Klarinet Archive - Posting 000650.txt from 1998/06
From: Kenneth Wolman <kwolman@-----.com>
Subj: [kl] Crossover clarinetting
Date: Fri, 19 Jun 1998 12:12:58 -0400
>>I hope I live to see the day when "jazz" & "classical" are seen
>>more as part of a continuum, and musicians are encouraged to learn
>>more of the spectrum of sounds and techniques than many currently
>>do. I know pianists who hold Bach, Mozart, Art Tatum and Bill
>>Evans in equal regard. I applaud them. I'd love to see
>>performance of a Benny Goodman or Jimmy Hamilton solo
>>transcription as a requirement for serious clarinet students.
>
>I think so too. I agree with both points. I love playing and listening to
>both "jazz" and "classical" music.
The New York-based clarinetist Charles Russo who's also been mentioned to
me as a potential teacher (he lives a few towns over in Jersey) has a new
CD out called "Clarinet alla Cinema": it's chamber music written by
composers (e.g., Nino Rota) known for movie music. The performances are
absolutely superb, but that's not the point
The notes in the booklet are a bit TOO educational. They describe Russo
and other New York musicians having to lead a double life because no matter
how technically proficient they were, agents and recording companies in the
Big City for years would not handle someone who got known for doing
crossover material. If Russo made his living in opera theater pits, as I
gather he did for years with the NYCO and NY City Ballet(?), and then did a
hundred studio commercials in a week, followed by lots of chamber music, he
COULD not let it get around that he also played jazz in afterhours clubs
because he and other "classical" artists would lose their status and bookings.
I don't know why Goodman could get away with this, except he was Goodman.
Now, this must've been a few years ago, because I find primarily jazz
artists like Ken Peplowski recording the Lutoslawski Dance Preludes, and
Eddie Daniels recording Weber and with the Trio de Clarone (BTW, is "Blues
For Sabine" even in print anymore?). Someone told me that it goes the
other way, too: that you can find Larry Combs some nights playing in
Chicago jazz clubs, and doing so superbly. The way Drucker plays the
clarinet solos on the Mazur/NY Philharmonic recording of Ravel's "Bolero"
suggests a musician who can also SWING.
My imagination quits, however, when it comes to picture Anthony Gigliotti
playing "Honeysuckle Rose,":-) but I'll bet he can play hell out of it.
Ken
Kenneth Wolman Information Technology Morgan Stanley Inc.
750 Seventh Avenue New York, NY 212-762-1685
My unpaid life: http://www.geocities.com/SoHo/Gallery/1649
"I only wish I could write with both hands, so as not to forget
one thing while I am saying another." -- St. Teresa of Avila
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