Klarinet Archive - Posting 000506.txt from 2000/05

From: LeliaLoban@-----.com
Subj: [kl] Bass clarinet and microtones (was: [kl] Hi)
Date: Mon, 8 May 2000 19:05:08 -0400

For recordings with low-pitched clarinets *and* microtones, Hamiett Bluiett
plays bass, contra-alto and contrabass clarinet, in addition to his trademark
baritone sax, on several of his many recordings. Bluiett has a huge range.
He tongues like a maniac, with every triple- double- and flutter-tonguing
technique I've ever heard of -- inspiring or depressing, depending on the
state of one's ambitions as opposed to one's progress! Some of his recording
include some rap -- political, not gangsta -- that sounds better than average
to me, although I'm no connoisseur of rap.

Recently, he plays contrabass clarinet, among other wind leads, on a
jazz/African fusion recording, "Same Space," with pianist D. D. Jackson and
African djembe drummer and singer Mor Thiam (Justin Time Records JUST 109-2,
1998). Bluiett plays contra-alto clarinet on "Join Us" (also with Jackson
and Thiam, on Justin Time JUST 124-2, 1999). These musicians perform an
interesting experiment in fusion. Deliberately, they don't fully fuse.
Different musicial traditions occupy the "Same Space" and co-exist, rather
than blend. Jackson's typically-tuned piano and Anglo-European style of
playing contrasts with African microtones for Thiam, while Bluiett's
jazz-style tone bending also grows from African roots. I haven't lived with
these two records long enough to make up my mind how much I like them. I
love the way Bluiett and Thiam sound together. The piano sounds fine on its
own. Not sure the lumpy mixture of ideas quite works, though. Maybe I'm a
fuddy- duddy, because I think I'd like my fusion a bit more...fused.
However, these CDs are both holding my interest through repeated playings.
The idea is growing on me. The most I get used to the "salad" (as opposed to
"melting pot") approach, the more I like it. I'm curious what other people
think.

There's been a bit of discussion among saxophonists about whether Bluiett
really uses microtones or just plays out of tune a lot. I vote for
microtones, because I've heard him play bang on pitch, unless my ears are out
of whack. He does *bend* pitch a lot. I think he does it intentionally,
because I just don't get any of that "Oops, mistake" feeling from it,
although I can imagine what Sherlock Holmes would say about *that* type of
evidence.... Eh. You be the judge.

Bluiett is better known as a baritone sax player. He's one of my favorite
players on that instrument, a musician with staying power, who has played
with Charles Mingus and many of the other jazz greats. He's an assertive
advocate of the baritone sax, and low winds in general, as solo instruments.
He banded together with other excellent bari sax players on a series of
"Bluiett Baritone Saxophone Group" recordings in the 1990s, including
"Baritone Saxophone Nation" from a year or so ago.

Lelia
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
How long should a man's sax be? Just long enough to reach his mouth.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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