The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: John Morton
Date: 2004-04-26 21:16
I heard a couple of sets last weekend by a player named Craig Flory, who has a significant resume in various forms of jazz from archaic to modern. I have not (knowingly) heard his style of articulation before, but I was dazzled to the point where it's either quit or try and learn to do this.
It sounded like a very soft-edged tonguing, completely unlike staccato. He would continue this through passages of quick 16ths where most players would cease tonguing. My closest appoximation of what this guy does is my version of double-tonguing, which is not yet perfectly even and does not work well in the altissimo.
The many contributors here who know their famous clarinetists probably know this sound from the playing of the great performers. But I honestly felt I was hearing something for the first time, a marvelous tool I would dearly love to acquire. ("dream on", you're saying ...)
I'm not asking for advice on how to speed up my tonguing - I'd just like to know if this articulation might be a particular technique that goes by a name I don't know.
thanks
John Morton
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Author: John Morton
Date: 2004-04-27 00:39
> What is "archaic" jazz?
> Todd W.
I guess that's a term I've come to use for music that has not been revived repeatedly since being first performed in the 1920s. There are interesting groups who take their repertoire from old 78s and earlier sheet music, but steer clear of Dixieland cliches. One such is what I just heard, a Seattle outfit called The YesYes Boys: ukulele, clarinet/alto, string bass, percussion (washboard, woodblock, mini-highhat). Sounds hokey, but these folks could really play.
John
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Author: cowboyjonus
Date: 2004-04-27 02:22
i call this doodle tounging
you just do a double tounge stroke above the m piece
jj
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Author: ken
Date: 2004-04-27 02:32
John wrote: "I guess that's a term I've come to use for music that has not been revived repeatedly since being first performed in the 1920s."
So, how many revivals in a repeat? I know, the career sum of how many times Ted Lewis shouted "is everybody happy?!" Defining Dixieland music or Traditional Jazz as "archaic" is as defamatory as labeling classical music "legit". Surely, John meant it with affection and due reverence. Mr. Flory sounds like an outstanding jazz musician, I'll keep and eye and ear out for his music here in South Florida...
Doodle tonguing is brass/trumpet terminology but does depict the technique accurately...
Post Edited (2004-04-27 02:35)
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Author: John Morton
Date: 2004-04-27 05:24
I didn't mean to stir up trouble by using that word. Yes, I'm always in search of this stuff, whatever it is, and I do regard it with affection. And it would never be mistaken for Dixieland, which has an established repertoire that has been popular since the first New Orleans revival (late 30s?).
I have to go now and work on my doodle tounging.
John
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Author: Todd W.
Date: 2004-04-29 22:17
John --
Thanks for your definition. I figured you were using the term affectionately, but wasn't quite sure what you were describing. Perhaps "rare early jazz" might work. Or "authentic early New Orleans-style jazz"?
Todd W.
BTW, "doodle" double tongueing for some reason puts me in mind of a lyric from Cabaret: "Beedle-dee-deedle-dee-dee, Two Ladies . . ." etc. But perhaps we shouldn't go there.
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