 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: dfh
Date: 2003-05-28 03:04
Happy Day! I just discoverd Barney Bigard. I did a search here on him, and mostly got ppl. recomending him - I gather he was Ellington's clarinetist? Can anyone recomend some recordings of him? I like Big Band stuff, but I really dig combo settings more. I have "The Great Summit" (which is GREAT!), and a Best of Duke E. Any history would be great also.
I'm also intrested in getting more Pete Fountain small combo recordings, and would love some advice on that too.
Thanks!
dfh
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Author: JMcAulay
Date: 2003-05-28 04:28
Okay, so I'm asleep part of the time. I miss a lot that way. But the credits on the album from GBK's link include a whole bunch of great players, including "Charlie Barnet, Chimes." Barnet on CHIMES??? Wow! News to me.
I noticed on a chart of "Mood Indigo" last weekend that the lyrics were credited to "Albany Bigard." Curious that sources differ on whether his real name was Albany Leon Bigard or Leon Albany Bigard. Whichever, he sure could play a Clarinet. I wonder, as he was a student of Lorenzo Tio (Jr., or Sr., or both), did Bigard play Albert?
Regards,
John
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Author: GBK
Date: 2003-05-28 04:58
John...I'm fairly certain it was Albany Leon ("Barney") Bigard.
Lorenzo Tio also taught Albert Nicholas, Jimmy Noone, Omer Simeon, and Sidney Bechet. They all played Albert system with double lip embouchure (Nicholas later switched to Boehm) ...GBK
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Author: geo
Date: 2003-05-28 05:01
hello dfh,
Bigard, Hodges & Morton were the musicians who got me interested in jazz a long time ago...
Bigard was with Ellington from 1927(?) until 1942 and you will find a lot of his solo work on those recordings . Some of my favorite recordings were made with the Ellington small bands between 1936-41 where the soloists were given a bit more room to express themselves, (consisting of members of the Ellington Orchestra under such names as "Barney Bigard & his Jazzopaters", "The Gotham Stompers", "Cootie William & His Rug Cutters", Johnny Hodges & His Orch.", Rex Stewart & His 52nd St. Stompers....). He also recorded a beautiful version of "Turtle Twist" (1929) with Jelly Roll Morton and 5 wonderfull cuts with Django Reinhardt & Rex Stewart (Feetwarmers) in 1939.
There are many anthologies of Bigard, the Ellington Orchestra and the Ellington small bands, just do a search at Amazon or the like. I have some on vinyl and some on CD but they tend to come and go out of print rather quickly these days.
A few CDs of many which may or may bot be in print:
An Introduction to Barney Bigard 1928-1941; Label: Best of Jazz; Nr. 4028
The Duke Ellington Small Bands - Back Room Romp; Label CBS Portrait; RK 44094
Django Reinhardt & His American Friends Vol. 2; BGO; BGOCD249
Duke Ellington: Small Groups Vol. 1; Columbia; C2K 46995
Duke Ellington, The Duke's Men: Small Groups Vol. 2; Columbia; 472994 2
If you like the small combo swing, I would also suggest checking out Edmond Hall's small groups from the 1940's (e.g. Edmond Hall's (Celeste) Quartet, Blue Note Jazzmen, Sextet, Cafe Society Orchestra - the Blue Note label has re-released a lot of these or if you prefer a bit more HiFi, the Albums "Petite Fleur", "Rumpus on Rampard St." (check eBay) or on CD "In Copenhagen" ), and of course Benny Goodman's Trio/Quartet/Sextet (I especially like his playing when together with Charlie Christian, for me it seems, Christian causes him to let go and fly).
Good luck to you!
Geoff
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Author: JMcAulay
Date: 2003-05-28 05:15
GBK: So was I, but the "MusicWeb Encyclopædia of Popular Music" as well as "The Official Artie Shaw Website" list him as Leon Albany Bigard. And as we all know, if it's on the internet, it's bound to be true. Right?
And yes, I know just about everyone Papa Tio taught (and many taught by Lorenzo Jr.) played double-lip embouchure on an Albert, at least originally. But I've never been sure about Bigard. Figured he likely played an Albert, anyway.
Regards,
John
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Author: katchow
Date: 2003-05-28 12:41
i just got a barney bigard album off of emusic last week...simply known as Barney Bigard and his Jazz Greats. Its got some nice tunes on it (although a few forgettable ones).
anyone thats into jazz and has a fast connection might look into to emusic...they have a huge fantasy records catalog among others. also, some nice classical. i highly reccomend it, especially for those of us who like trying new artists without fear of shelling 17 bucks a cd...
katchow
has anbody ever come across any jimmy hamilton solo recordings? he's another ellington fav of mine
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Author: geo
Date: 2003-05-28 13:28
katchow, did you ever here "Cool Sunrise" on "Jam Session in Swingville" ( Prestige PCD-24051-2, rec. 1961)? It's really a showcase recording for Coleman Hawkins & Pee Wee Russell, but Hamilton arranged and solos on the first four tracks (with Hawkins/Higginbotham/Hopkins.., track 5 is a pn/bs/dr trio & tracks 6-11 are with without Hamilton/Hawkins & with Russell/Dickenson/Sears/Tate..).
