 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: stancl
Date: 2006-02-20 19:45
....... anyone know his preferred clarinet(s) and set-up ?
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Author: BobD
Date: 2006-02-20 20:56
What a coincidence! I just yesterday put a bunch of my old reel to reel recordings on the computer and among the pieces was "Love In the Open Air" by the Brass Ring of Phil Bodner....then I bought "The Genius of Phil Bodner" cd....and today was thinking of posting re him. I have never searched here but I don't recall anyone ever mentioning him.....and he was a great clarinet and sax player. However, I have no idea what make of horn he played....but it was black!! I would guess, however, that he could have made any horn sound good.
Bob Draznik
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Author: stancl
Date: 2006-02-20 22:04
I only discovered his recordings a few months ago ....... he is FANTASTIC !
I have the CD you mentioned and an older tape with primarily swing/dixieland music recorded with the Smithsonians.
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Author: BobD
Date: 2006-02-21 11:10
Bodner worked as a sideman for all the "greats" during the 40s and 50s and as such didn't develop much if any public awareness. He put together his own group ...the Brass Ring....must have been the very early sixties.
The recordings made by the Brass Ring do appear in web sites of the vinyl sellers. You have to have a liking for the music of groupls like Herb Alpert, Cal Tjader, Bert Kaemphert and such to dig the Brass Ring.....but Phil's solos on clarinet and sax should be appealing to anyone who likes BG and Artie. "Love In The Open Air" is a piece you probably won't find done by any other group.....and is one of my alltime faves.
Bob Draznik
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Author: AJN
Date: 2006-02-21 22:19
Yes, I'm a Phil Bodner fan. But I'm prejudiced. He's my cousin (first cousin of my father's, to be exact). Phillie, as we called him, started on the sax, I believe, but while still a kid began doubling on clarinet. The first I remember of him was much later--in the fifties, at which point he learned to play flute and oboe in addition. A year after I started playing the clarinet about 50 years ago, Phillie picked out my first real instrument--a Buffet "Academy Model." If I remember correctly, he swore by Buffets. I don't have any recent information about what he has been playing since, but that was his choice at the time anyway.
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Author: allencole
Date: 2006-02-22 07:09
You should also hear him playing English Horn on Oliver Nelson's "More Blues and the Abstract Truth." (Impulse)
Allen Cole
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Author: John J. Moses
Date: 2006-02-23 23:00
Phil Bodner and I played many "dates" together in NYC in the 1970-80s. He was a giant of a player, and everyone's favorite doubler. He played all the clarinets, all the flutes, and all the oboe & English horn parts on every big date in NYC. And yes, he was the great "back-up" jazz soloist behind almost every famous singer you can name. He played in a small jazz club just north of NYC after he left the studio scene here. I last heard him play in Nyack, NY a few years ago. I will forever be a big fan of the incomparable, Phil Bodner.
JJM
Légère Artist
Clark W. Fobes Artist
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Author: DougR
Date: 2006-02-25 01:45
I have one of those gimmicky Command lp's from the late 50s-early 60s that were intended to exploit the "new" medium known as hi-fi stereo. The LP is called "Reeds and Percussion," and Phil's on it--as a flutist/piccolo-ist (I imagine he doubles on other stuff as well, though not credited), along with Stan Webb, Wally Kane, Romeo Penque, Russ Banzer, Ezelle Watson, Al Klink, and the incomparable Toots Mondello on lead alto. I suppose it was commercial hack-work for these guys, but their technique & ensemble playing are impeccable, and with Toots on lead, the soli sections give me chills, they're that beautifully done. Among them, they play all the saxes (including bass), all the flutes (EXCEPT bass), all the double reeds except contra, and soprano & bass clarinets. I've had the record for well over forty years & just picked up a replacement, cheap, on You-Know-Where. It was undoubtedly just an afternoon session for Phil, but it's been in my head all these years. So yeah, I'm a Phil Bodner fan for sure!
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Author: stancl
Date: 2006-02-26 20:39
Thanks everyone for your interesting responses on a truly GREAT artist !
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