it. The snare response is very sensitive from the middle of the head to the edge. The drum has a wide tuning range; sounded great at tight and loose tensions.
All in all, this is a drum worthy of the name of a historically great drummer like Alphonse Mouzon. See Alphonse speak about and play this drum in the video at the end of this article. There's a great drum solo in that video.
From the Canopus website:
Alphonse Mouzon Signature Snare Drum - model number AM-1465
MAP : $999.99
Size : 6.5 x 14
Shell : 11ply Wenge + Birch 9mm
Color : Natural Pale Lacquer
Hoop : Die Cast Hoops, Gold Plated
Lug : Solid Brass Tube Lug, Gold Plated
Snare Wire : Vintage Wire Non Plated (CPSL-14DR)
This snare drum features a hybrid shell of Birch and Wenge. Birch characteristically gives a dark but clear tone and also provides great sound projection. Wedge is a dense hardwood with a particularly attractive grain.
Its shell is 11ply, 9mm thickness with a specialized bearing edge crafted to give an outstanding “crack” sound and attack.
Alphonse’s request was that the snare drum sound perfect in multiple genres - “Power Fusion, Rock, Jazz and Funk”, and that it provides a full, solid sound - giving a “loud snap and crack”. In addition he wanted it to have an exotic, extravagant appearance.
Canopus has combined all these attributes - successfully realizing Alphonse’s dream and the results are truly outstanding!
His Comments :
“My Signature snare drum series has a fat, deep, crisp and powerful sound that is great for all styles of music : Rock, Jazz, Funk and Fusion and more!”
Video and more :