 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: jmsa
Date: 2004-10-01 13:36
I just listened to all of the samples and I immediately noticed that both instruments sound extremely edgy in every register. Do all Leblancs sound that way or is that the tone that they are trying to achieve. I play a R13 with a Grabner personal series mouthpiece and my tone is rounder and sweeter by far.
jmsa
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Author: DavidBlumberg
Date: 2004-10-01 13:41
The sound is mostly the low bit rate encoding that is used for the streaming examples.
Nothing to do with the Clarinet's
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Author: Brenda Siewert
Date: 2004-10-01 15:15
Thanks for the link. Very enjoyable. And, I agree the encoding is the problem, not the instruments. I'm sure it's better if you get the actual CD.
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Author: William
Date: 2004-10-01 15:25
Just when I though (after listening to the first few samples), "A whole CD of just two clarinets noddl'n away--boring, regardless of how good", I got to the last few selections and **viola**--a Rythum Section!!
Now, all I have to say is, "BRAVO"--and I'm off to place my order.
I agree with some of the concerns regarding the sound and attribute that to either recording enhancement or playback on my inferior computor sound system. What amazes me, however, is the remarkable balance of quality and style acheived by the duo, who are from relatively different playing arenas--Classical vs Jazz. I know that Larry has jazz in his "closet" and that Eddie has recorded "classical", but I am still greatly impressed by the balance of quality that they achieve.
Also, in this world of recordings, re-recordings (because of errors), track enhancing techniques and the varying qualities of the playback equipement we all use for playing these CDs, it is often (for me) a "revelation" of sound to actually hear a musical instrument performed live. A "live" Steinway sounds so much better than a recorded reproduction--and that goes for just about any instrument or voice that I can think of.
So, "bottom line", those LeBlancs definately would sound "sweeter" if heard in person and live--and man, would I like to hear those two live.
HEY LARRY, how about the duo live (with the rhythum section) at Andy's on Hubbard, with Chuck Hedges Swingtet as the opening act??. What a perfect evening THAT would be. Better, still, how about a LC/ED/CH trio?? I can only dream.....................(wow)
Post Edited (2004-10-01 15:29)
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Author: jim S.
Date: 2004-10-01 17:54
A cut from the album was just played on our jazz station a few minutes ago prompting a call, probably from one of our number, to explain to the host who Larry was. Maybe these two will help disinter jazz clarinet.
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Author: ken
Date: 2004-10-02 02:08
I see another gratuitous cheap shot on Benny's classical playing infested the fabric. The musical brilliance of this recording is evident, however, not meaning to come off as being lofty but that CD cover pub shot. Is it just me or is that the most god-awful, unflattering picture every snapped of 2 industry giants. Even now, I can hear my 3rd grade teacher (Mrs. Applegate ... not Sister Mary Elephant) dressing them down for not sitting up straight in their chairs. Seriously, who was their publicist for this session, anyway? Mr. Combs, my hero looks to me as if he just came off a 36-hour bender .... and were those 2 chairs indeed the last one's left when the music stopped?? v/r Ken
Post Edited (2004-10-02 02:09)
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Author: DavidBlumberg
Date: 2004-10-02 02:21
Nothing gratuitous about it I don't think that Goodman's Classical recordings were very good.
He recorded with the Chicago Symphony Weber Concerto, Nielsen recordings that their Principal Clarinetist should have done.
Have you heard his Nielsen, Weber, Debussy, Beethoven, Mozart Quintet, Brahms Sonata, Bartok?
I have. Heard him play the Weber Concertino live too.
Daniels would have blown him off the stage doing the same works.
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Author: DavidBlumberg
Date: 2004-10-02 02:33
ps - Ken, I am a fan of Goodman's Jazz, his contribution to the Clarinet in general, and what he did for musicians who up till that time weren't getting fair ops to play (the black musicians he played with which up till then that had never happened). And I know that Goodman did study Classical too (with a tone that ended up getting thinned out by studies with Kell in the 40's - that's a quote from Goodman's "clarinet classics" CD that the liner notes Dr. Zrthur Zimmerman wrote).
I actually like Goodman's jazz a lot more than Daniels. That being said I still have pretty much all of Goodman's Classical and Daniels Jazz (and classical) CD's.
Goodman's jazz will never die and will live long after Daniels isn't even a memory anymore.
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Author: claclaws
Date: 2004-10-02 11:59
Thank you a lot for the information. I seriously consider buying this CD.
