Klarinet Archive - Posting 000463.txt from 2003/11
From: "Ed Stuart" <estuart@-----.net>
Subj: RE: [kl] Sax, jazz/blues....tone?
Date: Sat, 29 Nov 2003 05:02:34 -0500
After reading this thread, what I see is an understated distain for music
not classical. Its amazing to read so many people on this list expound on
the importance of their tone as they play classical and then read that tone
is not a big issue when playing jazz. When I read interviews of *real* and
*successful* jazz musicans they are continually talking about what they went
through to develop their own distinctive tone. This is and has been a huge
consideration for them. I can easily recognize players such as Eric Dolphy,
John Carter, Michael Moore or Francois Houle after hearing them play just a
few notes.
Regarding the use of a classical sound in jazz playing, I'll quote Matthew
Shipp:
I think jazz by its nature, from bebop on, is an underground language with
a very similar gestural
genesis to punk. Obviously, it's a completely different music and even the
sociology behind it is
different, but I'm just talking about the genesis of the gesture of maybe
why certain people are
creating this. Yeah, there's definitely similarities to punk. And that's
what's so interesting
about Jazz at Lincoln Center or something like that, where the obvious
gesture is completely
different. I mean, the gesture there behind it is to take jazz and to give
it credibility like
classical music has credibility. You know, you can get "old" type Caucasian
money to sponsor it and
put it in a nice place, and have all the trappings, so the people that buy
subscriptions to symphony
orchestras will consider it valid and come out to hear it, like they're
going to hear Zubin Mehta or
something. That's a diametrically opposed gesture than what Monk and
Charlie Parker and Bud Powell
were doing at Minton's. (Laughs) You know, diametrically opposed. What's so
interesting about Jazz
at Lincoln Center is they can actually present old music now that might
have had gestures similar to
punk when it was originated, but now they're doing it in tuxedos, being
sponsored by old Caucasian
money, trying to give it credibility, when what makes jazz great is that
when it was done, it wasn't
"credible." I mean, that's what MAKES it credible. What makes bebop
legitimate is the fact that when
it was done, it was illegitimate.
And as far as the use of a classical tone in jazz clarinet playing;
personally, I've never heard any playing jazz with a classical tone whose
tone I've liked with the exception of Michael Moore playing the music of
someone like Irving Berlin.
If you only want to be someone who sounds "jazzy" and most likely basically
plays the same solos every night then the classical sound idea probably
works. However, I take exception with teach the lurkers and younger players
that the tone of a clarinetist isn't important when playing jazz.
Later,
Ed Stuart
-----Original Message-----
From: Rupert Kahn [mailto:Rupert.Kahn@-----.net]
Subject: Re: [kl] Sax, jazz/blues....tone?
Thanks Annie, sorry about the slow reply. I expect you're right that the
tone itself is not in itself such a big issue. From my own experience what
is really different is the dynamic range that you use playing Jazz, when I
started playing Jazz it was the ability to play accross a wide dynamic range
that I began to lose. I'm not saying that dynamics don't apply in jazz but
its very different.
Rupert
----- Original Message -----
From: "Anne Lenoir" <AnneLenoir@-----.net>
Subject: Re: [kl] Sax, jazz/blues....tone?
Dear Rupert,
Periodically, people write letters to the list asking for advice
about "How to Select a suitable Jazz Mouthpiece". Several times I have
written back, that to some of us, there is no such thing as a "Jazz"
mouthpiece. I love to bend notes and play with some vibrato, sometimes.
However, I was trained classically and did not get into jazz until I
graduated from Oberlin over 30 years ago. I am happy with the sound I
got then, and I still enjoy the same sort of sound, only with a vibrato
and the ability to bend notes. The reason I said that I didn't want to
bore the list with this is because I have already said it several times.
People still keep writing in wanting to play on some mouthpiece that
they percieve as being a "jazz" mouthiece. I have always said, play on
the mouthpiece that produces the type of tone that you like. If you can
bend notes the way you like, it doesn't matter what kind of mouthpiece
you play on.
I used to like the Vandoren 5 RV Lyre mouthpiece. Now I like the
Clark Fobes San Francisco and the Vandoren M-30. Playing jazz has a more
to do with playing the melody line as though you were a singer than it
does with selecting a "jazz" mouthpiece. Maybe even playing that melody
several different ways and styles. I would not encourage anybody to be
in a big hurry to improvize on the melody line until you can "sing" it
through your clarinet like an intimate conversation with the band &
audience, or even a solo if you don't have anybody to play with. As you
play improvizations on the melody, they can be a variety of expressions
to embellish or showcase the melody. Some melodies, like Billy
Strayhorn's "The Lush Life" are so breathtaking, that they don't need to
be turned into a spectacle of too much improv. I wish I had a Real Vocal
Book. I haven't gotten around to getting one. That's all I have to say
for right now. ANNIE
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