 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: FrankM
Date: 2005-12-23 13:35
I was playing a big band gig the other day and during one of the breaks another reed player and I were talking about who we’ve been listening to lately, what recent CDs we should check out, etc. As usual, names like Coltrane, Getz et al. kept coming up as we compared/contrasted them to the “newer” guys. Then my friend laughed and said his first real influence was Boots Randolf ! He said the reason he plays sax is because he heard “Yackety Sax” as a kid and it made him want a sax. It got me thinking….the reason I wanted to play clarinet as a kid was because of a vinyl 45 ( for you young folks, it’s like a big black CD with a large hole in the middle) my Dad had of “Wild Cat Blues” with , I believe, Monty Sunshine on clarinet. I heard that as a kid and had to have a clarinet.
It made me think of the thread a few days ago about great contributions to the clarinet…
As “mature” musicians, we all like to analyze Marcellus’ interpretations of some piece or complain about Stoltzman’s use of vibrato, but the bottom line is it was probably some guy you heard/saw as kid (Monty Sunshine, Aker Bilk, Pete Fountain, Boots, Kenny G etc) who made you want to play the instrument because they made it look like fun ! I guess my point is, while we love to discuss the nuances of the classical giants, it was probably one of the above mentions people ( or maybe an unknown local hero) that got you here in the first place ! They deserve more respect ! Happy Holidays. !
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Author: William
Date: 2005-12-23 14:41
Marcella (Marcie) Spicer, clarinetist with the Pardeeville (WI) City Band, when I first started playing clarinet in the 4th grade. It is her beautiful clarinet sound that I have been trying to emulate all of these years. In her younger years (1930s), she studied at the Milwaukee Conservatory of Music and played an early set of Buffet clarinets with a case label reading, "The Sweetest Clarinet Ever Made"--and she sounded like it.
Recently, I have been negotiating with her surving husband (hornist) to let me try her clarinet, but he prefers to keep to stored as she "last put it away". He did give the A clarinet to her grandson to use in an orchestra, but the Bb remains "at rest". I can understand..................
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Author: Brent
Date: 2005-12-23 16:15
My dad, who played professionally for 30-some years.
Past that, i remember being in Jr. High and playing Pete Fountain LPs on my sister's record player at 16-2/3 speed so that i could learn the licks at half speed and work up to tempo. I can still play Muskrat Ramble exactly as Pete did (on one record anyway!).
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Author: ron b
Date: 2005-12-23 17:15
I wanted to play the violin.
One Christmas, a clarinet became available.
Artie, Benny and Woody were the clarinet superstars at the time.
I was, however, more impressed by Opie Cates and aspired to imitate him. Then Reginald Kell became an object of hero worship for me for a long time. After all these years and many grand and great clarinet heros...
I still sound like myself.
Merry Christmas, Happy New Year... and many fond memories to you all! 
- ron b -
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Author: Tony Beck
Date: 2005-12-23 17:17
My first clarinet influence was Micky Katz. He played with Spike Jones for quite a while and made some similar records on his own. He is also Joel Gray's dad, for what that's worth.
Anyway, I got his klezmer recording "Music for Weddings, Bar Mitzvahs and Brisses" and wore it out. His speed, dexterity and range of voices really impressed me, and kept me practicing. I never got close, but he was my first inspiration.
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Author: ohsuzan
Date: 2005-12-23 17:46
The first clarinetist I remember admiring was Pete Fountain. This was back in his Lawrence Welk days, when I was about 14 years old. It seems to me he had a hit tune called, "Petit Fleur". Or am I thinking of someone else?
I was already a struggling clarinetist at this point, feeling terrifically geeky (which was my normal state of being then). It was quite an ego boost to have a tune featuring MY instrument become a hit. Made me think that maybe a smidgen of cool might be possible for me, after all.
I went looking for the sheet music for it, and drew a lot of blank stares. Never did find it, but in the search I found a great book of Bach's unaccompanied partitas (transcribed for clarinet from cello) that I still count as being among the most useful collections of music I have ever owned. But *very* geeky.
Susan
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Author: BobD
Date: 2005-12-23 20:30
Oh, yeh, Woody Herman.....I was thinking Allen for a minute. I guess music for Brisses was on the cutting edge at that time. No clarinetist influenced me to take up the instrument. It was the second choice offered to me when the teacher said my overbite was bad for trumpet. BG certainly was an influence later on as was Reginald Kell. Petit Fleur was Sidney Bechet's composition, by the way, and it wasn't named after a little flower.
Bob Draznik
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Author: Clarinetgirl06
Date: 2005-12-23 22:08
My mom and my dad had both played the clarinet and it made me want to as well. I think it's one way I can remember my dad. I wanted to have something in common with him I think. I'm not sure, but they were my 2 big influences. Plus, we already had 2 clarinets!
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Author: Chalumeau Joe
Date: 2005-12-25 23:56
We seemed to have a lot of Dixieland playing on the stereo -- I loved it and wanted to learn the trumpet. My parents nixed it because my older brother played trumpet, and two trumpeters was apparently more than they could handle. My brother told me I should play the clarinet -- I still thank him for it.
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