Lucy Lee Jang
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Author: DavidBlumberg
Date: 2004-10-02 12:57
In todays recording marketplace we have to be appreciative that recordings are being made at all. There is literally zero money in putting out a CD as just recouping the label costs take almost all of any profit made.
I work with Summit Recordings (Combs label) so I know that one from the inside.
I doubt even Stoltzman these days can go on recording sales alone.
I blame it on the Illegal Internet Downloads (the Kazaas) as well as CD Burners and copiers.
That's a real shame!
It still comes down to Live Concerts as the medium to make a living in performing, not recordings no matter how good the player is.
But even before the Internet, Downloads and CD burners Daniel's Breakthrough Album which was a big hit (Grammy nominated) only broke even $ wise. There was no profit in it (Vic Matson told me).
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Author: Hank Lehrer
Date: 2004-10-02 13:14
Hi,
I guess I'll be the sole vote to not buy this CD. Both guys play great of course and Larry Combs is a wonderful jazz player which is no surprise but with a rhythm section on just a few cuts, the noodling and "exercise book" duets do not make this, IMHO, anything I want in my collection.
An interesting project, of course, but there are many other CDs I want to add to my collection more.
HRL
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Author: William
Date: 2004-10-02 14:52
Hank--I couldn't agree more, except for the last few tracks where a rythum section is used (& giving me incentive to buy the album). The rest is "amazing", "quality", "inspirational", and even "great" clarinetting--but nonetheless, boring (especially to the non-clarinet playing market).
But throw in a rythum section with a few lighting effects, and I could see it on the stage at Andy's (on Hubbard in Chicago). So Larry & Eddie--are you listening?? Reading?? Even better, add some trio stuff with Chuck Hedges. He's a regular there anyhow.
Not just a frivelous suggestion, either. I remember, while vacationing in the Washington DC area twenty years ago (Georgetown, actually), hearing a fabulous group called the "Clarinet Connection"--a clarinet duo with a full rythum section as backup. And they kept me and the crowd entertained for a full three hours--and is wasn't boring. So, LC, ED, & CH--are you awake and reading this?? Think about it!! Andy's--you'd be naturals...........(and I'd be there)
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Author: Carmen
Date: 2004-10-02 23:53
Love the CD. Once again Mr. Combs kicks serious ass.
***...so do all who seen such times, but that is not for them to decide. All you can do is decide what to do with the time that is given to you.***
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Author: mnorswor
Date: 2004-10-03 04:47
David,
How right you are with regard to Stoltzman not being able to live off of recordings. His last royalty check from RCA 2 years ago when they dropped all of their classical artists was $7.43, no joke.
He's primarily a live player and STILL has busy seasons of live concerts with recordings peppered in as fillers.
Seems a shame what's happening to the recording industry, in my opinion. And nowadays, recordings are often more assemblages than actual playing anyway. I forfeited a recording session recently because the composer wanted to record in 1 minute intervals and get a "perfect" recording. I turned the gig down because I thought it was more important to incorporate continuity and real music making. It seems that my opinion nowadays is in the minority, but I'm happy to have it nonetheless.
Happy live playing everyone!!
--Michael Norsworthy
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Author: DavidBlumberg
Date: 2004-10-03 13:04
Michael - your opinion is the only legit one.
Assembling cuts are for players who can't play. If it has to be assembled, it has to be learned better.
Post Edited (2004-10-17 13:16)
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Author: Igloo Bob
Date: 2004-10-03 18:51
Quote:
I blame it on the Illegal Internet Downloads (the Kazaas) as well as CD Burners and copiers.
With a few exceptions (Benny Goodman, for example), most classical music, concert band music, jazz, etc, cannot be found on Kazaa, or any of the like p2p file-sharing programs. Since audiogalaxy bit the dust 3 years ago, there has been no real center p2p program that really had any presence there. eMule shows promise in selection, but the unique way the system is set up there ensures for the most part that people won't be downloading a large amount of copyrighted material, simply because they don't have time. And certainly, even on eMule, you're not going to find entire CDs. You might find 3 of the more popular tracks or so, and even those would not be held by 30 people at a time, which you see with more popular music, like rock and rap.
Don't be quite so quick to bash the file-sharing community - attempts to make it more legit have started up programs like iTunes, which can eventually lead to an internet music market, which I think would be a benefit to all. And in my experience, with the lower bitrates most of the music is encoded at now, and the "scratched music" the RIAA guys have put online to make downloading more difficult, most people who download music extensively usually wouldn't be the kind of people who would buy the CDs anyway.
