 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Fred
Date: 2004-05-12 12:50
I was watching an old flic last night - I think it was called "The Fabulous Dorseys". This film's only claim to fame is that Tommy Dorsey and Jimmy Dorsey played themselves in it. Jimmy played a bit of clarinet in the film, and guess what? The upper joint on his clarinet in the film (consistently - not just one scene) had a crack repaired with two silver bands. Here we are running away from cracked instruments and Jimmy thought nothing of using one in the film. I know - Jimmy wasn't the best clarinet player in the world . . . but he enjoyed a great deal more success than many players that feel it beneath them to play a cracked clarinet. Time to put away the excuses I suppose.
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Author: Don Berger
Date: 2004-05-12 14:06
I vaguely recall the film, some fine playing, my most re-memorable part was, while fighting as kids, "Hit him, but not on the lip" . Don
Thanx, Mark, Don
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Author: William
Date: 2004-05-12 14:07
Another example of, "it isn't so much the equipement, but more the player".
Jimmy Dorsey is best known for his alto saxophone, but he was a clarinet player first--and a good one at that. There is a recorded collection "out there" of his clarinetting--perhaps someone can provide additional info (GBK??) or a source.
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Author: CPW
Date: 2004-05-12 14:20
IMHO JD was a superb clar playah.
I seem to recall that he committed suicide after developing oral cancer. Is this true??
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Author: Roger Aldridge
Date: 2004-05-12 16:56
Jimmy Dorsey's clarinet work can be found on several Frankie Trumbauer recordings that are available on CD.
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Author: JMcAulay
Date: 2004-05-12 18:54
Fred wrote: "Jimmy wasn't the best clarinet player in the world...." Well, okay, but surely he was in the top ten. One of my favorites, even. No doubt partly because my father (who seemed to know just about everybody) had introduced me to JD, who was very easy for a kid who played the Clarinet to talk with.
One harsh incident happened after the movie was made. JD broke a Clarinet (which did not survive) over the head of an audience member. The guy had been irritating beyond the maximum tolerable, and the Clarinet was sacrificed. When I heard JD play after that, he was using a back-up Clarinet, not yet having found just the right Albert. And I never asked what brand he played.
Regards,
John
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Author: Alseg
Date: 2004-05-12 20:21
I believe his Alto sax was the old Selmer "cigar cutter" model.
As a clarinetist, he was very good. I was not aware until today that he used the Albert system.
His band style was distinctive, pressaging the hotter style of Kenton et al that came later. Tommy's was of the sweeter variety.
A local college jazz radio show sometimes features some of their stuff on Sat. nights, and they are a real treat. WDUQ in Western PA. 90.5FM for those who can hear it.
I, too, heard that he committed suicide--found dead in a closet as I recall--following treatment for oral malignancy. Perhaps someone more familiar with his story could elaborate.
?He hit an audience member with the clarinet? For real?
Gosh...sounds like Phil Specter or Sinatra.
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Author: Fred
Date: 2004-05-13 00:15
Jimmy Dorsey died of cancer on June 12, 1957 - according to the sources I've found. I found no sources hinting that his death was a suicide. Incidently, those sources also stated that he started out on trumpet and switched later to alto sax and then clarinet.
I was pleasantly surprised by the kind words for his playing. I was actually prepared for a depressing thread running down another player that made it. My earlier post may have been misconstrued as critical of Jimmy, but that was not my intent. It was more of an attempt to head off that sort of diatribe by not placing him on a clarinet pedestal since his fame really came on alto sax.
It is sooooo difficult for a musician to be commercially successful. Yet many that are successful find their playing criticized at length by other musicians. I hope Kenny G and Acker Bilk don't read internet postings, but they've both made it where countless others didn't - for whatever reason.
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Author: diz
Date: 2004-05-13 01:24
GBK ... I'm afraid I don't know this guy (I am an ignorant Aussie afterall) and, being at work can't listen to these files as there are strict rules on software (understanably).
Is your tongue in your cheek or do you honestly admire him?
(serious question by the way)
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Author: GBK
Date: 2004-05-13 02:28
Jimmy Dorsey's band had many hits which are now standards. In our big band we play a number of his charts and the audience reaction is always positive as the tunes bring back great memories of the big band era. He helped to launch the careers of some of the greatest big band era vocalists.
His clarinet playing was functional and appealing, but his alto sax technique was in a class by itself.
Anyone who has ever tried to play "Oodles of Noodles" will have new respect for Jimmy Dorsey's prodigious alto sax skill ...GBK
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Author: ned
Date: 2004-05-13 07:41
''When I heard JD play after that, he was using a back-up Clarinet, not yet having found just the right Albert. And I never asked what brand he played. ''
So............ JD played an Albert system - that's news to me - I must get the magnifying glass out and check a few photographs.
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Author: JMcAulay
Date: 2004-05-14 07:26
Although at the time JD began playing Clarinet many jazz players used Albert instruments, it's my recollection that he preferred Albert because of its closeness to saxophone fingering. Don't know if he also played Boehm. See the photo at http://www.parabrisas.com/d_dorseyj.html, which shows JD holding a Clarinet which is rather clearly not a Boehm.
Last month I bought a copy of the movie "The Fabulous Dorseys." The DVD cost me a bit less than one US dollar.. The film's copyright expired and was not renewed, so it's now in the Public Domain. Amazing what DVDs can cost when no license fees or royalty payments are made.
"Oodles of Noodles" (1932) by JD on alto sax is in RealAudio at http://www.redhotjazz.com/dorseydorsey.html
as well as another JD composition, "Beebe." Listen and be amazed. You can also hear JD on the Clarinet )1929) with yet another of his compositions "Praying the Blues" at http://www.redhotjazz.com/jimmy.html.
Regards,
Joh
Post Edited (2004-05-14 08:12)
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Author: JMcAulay
Date: 2004-05-14 07:33
I forgot to mention that photographs aren't necessarily definitive re which instrument someone plays. My copy of H. E. Klose's "Celebrated Method for the Clarinet" includes a picture of Simeon Bellison, grasping a Boehm Clarinet as if he knew what to do with it. Yet everyone who should know has assured me that Bellison played an Albert instrument.
Y'just never know.
Regards,
John
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Author: DougR
Date: 2004-05-14 21:45
I grew up listening to (nay, memorizing) an LP of Red Nichols and his Five Pennies, in which Jimmy Dorsey and Benny Goodman both appeared as sidemen. (Also on the LP as sidemen: Tommy Dorsey, Glenn Miller, Jack Teagarden, Babe Russin, Adrian Rollini, Miff Mole, Eddie Lang, Joe Venuti, among others).
So, a Red Nichols anthology might be worth looking for. You might make some interesting discoveries, as I did: Goodman playing relatively complex and fiery solos at a rather young age, a mellophone player named Dudley Fosdick who swung like crazy and whom I haven't heard of outside the 5 Pennies, and Adrian Rollini playing his Hot Fountain Pen (a clarinet mouthpiece on a short tube with fingerholes).
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The Clarinet Pages
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