Klarinet Archive - Posting 000101.txt from 2008/02

From: "Daniel Leeson" <dnleeson@-----.net>
Subj: RE: [kl] Clarinet Candy and Jimmy Abato
Date: Wed, 13 Feb 2008 18:22:52 -0500

I remember seeing Burke in Central Park during the summer when he played
with the Goldman Band. He played all the cornball stuff that I love to hear
such as "The Carnival of Venice Fantasy," all the workds concluding with
triple tonguing variations. He was terrific even though I hate that kind of
show-off music. As he played he had to open the spit valve from time to
time, and it requires a complex series of motions because of the lack of any
use of his right arm. But he managed it. It is not that he had no arm, but
rather it was deformed from birth and I don't think it grew very much.

As for that clarinet quartet, I knew all of the men though at various times.
Blayman was my dear friend and I visited him often in his home in Belen, NM.
We had played together in NY many times and it was a joy to know him.

Abato just died, of course. Terrific player. But not a really
communicative guy. Very insecure. Would always ask, "Am I sharp?" But when
he played he was the center of the section's intonation. One could not play
out of tune when Jimmy.

Roger and I played tha Gran Partitta in Chatauqua, NY. Great guy.

And Portnoy moved here to the west coast after retirement and was treated
badly by the SF Conservatory. He wanted to keep his finger in the pie so he
called the SFC offering to teach two or three students without fee. They
forgot about his kind offer 10 seconds after they hung up. And so he said to
me, one day, "I can't even give it away," means, of course, his grand skill
at teaching.

Dan Leeson
dnleeson@-----.net
SKYPE: dnleeson

-----Original Message-----
From: Jim Lytthans [mailto:lytthans@-----.net]
Sent: Wednesday, February 13, 2008 2:39 PM
To: Klarinet Digest (Mail)
Subject: [kl] Clarinet Candy and Jimmy Abato

I just received a two-CD set called The Leroy Anderson Collection. On it
(the reason I ordered the set) is a recording of Clarinet Candy, with a
heavyweight quartet: Jimmy Abato, Herb Blayman, Roger Hiller and Bernie
Portnoy. Whew! What playing! Also on the discs are two recordings by
cornetist Jimmy Burke, who was with the Goldman Band for 32 years, plus the
Baltimore SO for seven. He had no use of his right hand at all, so he played
as a lefty, using a tripod support for the cornet. What an amazing player!

----------
Jim Lytthans, DMA
Anaheim, CA

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