Klarinet Archive - Posting 000117.txt from 1996/06

From: "Edwin V. Lacy" <el2@-----.EDU>
Subj: Re: Jazz Clarinetisits?
Date: Fri, 7 Jun 1996 10:33:45 -0400

On Sat, 1 Jun 1996, Gene Keyes wrote:

> I think there is an another important here, beside the obvious ignorance of
> your band director.

OK, I can remain silent no longer. I am a woodwind doubler, and a jazz
band director. I have seen many messages in this thread similar to this
one, which have described the offending director as ignorant, unfeeling,
uncaring, and perhaps many worse adjectives.

Let's suppose for a moment that the student who posted the question
played the banjo, or bagpipes, or the sitar. Imagine that she goes to
her school's orchestra director and announces that she wants to play in
the orchestra. No doubt, the reply would be that there are no parts for
her instrument in the orchestra. Would that make the orchestra director
such a lowlife as the ill-fated jazz band director of this discussion? I
rather doubt it.

There have been many replies pointing out that Benny Goodman, Woody
Herman, Artie Shaw, etc., played in jazz bands. This is technically NOT
true. They LED jazz bands, and for the most part, they stood in front of
the band and played solos on the clarinet. They were not integral parts
of their own bands. Jimmy Hamilton, clarinet soloist of Duke Ellington's
band _was_ a member of the band - on tenor sax! Wilbur Schwartz, lead
clarinet with the Glenn Miller band, did play the lead woodwind parts on
the clarinet, but the Miller band had private arrangers who wrote those
parts expecially for him. He also played saxophone.

Also, the fact that the clarinet is used in Dixieland jazz is irrelevant
here - unless the school has a Dixieland band rather than a standard "big
band" jazz ensemble.

It's not the director's fault that jazz has evolved to the point that
there is now a widely accepted instrumentation for jazz bands. (5 saxes
- 2 altos, 2 tenors, baritone; 4 trumpets; 4 trombones; and a rhythm
section consisting of piano, guitar, bass and drums) There are
exceptions to this, but probably 95% of published arrangements are for
this instrumentation. Jazz composers write their music with the
expectation that it will be played by this instrumentation, and by only
one player per part. And, this is how it sounds best. Of course, one
can transpose some of these parts for other instruments, but the sound
will be something other than what the composer/arranger intended, and
probably something other than the sound that both the composer and the
jazz band director have in mind as a concept of jazz sound. It was
probably necessary for jazz to progress to this point in order for it to
continue to mature as an art form. After all, no one seems to consider
it such a crime that the orchestra and the concert band also have a
generally accepted prescribed instrumentation.

Also, don't forget that there are 17 other people to take into
consideration here - the 17 members of the band. The director has a
certain obligation to them, as well. He is probably trying to teach them
something about jazz, too, so that they will have the necessary tools and
skills to be able to play in other jazz bands later in life. Please
consider how they are affected if parts designed for certain instruments
are played on other ones. All considerations of blend, balance,
intonation, and tone quality are now changed.

The solution for the student who originally posted the question is to
stop setting up a situation of conflict with the director over something
which is not within his control, and learn to play one of the instruments
which are customarily used in jazz. It would be a relatively simple
matter for her to acquire the necessary skills to play the saxophone in a
jazz setting. It is _not_ true, as some have suggested, that learing the
saxophone is "easy" - that is, if the intention is to learn to play it well.

Certainly, jazz improvisations can be done on any instrument, and
probably have been done on most of them. This is a different question
from the one of the instrumentation of the group.

Theoretically, woodwind players in jazz bands should be able to play
saxophone, clarinet and flute. When "doubles" are called for, it has
become customary to assign them as follows:

Sax I: (alto) - flute, piccolo and clarinet
Sax II: (alto) - flute and clarinet
Sax III: (tenor) - flute and clarinet
Sax IV: (tenor) - clarinet, occasionally flute
Sax V: (baritone) - bass clarinet and alto flute

Obviously, there will be many exceptions to the above. Also, in
arrangements designed for young players and bands, doubles are usually
not included at all. There are a very few parts for oboe, English horn,
or bassoon, but for the most part, these have been designed for specific
players.

In summary, I would like to suggest that before we are so quick with the
"knee-jerk" reaction of castigating the jazz band director that we
consider the situation in more detail, and in light of existing customs
and practices in jazz.

Ed Lacy
*****************************************************************
Dr. Edwin Lacy University of Evansville
Professor of Music 1800 Lincoln Avenue
Evansville, IN 47722
el2@-----.edu (812)479-2754
*****************************************************************

   
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