Klarinet Archive - Posting 000695.txt from 1998/04

From: RCLARINET <RCLARINET@-----.com>
Subj: Re: Re: Eddie Daniels
Date: Tue, 14 Apr 1998 10:23:25 -0400

In a message dated 4/14/98 8:31:17 AM, you wrote:

<<I I understood Don's point correctly, he was insinuating that the recorded
licks that were claimed to never repeat and are always fresh are not
necessarily indicative of Eddie Daniel's live performance
characteritics......basically placing some doubt on the idea that he is
the "the most honest clarinet player who ever lived."

Roger Garrett
IWU
Just one point about all this. This "most honest" phrase bothers me. For two
reasons: 1) because of its' vagueness, one the one hand, and 2) its'
misapplication on the other.
First, the word is used here without clearly defining a standard for
honest......so now we start making up one as we go without making referrence
to the one who made the original statement?!?!?!? Rather than saying: "what
did you mean by that?" we all begin to speculate and react to it according to
our own subjective idea of what the writer means.
Second, honest, I believe is misapplied in this case. As I understand it the
word would be rightly used if it were commenting on Eddie's content rather
than his form.
No repeating yourself, total originality (whatever that means) at all times
and so on do not necessarily constitute honesty. Whereas sincerity, playing
in the heart of a particular style, the use of technique as a means to
faithfully render the meaning of the music and never making a superficial
display of your technique just to impress others by how great you are or never
using technique for the sake of technique.......these things constitute a kind
of honesty.
By that standard I would have to say that some players who have little
technique and even less originality, but who are faithful to a certain spirit
and content are heavy contenders for the honesty award......like some of the
great old dixieland clarinet players, or Buddy DeFranco, who is deeply true to
the bop style, plays always consistently within that style, and whose
technique and content are beautifully integrated with one another.
We all agree Eddie is one of the greatest jazz clarinetists, and one of the
most versatile clarinetists ever, and may have more mastery of the technique
than any jazz player ever; stylistic content, use of technique and stylistic
purity notwithstanding.
All that said, let me recommend that when subjective judgments are proffered
here that terms be at least defined to help keep us all on the same page, so
to speak. Lest some of us begin to content for the "most frustrated clarinet
player ever" award.
tom