Klarinet Archive - Posting 000195.txt from 2005/08

From: John Dablin <jdablin@-----.com>
Subj: [kl] Alto clarinet in '30s dance band
Date: Fri, 12 Aug 2005 07:06:07 -0400

I was idly channel hopping last night when I found BBC 4 here in the UK,
which was in the middle of "Shepperton Babylon", a history of British
cinema in the 1920s and '30s. I was just in time to catch a clip of a
dance band/orchestra. I've no idea of the plot, but the chairs were
empty until each player rushed on just in time to make his entry. What
startled me was that about the second player on played what looked like
an alto clarinet, no doubt about it both from the look and the sound.
The rest of the band seemed fairly normal, piano, strings, saxophones
and brass.

Did alto clarinets exist in those days, or would it have been a basset
horn? Perhaps it was a novelty instrument in one particular band? I'm
curious to know more about it.

John Dablin
Aylesbury UK

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