 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Clarinet1937
Date: 2016-07-10 03:17
I know that some people thinks that jazz could be played on any clarinet, that's true, but I also think that it's true that some clarinets are more jazzy. Not only sound wise but in the why how the play and wants to be played. Anybody who plays jazz on a Libertas? What's your impressions?
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Author: jdbassplayer
Date: 2016-07-10 06:41
Between the two Ridenour Bb models, the Libertas is probably the best suited for jazz. I find that mine is very free blowing and has a big full sound. I use a medium-close mouthpiece with mine but if you want an extra "authentic" jazz setup you can use a more open mouthpiece. Hope this is helpful.
-Jdbassplayer
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Author: bmcgar ★2017
Date: 2016-07-11 07:48
What's "jazzy"? I'm lost.
Are you saying that you want to sound like a jazz clarinetist? If so, which one?
There's as much or more variation in sound among top jazz players than there is among top classical players, so just saying that you want to sound "jazzy" doesn't tell us much, not even considering all the other facets of jazz playing.
B.
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Author: ned
Date: 2016-07-11 10:21
Whichever type/brand of clarinet you choose for jazz, don't forget though, it's essential that you also use a jazz ligature and jazz cork grease.
You CAN use a non-jazz mouthpiece cap though, as it actually comes off the mouthpiece prior to the playing of jazz.
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Author: Clarinet1937
Date: 2016-07-11 10:38
I don't want to sound as any one just want to know what people think about the Libertas for jazz. Many people seams to be very happy about this clarinet but I think it's mostly non jazz players. I wonder why? Maybe just because it's a genre where people don't like to try new ideas.
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Author: Clarineteer
Date: 2016-07-11 14:26
The likes of Artie Shaw, Benny Goodman and even Henry Questa seemed to gravitate towards Selmer clarinets for jazz back in the day using models such as the RI, BT, CT, and Series 9. I remember seeing a quote from Artie Shaw saying that the Selmer had more shout.
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Author: seabreeze
Date: 2016-07-11 17:15
Of course, jazz didn't begin or end with Shaw, Goodman and Cuesta. Pete Fountain and Buddy DeFranco both played LeBlancs for most of their careers, with DeFranco eventually switching to Yamaha. Andy Firth and Felix Peikli play Buffets, Eddie Daniels played Buffets for a long time and now plays Backuns. Andy Miles plays both jazz and classical on the same German Oehler system clarinet, and Michael White plays traditional New Orleans jazz on a Wurlitzer Reform Boehm clarinet. Goodman switched from Selmer to Buffet late in his career and still played jazz. Shaw played Selmer and Conn big bore instruments but later used a smaller bore Buffet on the Grammercy Five recordings. Most of the early New Orleans jazz players played Albert system instruments, some Selmer, some Buffet, some other brands (including George Lewis's metal Pedler, though he later switched to a wood Selmer). Today, Evan Christopher plays tradition-influenced jazz on a Selmer Albert system clarinet.
What to conclude from all this? Jazz can obviously be played on just about any clarinet of decent design that is in working order, and that category would include the Libertas as well as the Selmers, Leblancs, Buffets, Yamahas, etc. Ridenour does not do much national advertising and you can't walk into most local music stores and pick up one of his instruments, new or used. That's probably why you don't see lots of jazz players using them.
An interesting fact about Tom Ridenour, the designer of the Libertas, is that in his early years, he listened avidly to Pete Fountain, and Fountain's playing motivated Tom to take up the clarinet! Ridenour says "I ended up being a professional musician because of him [Fountain]." So Tom Ridenour is no stranger to the jazz idiom. I would ask him what he thinks about playing jazz on his Libertas clarinet. Read Ridenour's comments here as he expresses his appreciation of Fountain's playing with the Welk Band on "Tiger Rag":
http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=lawrence+welk+pete+fountain+tiger+rag.
Post Edited (2016-07-17 22:33)
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Author: Mirko996
Date: 2016-07-11 20:40
You can play jazz with every kind of instrument. I listened Sidney Bechet play with Louis Armstrong with Sarrusophone. A metal basson, it looks like sax.
You can play jazz with plastic clarinet, it doesn't depend if you buy a Selmer or Leblanc or Patricola. Depend which kind of sound you are searching...
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Author: MarlboroughMan
Date: 2016-07-11 21:22
"You CAN use a non-jazz mouthpiece cap though"
THIS IS HERESY!
Everyone knows you need a special Selmer Magnitone first-run expandable jazz mouthpiece cap, rust free, from a specific storeroom in New Orleans to properly play jazz. It's helpful, too, if you have a picture of Sidney Bechet drinking whiskey out of it.
I agree with the rest of your post.
Eric
******************************
The Jazz Clarinet
http://thejazzclarinet.blogspot.com/
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Author: Mirko996
Date: 2016-07-12 05:15
You must spend to become jazz, like every musician in the past, they had super indisctuctible clarinet play alone like roll piano and you don't need to play music, and you must have the jazz cap to play jazz because the jazz cap is fundamental ahaahahaha
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Author: NetG
Date: 2016-07-17 22:08
Interesting posts on this site as usual! I recently got a Yamaha YCL 250 in a pawn shop for $100 - I use it all the time for jazz. This clarinet has been down and out, living the pawn shop life, and it comes through on the horn when I play blues or jazz...it sat in the window for 3 months, and I often wonder what this clarinet has seen and been through. It is a bit tough on the high F, but that may be me. My Buffet E12f isn't as bluesy or jazzy, I think because it is spoiled and pampered, and used to "la dolce vita". Hope this helps!