I bought Jimmy Hamilton's solo Album/CD "Sweet But Hot" (Drive Entertainment DE2-41204, rec. 1954) a few years ago, it never tore me from my seat, but it features a lot of Hamilton's fine cool, liquid smooth solo work.
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Author: geo
Date: 2003-05-28 13:36
sorry "hear" not "here", my English is deteriorating here..
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Author: katchow
Date: 2003-05-28 13:59
No, i haven't heard any of those. cool, i'll have to check that out...i always liked his (jimmy's) playing on the Far East Suite...apparently, Billy Strayhorn loved writing parts especially for him. A lot of its pretty far from the typical jazz clarinet idiom...
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Author: John Morton
Date: 2003-05-29 00:01
I'm sure many in this group would love the John Kirby Sextet ("Biggest Little Band in the Land" , or somesuch). Bassist Kirby had a crackerjack combo around 1936 to 1942 or so, featuring Buster Bailey and Russel Procope on reeds, and the great Charlie Shavers on trumpet. Their repertoire was demanding, and they must have been incredibly well rehearsed. A number of their tunes were jazzed versions of classical themes. There is a 2-CD set available now, but I don't have details just now.
John
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Author: Mark Pinner
Date: 2003-05-29 11:30
To all those in the Balmain vicinity next Tuesday 3 June I will be doing some simple system clarinet playing, and possibly C melody sax or bassoon, at the Exchange Hotel Balmain, cnr Beatty and Mullens St Balmain, Sydney, Australia from around 8 to 11. I spent a lot of time studying Bigard and Sidney Bechet's styles and they gave me lots of ideas.
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Author: martin
Date: 2003-05-29 22:21
Aside from the many great recordings Bigard made with Ellington and small group off-shoots from the band he can also be heard with Louis Armstrong-
Louis Plays Fats
Louis plays W.C. Handy
Loius and Duke
Bigard also led some small groups- The Pelican Trio on Jazzology and
Barney Bigard and Art Hodes on Delmark
All of the above have a hifi sound the Ellingtons lack.
Martin
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Author: ned
Date: 2003-06-01 02:00
I'm glad you have discovered Barney Bigard. I have been mentioning this player and other New Orleans players over the years on this site and was beginning to think that hardly anyone was interested. It's good to see the response to this post from "dfh".
For a whole heap of information and recordings of BB and many many others go to the following website http://www.redhotjazz.com/ and search for Barney Bigard.
Whilst you're at it look for Albert Nicholas, Omer Simeon, Jimmy Noone, Johnny Dodds, Irving Fazola, Sidney Bechet, Edmond Hall..........and many others. They're all N.O. players and they represent the foundations of jazz clarinet playing originating in the city of its birth.
Bigard played Albert system - by the way.
JK
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Author: ron b
Date: 2003-06-01 04:56
You're a man after me own heart John K.
During my musically 'formative years' (through [U.S.] high school) I was as close to being ridiculed by fellow musicians as it gets because of my interest in early (N.O.) jazz players - not only the clarinet players, all of 'em, musicians. The ridiculers felt it wan not cool to enjoy old stuff.
Later in life I discovered I was not alone and made many friends who also appreciated some of 'the finer things'. I also had the good fortune along the way to meet some of the ledendaries, mostly quite fleeting and casual, but was fortunate to have spent some quality time with George Lewis. You listed in your post those (among many others) that I listened to intently during my 'bleak period'.
Thank you for reminding me of that 'character building' time in my life when I developed, in spite of the trendy majority rule, a sense that good music is not difficult to recognize if you'll just listen with your heart.
Perhaps that's why I also love classical music (as did George L., by the way).
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Author: ned
Date: 2003-06-02 07:26
ron b,
I knew I was part of a small group of admirers of N.O. clarinet players. Perhaps we can encourage other of the more classically schooled to listen to "our" players.
Seems that a lot of classically trained people are put off by jazz tone and vibrato - they could learn a lot by listening to Bigard - no vibrato [practically] and it does not matter one bit as he has the TONE.
I may be risking life and death here, but I would say that some of the classicically trained players lack a little "life" in their playing and concentrate on having perfect reading skills to the detriment of expression. I could be accused somewhat of a generalisation here but, having listed to [and I own and enjoy] a number of CDs of classical performances, which are very good in their own right - these artists can certainly show me a thing or two in the technique department and I practice to them as well - but for sheer listening enjoyment, jazz is it.
JK
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Author: D Dow
Date: 2003-06-02 12:46
Bigard did a tune with Ellington called Stompy Jones with great clarinetistry!!
One of my favourite tones out there!!
David Dow
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