Klarinet Archive - Posting 000430.txt from 1998/05

From: "Kevin Fay" <kevinfay@-----.com>
Subj: Re: [kl] Woody Herman
Date: Sat, 9 May 1998 17:00:05 -0400

I have to agree w/ Dr. Lacy--what X plays is mostly irrelevant. I was
at a master class given by Stanley Hasty some years ago where he
proceeded to play the relevant pieces back to the student ON THE
STUDENT's HORN. While of perhaps dubious hygiene, it quickly became
apparent that equipment was not the defining factor--and that D. Stanly
Hasty could sound like God playing on a garden hose.

For the curious, Woody played a Leblanc clarinent w/ a really wierd
mouthpiece--the beak was concave, like a saxophone's. He owned many
saxes over the years--for a while his band was paid to all play a
certain brand (Conn, I think), and then all switched to a different
manufacturer at the same time (again, probably for a fee?). There are
some interesting advertisements in relly old Down Beat magazines!

kjf

----Original Message Follows----
Date: Tue, 5 May 1998 21:55:34 -0500 (CDT)
From: "Edwin V. Lacy" <el2@-----.edu>
Subject: [kl] Woody Herman

On Tue, 5 May 1998, Justin Wood wrote:

> While we are asking questions, what did Woody Herman play on? Both
sax
> and clarinet.

I don't know what kind of instruments he played, but I do know that
whatever kind of sax he was playing, he should have left it in the case.
Woody had some great bands, and is ultimately responsible for some of
the
most exciting big-band recordings ever made. His great talents were in
surrounding himself with talented people, and freeing them to "do their
thing," and providing strong musical leadership for his bands. In the
early days, his clarinet playing (IMHO, naturally) was quite creditable,
although never quite up to the level of Goodman or Shaw. However, his
saxophone playing never compared to the other playing that was heard in
the band, and in his later years, it got downright embarrassing at
times.
In fairness, he was still on the road and performing far beyond the time
when he should have been retired, and there were some financial
exigencies
which encouraged or required him to continue.

This question of "What brand of clarinet does X play?" is one which
interests many of us, including me. But in fact, sometimes there is a
danger here, in that someone might think that by obtaining the same
brand
of instrument, mouthpiece and reed, they could reproduce the sound of an
artist they admire. A little thought will probably convince almost
anyone
of the futility of that approach, because none of us has the same
configuration of embouchure, oral cavity, throat, or the same sound in
our
ear as Benny Goodman, Richard Stoltzman, or whoever we might name.

I once heard a live performance by Buddy DeFranco in which he had
apparently tired of answering those questions, so before he began to
play,
he told the audience what brand of clarinet, mouthpiece, ligature and
reed
he was using. The audience consisted entirely of jazz musicians. Some
of
them apparently were caught off guard by this little dissertation, and
there were thinly veiled snickers throughout the room. This in turn
seemed to take De Franco by surprise, and he somewhat sheepishly said,
"Well, everyone always seems to want to know." Then he went on with his
performance, and impressed everyone with both his sound _and_ his great
playing.

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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