 The Clarinet BBoard
|
Author: SGTClarinet_7
Date: 2004-07-14 18:35
I was wondering if anyone knows about any rock or r & b songs where there is a clarinet solo. I know that Van Halen w/David Lee Roth did one on their Diver Down album, and the rock group Vixen had one as an extra track with just bass/guitar/drums/clarinet. And there is also Styx with a great tune called Back To Chicago, which has a dixieland style clarinet solo. I was wondering if anyone else knew of any tunes that I could check out. Thanks.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Brian Peterson
Date: 2004-07-14 20:56
A few years ago, I picked up a book of Led Zeppelin cover tunes arranged for clarinet on e-bay.
I must say, there's nothing quite like the grenadilla version of "Black Dog".
Brian Peterson
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Elizabeth
Date: 2004-07-14 21:17
I was listening to the radio the other day and Aerosmith was playing- the song had a clarinet playing in the end. I'm not sure about the name of the song, but it was the unmistakable Aerosmith.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Bob Schwab
Date: 2004-07-15 04:56
Supertramp had a woodwind player who would often include a clarinet part in their music.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: kal
Date: 2004-07-15 05:59
Not sure how well known these guys are outside of North Carolina, but there is a kickass Ben Folds Five song called Stephen's Last Night in Town that features both soprano and bass clarinet. Outstanding : )
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: allencole
Date: 2004-07-15 06:26
Blood, Sweat & Tears did a dixieland type thing called "Mama Gets High" in their latter days.
Allen Cole
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: BobD
Date: 2004-07-15 14:49
Don't forget "Captain Beefheart" aka Don VanVliet(sp?)
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: jmsa
Date: 2004-07-15 14:53
Frank Zappa used clarinets throughout his career.
jmsa
Post Edited (2004-07-15 14:54)
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: David Spiegelthal ★2017
Date: 2004-07-15 15:50
Frank Zappa wasn't exactly in the mainstream of rock music, though. I'm trying to imagine "Purple Haze" or "Tush" played on the clarinet --- nah, just wouldn't cut it........
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Eileen
Date: 2004-07-15 21:51
Of course, the Beatles used clarinets on "When I'm Sixty-Four." I've seen Patti Smith play a clarinet in concert. The Pere Ubu album "Modern Dance" prominently features a clarinet on one track, mainly for its squealy effect. In short, looks like the clarinet is limited to the Dixieland references or noise punk. "Orchestral" or "chamber pop" has been quite popular for a few years. There might be some clarinets lurking in that genre. Belle and Sebastian, perhaps.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: BobD
Date: 2004-07-16 13:58
"Frank Zappa wasn't exactly in the mainstream of rock music, though."
Dave, you must be kiddin....
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: David Spiegelthal ★2017
Date: 2004-07-16 15:06
BobD,
I have most of Zappa's albums (ya know, those big round vinyl thingies with the grooves in them), and growing up I played in a bunch of Top-40 type bands, so I sort of feel I know that territory a bit --- Zappa might be considered the Charles Ives of rock ---- playing ostensibly within the forms of the genre, but really doing his own thing (and having a relatively small, loyal following but lacking popularity within the mainstream). By the way, the symphonic works he wrote are WAY cool, and sound like they were extremely difficult to play (in his autobiography he complained about the inability of the London Symphony players to record his works to his satisfaction!).
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Mark Charette
Date: 2004-07-16 15:08
David Spiegelthal wrote:
> (and having a relatively small,
> loyal following but lacking popularity within the mainstream).
Unless your definition of mainstream was Dr. Demento ... ![[grin]](http://test.woodwind.org/clarinet/BBoard/smileys/smilie5.gif)
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: idahofats
Date: 2004-07-17 16:45
Bob S. mentioned Supertramp, and I thought I'd add this for the Gen-X readers: the band's woodwind player, was John Anthony Helliwell, and his most enjoyable clarinet solo, IMHO, was the klezmeresque "Breakfast in America."
