Klarinet Archive - Posting 000012.txt from 1995/11

From: Lisa Clayton <clayton@-----.EDU>
Subj: Re: Adam Pease asks about interpretations
Date: Wed, 1 Nov 1995 20:43:20 -0500

> Thanks for sharing your experiences, Dan. I would just like to add that,
> to me, if music is always the same at each performance why do we need
> people to play it? If it's the same it is as dead as stone.
>
> I buy records to learn pieces and to hear other people's interpretations.
> I don't buy many jazz records because it seems to me that spontenaiety
> (sp) is even more essential it that medium.

I find myself, as a (very) amateur jazz player, buying more jazz records
than I used to for the same reason you cite above-- to learn pieces and
to hear other people's interpretations (I've done this for classical
pieces for years as a (very) amateur classical player). For a beginning
improviser, listening to how the masters approach improvisation, phrasing
and nuance is an incredible learning experience.

I like trying to phrase things like Billie Holliday, Bennie Goodman,
Eric Dolphy, Charlie Christian, John Coltrane, Bessie Smith, Speedy West,
Charlie Parker, etc. etc. etc. do after listening a few times.
Whether or not I get there is another question, but the music influences
me. If I'm ever blessed to have a solid style someday, these recordings
will surely be a reason why. And, considering I'll nver see any of these
players live, the CDs will have to do.

Besides, there's something satisfyingly perverse about throwing on
a home-made tape that has Stolzman, Dolphy, Goodman, Feldman and Meyers
performing one after another. How else could you get such clarinet diversity?

____ Lisa K. Canjura-Clayton The obligatory homepage:
/ clayton@-----.edu/~clayton
/ Band=Life COMING SOON: Virtual Barstow!
"There is nothing more onanistic than playing the bass clarinet by yourself"
-Steve Trier

   
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