Hi Chuck. I'm much more a trumpet/flugelhorn player but I double on soprano sax and flutes for audience shock value. I have a Mark VI tenor and use a VanDoren metal tenor mouthpiece with that. I've played rubber and metal Otto Link 6 and 6* on the tenor and found surprisingly little difference in metal versus rubber. When you say you want a little 'edge', I think that means metal, but 'darker' means rubber. But again, a player can get a mellow & dark or bright & edgy sound out of either material. Breathier means larger aperture with perhaps a harder reed, going for a Coleman Hawkins sound? I'm ten years younger than you, but I understand about supplying all that air. Interestingly, I find the metal mouthpieces easier to blow, and therefore requiring slightly less air support. That could just be me, though.

FYI, in the woodwinds, I primarily play a Yamaha soprano with a Yanagisawa 5 metal mouthpiece.

Best of luck!

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