Klarinet Archive - Posting 000157.txt from 2008/10

From: Bill Hausmann <bhausmann1@-----.net>
Subj: Re: [kl] Moving away from Shep Fields to something really awful
Date: Wed, 29 Oct 2008 00:06:35 -0400

At 09:07 PM 10/28/2008, you wrote:
>Now it is time to move on to something particularly bad. It was a
>band from the 30s and early 40s managed by a clarinet player named
>"Ted Lewis." He came out with a top hat and tipping it to the
>audience, he would say, "Is Everybody Happy???" I always thought
>that the Dixieland clarinetist Frank Teschmacher had the ugliest
>sound of anyone I ever heard until I heard Ted Lewis. Shep Fields
>was like the NY Philharmonic next to Ted Lewis' band.

Ted Lewis was an "entertainer" more than a musician, and he knew
it. In fact, he had Benny Goodman in his band for a while in
1931-32, and Benny blew the jazz solos, not Ted, on the recordings of
that time. Ted was willing to take CREDIT for them, though. Lewis'
wobble was unmatched until Mr. Acker Bilk in the '60's.

Bill Hausmann

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

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