 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: john gibson
Date: 2001-02-03 21:26
Thought I'd start a new one so you wouldn't have to wade through all the others in Amanda's question on who is the best clarinetist.....
Artie Shaw...because he was a musician not just a music reader.
Boy is this going to get me in trouble.
John
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Author: Bob Sparkman
Date: 2001-02-04 12:12
Trouble?! I don't think so. When you get into jazz/swing players, personal taste rules. Artie Shaw was a superb clarinetist, but also had a band that may have been the most musical of the white swing bands. Benny probably played hotter. Both were elegant and inventive. Taken together, the number of superb New Orleans, Chicago and Swing clarinetists of the 1920-1950 era was staggering. Obscure names like Omer Simeon, Joe Marsala, Rod Cless, Irving Fazola, Edmond Hall, Pee Wee Russell, Gene Cedric, just begin to show what a golden period it was for clarinet. And don't forget the few exquisite recordings Lester Young made on a metal clarinet. He brought his laid back, suave sax approach to the clarinet in a way that's never been quite equalled. All this is not to minimize later players like Buddy DeFranco, Jimmy Giuffre or Eddie Daniels - or Kenny Davern and Bob Wilber.
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Author: Anji
Date: 2001-02-04 12:52
At least you have chosen someone who was amongst the first widely recorded players who really took his traing seriously.
Just as Bob has said, real talents take the instrument in tonally different directions. This is the real instrumental advantage we have over flutists (it is very difficult to much modify the sound.) and some strings.
Do keep in mind that the biggest names are rarely the best players.
Kenny G., anyone?
anji
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Author: Bob Sparkman
Date: 2001-02-04 13:38
Hey Anji! Boy, are you right on the mark! The individual sounds of each of the great stylists is one of the marvelous fascinations of clarinet playing, even in "classical" music where the "strictures" are greater. Great fun with other clarinetists is to play "blindfold" tests to see who can identify more players by their sound and syle. My wife and used to do this a lot, until we ran out of players! Speaking of Kenny G (heh,heh,heh!!!) or just plain yuk --- Have you seen Pat Metheny's critique of Kenny G's over-dub on Louis Armstrong's "It's A Wonderful World"? It is a doozie, and says it all. Best regards.
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Author: Francesca
Date: 2001-02-04 22:13
Maybe I missed something here. What about Richard Stoltzman? That's how I got involved with the clarinet in the first place.
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Author: earl
Date: 2001-02-04 23:55
Was'nt Rod Cless also a member of the Chicago Symphony years ago? I only heard his work on the Mugsy Spanier records. His playing was very good, as was Peanuts Hucko and the fellow who worked with the Joe Mooney small group....Andy something, I think. I have to agree with you on Artie Shaw. That high "B" in his timeless record of Stardust with Billy Butterfield and Jack Jenny is way ahead of its time, I believe.
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Author: Anji
Date: 2001-02-05 02:03
Last, and probably, not final words on the subject.
If I could sing well, I would sing as great clarinetists play... with the horn laying out the detail of their intention and musical notions. Sappy players employ "Pop" hooks and tricks to hold an inattentive audience. They tend to have no personal ideas to express, and are often smooth to the point of slickness.
The great ones are always fresh, but never out of touch with their audience.
It's a fine line to walk, betwixt accessibility and dreck.
How rare it is (and it happened fairly often in the Swing era) when an evanescent talent could hold popular appeal.
Pandering, and packaging over-produced treacle is about selling records.
(If you step in Menudo, can you get it off your shoes?)
Music, and at times, art, is about stopping people in their tracks with the "Why didn't I think of that?" moment.
So how do you tell what's really good? Each time a player is heard, do they show another layer of depth? Do you have tears of joy? Do you forget which instrument is played? It's about the music, after all.
anji
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Author: Bob Sparkman
Date: 2001-02-05 11:47
To Earl -- Rod Cless was definitely a Chicagoan and he doubled flute as well as saxaphone, but I don't think he played with the Chicago Symphony, tho' I could be wrong. He had a marvelous tone, and was one of the few Chicagoans who remained true to the New Orleans style of playing. Those Muggsy Spanier records were the first jazz I ever heard, and I still treasure them. I heard Cless once in NY in 1944 - he died very young, but did also record with Art Hodes on Blue Note Records. Peanuts Hucko was the best of the Goodman followers, played with Louis Armstrong and the "World's Greatest Jazz Band", and a lot with Eddie Condon - does anyone know if he's still active? Andy of the Joe Mooney Quartet was Andy Fitzgerald, another super player. Had as great control on top as Artie Shaw and was active in the NY - NJ area last I heard. Nice guy, also. Yeah, that Shaw "Stardust" is just beautiful. Nice listening, Earl. Best regards.
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Author: Bob Sparkman
Date: 2001-02-05 11:50
To Anji - Well put! I got my take on vibrato listening to the great singer Billy Eckstine. What elegance and control! Your words are true and telling!! Best regards.
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Author: Bob Sparkman
Date: 2001-02-05 13:14
To Francesca -- No intended slight of Richard Stoltzman, a superb player. Heard him do the Mozart Quartet at Holy Trinity Church in NYC and the natural acoustical amplification was beautifully matched with the elegance and lightness of his reading. He was accompanied by Tashi (his string quartet), and they also did a lovel "suite" of Gershwin melodies, which was stunning. A measure of his depth as a player is Tashi's rendering of Messian's "Quartet For The End Of Time" which is so soul shaking it's scary. A first rank player!
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