 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: ned
Date: 2012-10-11 09:50
Here are some interesting quotes from some of the early jazz players as recorded in ‘’Hear Me Talkin’ To Ya’’ Shapiro & Hentoff (Dover Publication Inc 1955)
JOHNNY ST CYR ‘’A jazz musician have to be a working class of man, out in the open all the time, healthy and strong. That’s what’s wrong today, these new guys haven’t got the force’’
[Some truth in this probably, but I guess he never heard John Coltrane play one single number for an hour non stop.]
DANNY BARKER ‘ ...it was according to the hours (for a funeral parade). If the parade lasted from 9.00am to 6.00 pm – an all day parade – you’d probably get eight or nine dollars’’
[It’s hard work playing out doors for sure, let alone all day. How does $8 or $9 (early 20s) stack up in today’s money?]
JACK WEBER ‘’Most bands used two trumpet players, not for 1st and 2nd parts, but because a job would last from 9.00 am to 4.00 am (he may possibly mean 9.00 pm?). It took two good men to hold up under the strain of playing melody that many hours’’
[How about a clarinet player lasting the distance, and, over another 7 instruments?]
ARNOLD LOYACANO ‘’ ….but the hours were just too long; from eight at night until six or eight in the morning’’
[I can manage three hours OK, then I need a day off!]
WELLMAN BRAUD “…played at Dreamland until one o’clock and then played at the Pekin till six in the morning’’
[Enough said.....]
ALBERTA HUNTER ‘’ When you worked at the Dreamland, you worked from about seven thirty in the evening to three or four in the morning……’’
[….ditto!]
MUGGSY SPANIER ‘’The band played from about nine thirty to one a.m. and after hours they played the Pekin Café, one of the worst gangster hangouts in Chicago…….’’
[Men with iron chops also having to dodge lead bullets]
I’ve not yet finished this interesting book, but I thought it would be interesting to remind all of us, how very hard these folks worked, many for little pay, long hours, dangerous conditions and NO amplification in this pre first war and early post war era.
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Author: Ken Shaw ★2017
Date: 2012-10-11 12:45
In one of his books (I can't remember which), Jack Brymer wrote that professional playing requires an iron constitution. He himself was a physical conditioning instructor in the British armed forces before he became a professional clarinetist.
Ken Shaw
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Author: sonicbang
Date: 2012-10-11 20:23
Playing for many hours requires not just good physical condition, but very good playing technique. Even very small defects can cause fatigue well before it should come. I learned this last year when I was preparing for my MA diplom concert while playing in the West Side Story on Bb clarinet, bass clarinet and bari sax. Sometimes when there were two WSS performance on one day, I sill had to practise at least 3-4 hours. That was at least 7-8 hours of playing in one day. The first month was a disaster, but I got used to it. Nowdays, I have no stamina problem or issues with doubling.
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The Clarinet Pages
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