Klarinet Archive - Posting 000012.txt from 1995/05

From: Josias Associates <josassoc@-----.COM>
Subj: Random Thoughts about Benny Goodman, Artie Shaw,
Date: Mon, 1 May 1995 06:30:33 -0400

Random Thought No.1: Because I had always been a tonal purist,
believing that tone quality was everything (it is important, but, of
course, not everything), it is with some reluctance that I make
the following confession:

Like many other contemporaries of mine growing up in the 1930s
and 1940s, my clarinet idols were Goodman, Shaw, and Defranco. While my
enthusiasm for these virtuoso jazzmen never waned, I also developed what,
at the time, seemed to be a perverse attraction to a raspy style of jazz
clarinet playing. And it was the mentioning of Peewee Russell that
reminded me of my passion for the style and of the raspiest and, at the same
time, the most creative and thrilling of Russell's contemporaries.

The player was Edmund Hall, who, I was convinced, played solos
fashioned in heaven on what must have been a reed made of sandpaper. Does
anyone remember him? He was a regular with the Eddie Condon band in the
late 40s and early 50s along with cornetist Wild Bill Davison. I still
have 78-rpm shellac recordings of his playing on the Commodore label,
which I value highly.

Random Thought No. 2: One of my favorite Goodman solos was
performed by Benny with a thin reedy sound, which, maybe in later years,
he might have preferred to forget. I refer to the brief solo he did in a
1930s recording entitled, "What a little Moonlight Can Do." This absolute
gem was one of a series of informal recordings made with superstars like
Billie Holliday, Roy Eldridge, Ben Webster, and others. The only
adjective I can think of to describe Goodman's solo, other than exciting,
is giddy. In spite of my tone orientation, whenever I hear this
recording, I seem to focus mostly on how swiftly his ideas seem to cascade
out of the instrument and my disappointment when the all-too-brief solo ends.

Random Thought No. 3: A few years ago, when he was still in
college, one of my sons took a course in jazz history. His professor said
that the clarinet was virtually never used in Bebop and, further, that the
leading jazz clarinetists of the day were incapable of adapting to the style
and of making the transition. That was apparently true of Goodman, who, I
understand, after experimenting in private, admitted his preference to stay
with his traditional style. But it was not true of Shaw, who was capable of
almost anything.

In the series, "The Last Recordings of Artie Shaw," which was
completed in the 1950s but not released until later, Shaw wrote and
performed a marvelous piece entitled, "Lugubrious," which sounded as though
it easily could have been written by Dizzy Gillespie or Charlie Parker.
To me, he demonstrated a complete grasp of the "Bop" style and an ability
to excel as a performer in that style. But, unlike Goodman, the choice
he made was not between bop and his old traditional style, his choice
was retirement.

I gave a copy of the tape to my son to play for his professor,
who, sadly, was unable to find the time to listen to it. I expect he is
still making the same assertions today as before about the limitations of
players like Shaw.

Random Thought No 4: An earlier message to the network asked why
Shaw made such an untimely retirement from his successful performing
career. While I don't pretend to know the real reason(s), I can suggest
some factors that may have contributed to his eventual departure from the
scene. Shaw had actually gone into retirement several years before his
final retirement, but had later returned. He apparently hated the "music
business" -- the politics and high-handed treatment of artists like
himself -- perhaps not realizing that people from virtually all walks of
life suffer, to some extent, from the same kind of problems.

Typical of the problems he ran into in the recording industry was
opposition to his use of strings with his orchestra. A signature
characteristic of his earlier recordings, the use of strings was
eliminated in later recordings because his recording company was
convinced that a dance band using strings was not commercially salable to
the record-buying public. Even his famous and successful sextet, Artie Shaw
and his Gramercy Five, was preceded by a group composed of clarinet,
string quartet, piano, and drums, which was one of his all-time favorite
ensembles. Yet I know of no Shaw recordings using such an ensemble.

Whatever the real reasons for his quitting the business, he had a
genuine passion for writing, and he apparently felt that retirement
would give him the time indulge that passion.

One final note on Shaw. At the height of Shaw's popularity in the
late 1940s, it was a commonly-held belief (which I shared) that he
didn't really play improvized jazz, only flawlessly executed
written-out solos. The conventional wisdom of the time was that nothing
as complex and perfect as his long-lined solos could possibly have been
improvised. Shaw asserted that all his solos were improvized and, in
interviews conducted before he made his last recordings, he expressed
bitterness about his lack of recognition as the best improviser on the
clarinet, the honor of which invariably went to Goodman. I now believe
that jazz historians will look more kindly on Shaw than did some of his
contemporaries.

Possibly Shaw himself contributed to misunderstandings about his
contributions to the music scene. Both Goodman and Shaw were skilled
composers (it's not illogical that such fine improvisers could also
compose well). But, except for the brief period where Goodman recorded
as "Shoeless Joe Jackson," he always took justifiable credit for his
own work. But, for some strange reason, Shaw created a fictitious
person, John Carlton, who was listed at times along with Shaw,
thus diluting Shaw's compositional or arrangement credits.

Random Thought No. 5: For classical/jazz crossover afficionados, I
recommend Peter Schickele's mostly serious "Quartet for Clarinet (in A),
Violin, Cello, and Piano." The second movement alternates between an
aggressive, driving jazz motif reminiscent of music played by Dizzy
Gillespie or Charlie Parker and a minimalist theme like something
John Adams might have written.

Random Thought No. 6: Among contemporary jazz clarinetists, I
admire Eddie Daniels, whom I met at a concert given by the
Caltech-Occidental Concert Band, where Daniels was the guest soloist (I
played mostly Eb soprano clarinet with that group). He played
Calandrelli's "Solfeggietto and Metamorphosis" arrangement of the C.P.E.
Bach organ piece, Weber's Concertino, and a set of jazz pieces with
members of the very able Caltech Jazz Band.

My other favorite jazz clarinetist, who appears to specialize in
Dixieland Jazz, is Allan Vache. I'm hoping to hear him play again at the
annual Sacramento Jazz Jubilee at the end of May.

Connie

Conrad Josias
La Canada, California