Klarinet Archive - Posting 000493.txt from 2000/05
From: LeliaLoban@-----.com
Subj: [kl] Bass Clarinet CDs (was [kl] Hi)
Date: Mon, 8 May 2000 17:33:45 -0400
Has anyone mentioned Eric Dolphy yet? His main instruments were bass
clarinet and alto sax. He also played tenor sax, flute and ocasionally a few
other things. He played free jazz and post-bop in the 1950s and early 1960s.
Maybe he's too *old* for some people on this thread, but IMHO, Dolphy is one
of the musical pioneers behind some of the new approaches to jazz *and*
classical bass clarinet playing. (I think I hear strong echoes of Dolphy in
Michael Lowenstern, for instance, although Lowenstern, who studied with
Charles Neidich and John Bruce Yeh, among others, has a far more polished
technique. Dolphy's playing -- structured and rehearsed improvisation off
charts, usually -- can sound raw edged. I guess I'd call Lowenstern's
playing honed edged.) A stylistic innovator, Dolphy got booed off the stage
a few times by ambushed audiences. ;-) He participated in the "Third
Stream" fusion of jazz and classical with Gunther Schuller.
Dolphy started out in the California public school music program, went to
Dorsey High School on a music scholarship, studied with Lloyd Reese and
majored in music at L. A. City College, then joined the Army, served with the
21st Army Band and studied at the U.S. Naval School of Music. At the height
of his career as a civilian jazzman, he died at age 36, of a heart attack due
to uncontrolled diabetes, in 1964. The thought of what he might have done if
he'd stayed healthy is staggering. (The biographical stats come from, _The
Importance of Being Eric Dolphy_, by Raymond Horricks. Turnbridge Wells,
Great Britain: Costello, 1989, pb.)
There's only one Dolphy recording in the www.sneezy.org archives, but for a
long Dolphy discography, with information about which instruments he played
on each album (though some of the recording company information is
incomplete), go here:
AMG All Music Guide
http://allmusic.com/cg/x.dll?p=amg&sql=R6414#APPEAR
That's an overwhelming list. Dolphy plays on somewhere around 100
*officially* released recordings (I hadn't realized there were that many, but
that's my rough count on AMG, including the compilations of previously
released material) with Charlie Mingus, Chico Hamilton, John Coltrane,
Freddie Hubbard, Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis and Ornette Coleman, among many other
great names in jazz. Here are my picks for good places to start listening.
All these CDs are digital remasters of analog LP recordings. I've had some
of them for awhile and won't swear they're all in print, but if not, try the
used CD shops.
IMHO, the best introduction to Dolphy is "Out to Lunch," from 1964 (Blue Note
CDP-546524, which came out in 1987, although I believe a better remastering
was later released, and is still available; the new one may have some bonus
tracks). I think this is one of the all-time great jazz records. This CD
features some fine bass clarinet playing, though Dolphy plays alto sax on the
title cut. The liner quotes from Dolphy's notes on the tunes.
Dolphy made a major contribution to the Ornette Coleman Double Quartet's
"Free Jazz," recorded in one take in 1960, available as a 1999 CD on Atlantic
1364-2. This outstanding CD eliminates the break in the middle between side
A and side B of the LP, and includes a 17-minute bonus track of the "First
Take," also recorded in one take at the same session. If you want to know
what free jazz (*not* "jazz anarchy"!) is about, this is it.
Dolphy did a lot of his best playing with bassist Charlie Mingus. (On my "to
buy" list -- the CD re-issue of "Mingus in Europe.") They played a lot of
low-pitched duets with Mingus on bass and Dolphy on bass clarinet. Dolphy
played clarinet and alto sax on most of the Mingus recording in the 1950s and
early 1960s, but I think "Stormy Weather," with the Charlie Mingus Jazz
Workshop, is one of their best songs. There are several different versions
of the song floating around, including the one on "Candid Dolphy" (1990, with
a bunch of other great stuff, including eight bonus tracks besides the
original 1961 LP) as Candid CCD-79033.
There's a fantastic live take of "God Bless the Child" as an unaccompanied
bass clarinet solo on "The Berlin Concerts" (recorded in 1961), a 1990 Mesa
Blue Moon CD R2-79636, although I think that CD might be out of print and
re-issued by another company now. Dolphy played that solo a lot, never quite
the same way twice, though he always ended it with pad clicks; there are
several other versions out there. There's a longer, looser version on "The
Stockholm Sessions" (1992 Rhino CD 79647), which includes the original album
(from 1961) with a bonus track. Gunther Schuller and Charles Mingus wrote the
liner notes. There's another version on "Here and There," originally 1960,
re-released with some bonus tracks as Original Jazz Classics OJCCD-673-2.
The biography mentioned above includes a handwritten transcription of one
version of this bass clarinet solo piece, if anybody wants to give it a try.
Another for my "find it" list: the Third Stream fusion on "Vintage Dolphy"
(1963), with Gunther Schuller and Lalo Schifrin on piano, and Phil Woods on
alto sax, among others. I only have the LP (Enja G 5045) but AMG lists
something that looks like it must be a CD as CDGM3005.
Now everybody can write in and say, "But how could you leave out this and
*this* and THIS?!" ;-)
This thread is making me wonder if I should have looked into a bass clarinet
that went up for sale recently.... Okay, this message is running too long.
Maybe I'll send something later about some other bass clarinet players, after
I get out from under some "real work."
Lelia
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I wonder how much deeper the ocean would be without sponges?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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