Klarinet Archive - Posting 000175.txt from 2007/02

From: "Ted" <tedcasher@-----.net>
Subj: [kl] Kell revisited
Date: Wed, 21 Feb 2007 20:39:43 -0500

To Dan Leeson---Tony Pay had Reginald Kell for a distant teacher. I was
privileged to study with the man himself!
I was a budding clarinet player/highschool hotshot, living in Skowhegan, ME,
when I met Reginald Kell, when he came through on a Community Concert tour.
As I remember, both Melvin Ritter (vln) and Joel Rosen (pno) were on tour
with him. He played Contrasts, Debussy's Premiere Rhapsody, and the
Hindemith Sonata, as well as some Fritz Kreisler pieces and Arthur
Benjamin's Jamaican Rhumba. I got to meet him backstage, and I arranged to
take some lessons with him at his home in Newtown, CT.

I was staying at my aunt's house in New Haven, and each day, I would take
the bus to Newtown. Mr, Kell would pick me up, and take me to his house,
where we would have a lesson. Oh, man--I remember the velvet tone and the
marvelous manner of phrasing! We went through the Baermann scales and
exercises, and work on the Weber Concertino. At the end of the lesson, I
would eat my lunchbag sandwich with the Kell family at noon. It was at the
height of the Joe McCarthy hearings, and we would watch them on TV, while
Mr. Kell would make sardonic comments on the proceedings.

But I digress. Mr. Kell had a whole closet full of clarinets! This filled
me with wonder! As I remember, he did most of his playing on a custom set
of Rudall Carte clarinets, alternating with a custom set of Boosey & Hawkes.
I was working out my playing on an old LeBlanc Symphonie model----back then,
almost every aspiring or professional clarinetist in Central Maine was
playing LeBlanc.

But his playing---and his persona---inspired my adolescent heart! He later
helped me get a scholarship at Aspen, where I got to play the Hinedmith
Sonata in the student concert series, held in the amphitheatre.

But the pull of jazz was still strong. I was no sooner in Aspen, when I
acquired a gig with pianist/violinist Eugene Jose Singer, of the San Antonio
Symphony---who was playing at Mario's Restaurant. This paid me $10 a night,
plus a fine Italian dinner! Later on in the season, I worked Fred
"Snicklefritz" Fisher's nights off at the Red Onion, with Louis "Tex" Gordon
on piano, Jack Langan on drums, and Jim Hopperstadt (Oklahoma Sym[hony) on
bass.

I never realized the negative opinions re Kell's playing until I
matriculated at Eastman that fall. I nearly came to blows with an oboe
player, who shall remain nameless, as he became a conductor.

For me---the pull of jazz was too strong. After 2 years at Eastman, I
left----it was not a good school for jazz players. While there, Bill Osseck
taught me an embouchure I have used all my professional life---the double
embouchure interfered w/flute doubling---so it had to go.

I was a lucky young man to have been influenced by Reginald Kell. Olav
HaShalom!

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