Klarinet Archive - Posting 000647.txt from 2005/06

From: Bill Hausmann <bhausmann1@-----.net>
Subj: Re: [kl] More on Lester Young, and back to the clarinet...
Date: Thu, 30 Jun 2005 21:48:21 -0400

At 02:28 PM 6/30/2005 -0400, Adam Michlin wrote:
>Re: The clarinet
>
>On occasion, Young played clarinet. At first he liked to use an old metal
>clarinet. Benny Goodman loved Young's playing, ad at a jam session at the
>Black Cat early in 1937 he and Young are said to have exchanged
>instruments. Goodman was entranced with Young's performance that he later
>had Young at his apartment [see footnote] and presented him with a wooden
>clarinet Sadly, this gift was stolen from Young's dressing room a few
>years later, and Young virtually dropped playing the instrument, although
>he could easily have replaced the instrument. (Young appears in a "Down
>Beat" advertisement endorsing Martin Freres clarinets in April 1939).
>
>Footnote: This version of the clarinet story was researched by Loren
>Schoenberg and differs from that usually given by John Hammond and others,
>who omit the exchange of instruments and say that Goodman gave Young his
>clarinet on the spot. This version appears to be more authentic.
>
>--- End Quotes ---
>
>Interestingly, Douglas Henry Daniel's recent (2002) bio of Lester Young
>(Lester Leaps In: The Life and Times of Lester "Pres" Young, Beacon Press)
>goes with Hammond's original story (which is apparently from an article
>written by Hammond and published in Downbeat circa 1937) and doesn't
>mention this alternative possibility. I don't have easy access to my Benny
>Goodman bios but I believe both James Lincoln Collier and Ross Firestone
>also go with Hammond's original version (I hope someone will correct me if
>I am remembering wrong). Unfortunately, Porter doesn't give a reference to
>Schoenberg's research.

The Collier book quotes Hammond directly, but notes right after that
"Hammond is never an entirely trustworthy source..." I know I have the
Firestone book around here someplace...

Bill Hausmann

If you have to mic a saxophone, the rest of the band is TOO LOUD!

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