The follow was originally a reply i posted on another thread so i slightly adapted it and posted here as i feel it could be of use to others on their quest in tone development. I have had quite a few personal questions on how to develop tone and have been commented on my own tone. So I share one of my learning methods i used and still use and with great success...
I use an old fashioned practice method taught to me by several great 'old school' big band sax players (no disrespect intended)...
The method i use is blowing into a wardrobe or 'tone frequency isolation', as I like to call it, sounds a little odd at first, i know, but it really worked for me BIG time!
You can help shape your sound considerably because when you play into the 'wardrobe' (not an empty one of course!) it dampens the whole sound and isolates certain frequencies that naturally come out so when you play into the wardrobe you tend to hear or have more of a 'buzzy' sound so if you want to play with a more dark sound (think 'Getz-like') you can try to eliminate or dampen them buzzy frequencies by adjustments to your embouchre, throat, position of teeth on mouthpiece and overall blowing to cut down on them higher buzzy frequencies. The same can be done if you wish to add brightness to your sound (as I actually did!), but using the same method but in the opposite way, where you try to enhance them higher buzzy sounds with the above mentioned adjustment techniques. I actually did this method in order to help get the tone/sound i have today and every now and then to fine tune my sound i occasionally go back and do the same procedure.
Once you have adjusted the tones/frequencies to your needs then play in the same way but in a more open space to listen to the difference, if you need to work more then simply repeat the procedure til you are satisfied with the result.
Strange as it may all sound at first and you will probably get funny looks from your other half as mine did (and still does) until she knew what it was all about, BUT, this method REALLY WORKS!
A.) Develop your sound be it a dark warm sound or brighter edgy sound or a nice blend of the two.
B.) Practice quieter, more neighbour friendly practice...
C.) Saves you money by NOT buying saxophone sound dampeners...
I hope this helps someone as it has helped me.
regards and happy progress.