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Author: fskelley
Date: 2016-07-17 22:54
NetG- that's a cool concept, that it's more what a clarinet has been through than how it was originally made. I'm pretty sure that's how it works for the clarinetist as well.
And that makes me feel better about my Arioso also- it and a handful of its siblings were set aside for 5 or 10 years after the Ridenours moved on to the Lyrique 576BC (same design with a few more flourishes)... "nobody wants me". But I appreciate it.
Stan in Orlando
EWI 4000S with modifications
Post Edited (2016-07-17 23:02)
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Author: Ursa
Date: 2016-07-17 23:13
Stan and NetG...my Pan American 48M alto sax has always had a chip on its shoulder. It would've been someone's beloved Conn, but because all the tone-holes couldn't be rolled, it ended up just a Pan American, and sat in someone's closet, unloved, for decades...
But I love it. She is a beauty. Mostly unplayed, it's also undented, unrusted, and unworn. I'm set for life on alto.
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Author: fskelley
Date: 2016-07-17 23:41
Ursa (Gregory)- I have an unplayable Pan American junker clarinet I bought a few years ago to practice my repair skills on- but it's got a busted F#/C# lever so I imagine it's beyond practical repair (anybody out there got a part for it?).
And I never figured it was that great a clarinet to begin with. Was that an unfair characterization? Might it be a wonderful jazz horn- better than a Libertas could ever hope to be?
Stan in Orlando
EWI 4000S with modifications
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Author: Ursa
Date: 2016-07-18 00:12
Stan, I have a metal Pan American 884N and once had a hard rubber 58N. The 58N was wonderful for jazz. Had I known what I know now, I'd had a tech adjust the key touches to better suit my hands--the configuration as-found was rather awkward; that's why I sold it.
For the time and trouble involved in scrounging up a single lever, you'd be better off just buying another Pan Am off of a leading Internet auction site. That's where I picked up the 58N--for just $29, and in near-mint condition, to boot.
Many--perhaps most--of the non-wooden Pan Ams that don't have "Zyloid" inscribed on them are hard rubber, not plastic.
Honestly, that 58N was the next-best thing to a Centered Tone for Big Band. It could lay waste to a trumpet section.
Post Edited (2016-07-18 00:14)
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Author: Ursa
Date: 2016-07-18 00:27
Stan...Pan American was an interesting marque. Some of their stuff was designed from scratch to be lower-priced instruments, BUT other models were rebadged Conn models that had been replaced by updated versions--they just kept the older Conn model in production as a Pan American. There are some gems to be found for those willing to do a little homework.
I suspect the 58N was an old Conn. It did not have the cheap pot metal keys found on other Pan Ams, and played very well indeed.
Since you have an interest in hard rubber instruments, the ebonite Pan Ams could offer you an interesting alternative to your Ridenour.
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Author: Wes
Date: 2016-07-18 01:54
Actually, my last R13 that I bought came from the factory with the chord changes programmed in. There is no need to sweat the changes as all one has to do is to turn it loose. It even does those great flatted ninths on seventh chords!
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Author: ned
Date: 2016-07-18 04:57
NetG wrote: ''......it sat in the window for 3 months, and I often wonder what this clarinet has seen and been through''
Well there's something new, an anthropomorphised clarinet. Quite obviously it IS a jazz clarinet, given that it has been living a genuine ''down-and-out'' existence in some shop, somewhere or other.
Will you be able to do it justice, I wonder? Have you experienced the down-and-outs as well?
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Author: Bear55Selmer
Date: 2022-06-05 01:33
You know…. I taught music for thirty years…am 66 years old….and have played music since age 10. We all know That one of the best ways to learn jazz other than finding a terrific teacher is to have a mentor. This is not only true in jazz but In teaching all forms of music as well. I have read some of these replies to this young person And I cringe. Don’t get me wrong I have a sense of humor much like all other musicians in the world if I haven’t said it I am sure I have laughed at it. When a novice comes to this site seeking information and education the best we can do is to respect their question and try to give them the best answer we can. The novice reads things on boards like this and take it as Gospel. It is the nature of their current personality and to their environment. It is our job as oldies and hopefully still goodies that we pass on relative and good Information. To answer this young person to the best of my ability I will say over the years I have played classical chamber jazz and big band clarinet With a Selmer Series 10 G B-flat clarinet and a Vandoren 2rv mouthpiece.
To too many college clarinet instructors this is considered a classical set up. This is also my Jazz set up. My immediate advice for this poster is to continue to play jazz on your current setup. Don’t make immediate or expensive changes all at one time. Do One little thing at a time.. like reed changes… mouthpiece, etc. at a time until you find the sound you like. Do yourself a favor and ignore arrogant ill-advised advice. No… I will not be buying a jazz clarinet cap. Very funny.
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Author: Tony F
Date: 2022-06-05 11:11
It's all in the player. I use the same set-up for everything. When I play jazz it sounds like jazz, when I play orchestral it sounds classical, when I play in a concert band it sounds bandy. I make it sound the way I want it to sound. Same mouthpiece, reed, ligature, clarinet, different sounds.
Tony F.
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Author: Carmelo
Date: 2022-06-10 05:52
Barry
Excellent advice I play on the Lyrique 576Bc and wound not change anything. Its more than capable of playing jazz and classical alike. I guess for those maybe a change of mouthpiece or reed here and there would suffice. Other than that excellent points!!
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