From the same era, if memory serves, was a solo in the disco tune "Let's All Chant," by the Michael Zager Band.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Tara
Date: 2004-07-17 23:11
Hey, Kal- I love Ben folds five... went to a concert in Austin in '98 (I think). Unfortunately they weren't traveling with any clarinetists. Too bad!
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: ken
Date: 2004-07-19 03:39
David Spiegelthal wrote: "(in his autobiography he [Frank Zappa] complained about the inability of the London Symphony players to record his works to his satisfaction!)."
--I read Frank's Autobiography too, and I think it was because on his first contracted session with LSO, 1980 (in which he forked out $2M of his own dough) the snooty brits didn't take him or his music seriously. Also, half the orchestra he claimed were a bunch of loads. During lunch, the entire trumpet section would get smashed, come back and play so poorly he couldn't get anything acceptable in the can. In the end, he had to cancel the first session mid-way and return to the states with like one 30-minute reel he could mixdown but nothing to press.
David is spot on. Frank was NOT in the recognized FM mainstream of rock, not even in the ballpark. I think "Montana" in the late 70s and that horrid single in the 80s, "Valley Girl" in which he promoted his daughter Moon's non-existent music career even cracked Top-40 charts. Once in a great while his "softer" topics would pop up on FM stations in the wee morning hours. However, the lyrics to his music were so notoriously crude and obscene few stations would risk their FCC licenses to spin it.
Zappa utilized Bb clarinet on some of his recordings with "The Mothers of Invention" (Napolean Murphy Brock), but more extensively in his solo career on LPs, "200 Motels", "Hot Rats", "The Grand Wazoo", "Waka-Jawaka", "Orchestral Favorites", "Studio Tan", LSO Vols. I-II, and a host of others .... very difficult music technically and muti meter-wise; awesome stuff though if one can "acquire the taste".
"Classic" now Rock groups such as, Yes, Genesis, Jethro Tull and Pink Floyd were at least getting FM air time although during their prime earning years in the 70s they were really fringe progressive. The crowd I hung out with considered these groups borderline commercial and mostly rejected them (not 1st albums, Floyd with Syd Barrett up through LP "Meddle" and Genesis up to Peter Gabriel's last album with the group in 1974, "The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway"). I don't even want to admit what Rock I was into back then, but it surely wasn't "Bread" or "Captain and Tenille" .... who are they? v/r Ken
Post Edited (2004-07-20 22:27)
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: msloss
Date: 2004-07-19 16:10
Not sure how you want to classify James Taylor, but clarinet has made appearances in his music from time to time. I even heard clarinet on an Ani DiFranco album (not my cup of tea).
I think you heard Tom Keenlyside on the Aerosmith album. If I have my AS lore correct, Joe Perry was a clarinet geek as a child, but probably not him on the record.
If you are looking for the presence of clarinet in rock and r&b, you might be best served to work backward through the first-call reed guys who end up on those albums (Marcus Miller, Tom Scott, Michael Brecker, Tom Keenlyside, Bobby Mintzer, etc.) Their discographies are extensive, so I'm sure you'll find some of what you seek.
Now go Sheik Yerbouti.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: GBK
Date: 2004-07-19 16:56
ken wrote:
> I don't even want to admit what Rock I was into
> back then, but it surely wasn't "Bread"
How can you not like that great classic?:
Baby, I’m-a want you
Baby, I’m-a need you
You're the only one I care enough to...zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz ... GBK (sorry, I dozed off for a moment)
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: BobD
Date: 2004-07-20 13:05
Now someone's inferring that Bread and C&T were not mainstream!!! I'm crushed.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: clarnibass
Date: 2004-07-25 06:31
king krimson used both Bb and bass clarinets in one of their songs but i don't know its name.
Post Edited (2004-07-25 09:28)
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: tsmith
Date: 2004-07-26 02:57
There's a Billy Joel song that features clarinet, maybe My Italian Restaurant, but I can't remember for sure.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
The Clarinet Pages
|
 |
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
![[up]](http://test.woodwind.org/clarinet/BBoard/smileys/smiley24.gif)
v/r Ken