Klarinet Archive - Posting 000305.txt from 1995/04

From: Lee Callet <LCallet@-----.COM>
Subj: Re: Contralto in jazz
Date: Mon, 17 Apr 1995 14:12:46 -0400

Russell...You wrote:

Thank you. I was never allowed to play in jazz band when I was in High
School because they said there was no repertoire for the instrument. I
said I could just read a tenor or bari part but they objected. You've
given me hope that somewhere, somehow there are low clarinets playing in
jazz bands.

In most big bands it is pretty standard that there will be some bass clarinet
written on the bari sax parts, as a double, but really, in the grand scheme
of things, not very much. It is extremely rare to find contra-alto parts.
Bob Florence does this as a standard double for the second bari player, but
I don't know of any other big bands using the contra. It is sometimes used
in TV film or motion pictures for its color, and you sometimes find it in
"broadway" pit orchestrations. If you were to play tenor sax parts on bass
clar the transposition would be correct but the sound would be pretty out of
character. If you were to play bari parts on contra the transposition would
also be correct, but you would really never hear the contra. The bari needs
to be a strong and solid sax sound to "anchor" the section, and, by
extension, the whole band. Lee Callet