You will be replacing the mouthpiece you start with, once you get going. How long will depend on how quickly you build your chops. This in mind I would go for the Bari Esprit II. It's a good starter piece, easy blowing, consistent and very cheap. When you find who you are on the saxophone and what you want and need, you'll be in a better position to decide for yourself what best fits you.
You will sound awful for quite a while, especially if this is your first woodwind instrument. There is such a lot to learn and coordinate.
Try several different reeds. Pick something that plays easily.
It will be several years before you develop a warm tone. It will be decades before you play fluent jazz. No rush. Enjoy the journey.
A great player will sound great on whatever they play. Four hours a day for a decade or two is a good base to build on but still may not get you there. Play because you like playing.
The saxophone demands that you be a better all round musician than many other instruments.
Thanks Colin, I went with your advice and got the Bari and several different reeds, I hope I can find a good combination.
I play several instruments, none particularly well and most shamelessly bad, but I am patient and,while I might shed from time to time with one or the other, I try to keep them all going for the fun of it. So the "the play because I enjoy it" approach should work well for me, it's wise advice, thanks
"The saxophone demands that you be a better all round musician than many other instruments"
Would you mind elaborating a bit on that? I am curious.
In general, I found that most instruments, at least when meant to be played in a competent, solid way, end up requiring a good appreciation of lots of different musical angles.
This is mostly a guess by observing good players, as I am myself quite mediocre, but still I found that for instance, for some reason concentrating on an instrument ends up giving me an edge on the others too.
Sometimes the reason is obvious. When I got fed up with my awful sense of rhythm, I did the thing that scared me the most and got myself playing percussions with an afro-cuban ensemble. Done that, and having survived some very embarassing moments, I found out that I could play some basic brazilian things on guitar which before blew my head right off.
Other times is less obvious to me. I concentrate on something seemingly very different, and then I feel it benefits other instruments or styles too.
So, I was wondering, in which way you feel the sax requires a more complete musicianship than many others?
I was thinking that, if I can wrap my head around that, perhaps I can use it to structure my practise, so to progress a bit faster..
By the way, I enjoyed a lot your video, I played it out loud and my kid was jumping all over the living room (he has a thing for blues).