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Author: Mark Charette
Date: 2004-10-03 19:15
Igloo Bob wrote:
> With a few exceptions (Benny Goodman, for example), most
> classical music, concert band music, jazz, etc, cannot be found
> on Kazaa, or any of the like p2p file-sharing programs.
Of course that's true. If you compare the popularity of those genres with the popularity of pop music it's obvious you wouldn't find as much, in both quantity and selection.
It's the very act of copying music you have permission to have a copy of (by the act of buying it) and "sharing" it with people who don't have permission to own a copy of it that caused the collapse of places like Napster et al. and caused the RIAA such a problem. The RIAA had no means set up to control a p2p hierarchy and reacted to the "sharing" (stealing) by using a sawn-off shotgun for prosecutions.
iTunes and places like that, which are working hard to stay within the confines of the law, are a great step forward towards reasonably priced music. We could discuss all day about the RIAA motives and the tiny bit of the profits that are returned to the artists, along with the blatant copyright theft that went along with the payola not so many years back (and probably still happens today, although I'd guess a bit more discreetly).
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Author: katchow
Date: 2004-10-05 13:27
i would kindly disagree about classical not being available on p2p...its all over the place. at least most major works and a even few 'less-travelled' pieces. Much more than it used to be. And jazz, there's more on p2p's than i could ever listen to in a lifetime.
"Don't be quite so quick to bash the file-sharing community - attempts to make it more legit have started up programs like iTunes"
iTunes certainly was not created by the file-sharing community, if anything it's an effort to slow down the looting. I hope the model works though, because i love buying music that way. I would also say the difference is not that its "more" legit, to me its the difference between stealing and buying. I personally have never seen anyone use a p2p program for legitimate reasons...though i know it's possible. In the case of transferring files FTP is still the standard.
All this being said, I'd be hard-pressed to blame P2P for classical music sales going down. I'm more inclined to say the audience is dwindling, sadly. I think the internet could actually do a lot to increase the market. I've already discovered a lot of things i never knew i wanted...my wallet discovered it too
take this BBS for instance, i would never have heard about this cd...
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Author: Ralph Katz
Date: 2004-10-06 16:59
Last week, Jurgen Goth played the "Blue Monk" track on his Disk Drive afternoon drive-time radio show on CBC-2 Canada (we can hear this out of Windsor here in the Detroit area.) When he announced who the players were, I knew I had to hear it. It was a Great Cut, and I had to get the CD.
The classical pieces are wonderful, but the free improvisations ("noodles") are truly amazing.
It is always interesting to hear two players' markedly different approaches to solos. They are both great but their solo styles contrast. On the other hand, in the classical tracks, it is impossible to tell their playing apart.
(A friend in Chicago said that Mr. Combs plays sax exclusively on jazz jobs - is this true?)
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Author: clarinetken
Date: 2004-10-17 07:08
The below is actually wrong...I must have heard Larry incorrectly! OOPS! Julie DeRoche produced that CD (the classical stuff) at Ravinia in one of the smaller halls there. The others were recorded at CRC...dunno where that is.
Sorry for the mis-information. I thought I was feeding you all a fun little tidbit, but I wasn't! Thanks for the clarification, Julie!
Ken
http://clarinetken.com
Chicago, IL
__________________________
Just did a google search and ran into your threads...
Studying with Larry at DePaul last year, we spoke about this CD because I was performing the Ponchielli and he mentioned how he recorded it in his studio at home(at least most of it). Correct me if I'm wrong those of you in DePaul-land... Just a little tidbit I thought you would all be interested in.
Post Edited (2004-10-20 03:44)
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Author: afmdoclaw
Date: 2014-06-17 01:19
I really love this cd-- just lightened to it again for the umpteenth time.
Two virtuoso clarinetist both trained classically; one spending a career in a GREAT orchestra and the other playing with great musicians in and out of the studios. Combs' tone is straight from heaven IMHO. Daniels is also a great creative improviser on the woodwinds (great flute player too) and never stopped improving over his long very successful career (I have his first album from the 60' (bought it in the 60's) called First Prize-- fine player then but now-- wow he can play anything he hears in his musical mind). That is why he can afford to live in semi-retirement in Santa Fe.
MOST IMPORTANT-- this cd showcases two great clarinetist that obviously admire and respect each-- two VIRTUOSO MUSICIANS that obviously enjoyed playing together (hear them giggling). No cutting each other-- just making beautiful music.
If you claim to be a clarinets and you don't like this cd (listen to the CD on a fine system -- quality headphones preferably) consider selling your clarinet and then selling insurance or working for the government -- great career ($) in both.
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The Clarinet Pages
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