 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: BassetHorn
Date: 2006-06-10 00:44
Enjoy!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YuiIyDxa750&search=eric%20dolphy
See how still he stands : )
Willy
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Author: William
Date: 2006-06-10 14:31
Eric is a great player. However, we are luck right her in Madison, WI, to have a guy who plays just like that on a low C bass clarinet--and on the "paper clip" contra bass.
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Author: ghuba
Date: 2006-06-11 01:17
This clip is also being discussed on the new bass clarinet list on Yahoo. This is one of more than a dozen Eric Dolphy clips on bass clarinet and alto saxophone available on YouTube.com, a site which often comes up on this board, thanks to the efforts of Ken Shaw.
The Eric Dolphy clip from 1961 is from a period when he was probably at his peak on both bass clarinet and alto sax. By this point he had totally mastered hard bop and was moving into the "Avant Garde" or "new jazz" phase of his career for a couple of years before his untimely death.
While I suppose this will probably lead to some disagreements, I would contend that Dolphy's playing in this period, along with the earlier work of Harry Carney in the Ellington Orchestra, probably defined bass clarinet as a very serious jazz instrument. The next big development in jazz bass clarinet did not occur until the last 1960s when Benny Maupin largely defined the sound of the breakthrough Miles Davis recording, Bitches Brew, with his anchoring bass clarinet work on every track.
George
Post Edited (2006-06-11 01:18)
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Author: BassetHorn
Date: 2006-06-11 05:04
Hmm George, I gotta check out Bitches Brew for the bass clarinet work, thanks!
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Author: John J. Moses
Date: 2006-06-11 20:33
While your "checking" CDs out, give a listen to:
Michael Lowenstern's - "SPASM" on New World Records.
It's been out there for about 10 years...and still pretty amazing Bass Clarinet playing. IMHO.
JJM
Légère Artist
Clark W. Fobes Artist
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Author: Markael
Date: 2006-06-12 00:12
Great video!
I love his style of improvising on chords.
Regarding Benny Maupin on Bitches Brew: Looks like an excuse to give electric Miles one more shot. Every time I listen to electric Miles, for the first minute and a half it sounds pretty good. Then, after that, I say, "This is stupid," and turn it off.
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Author: ghuba
Date: 2006-06-12 02:59
... as well as everything else Mr. Lowenstern has recorded. 10 Children is huge. The use of electronics plus solo bass clarinet is another big step forward. The EarSpasm web site has clips of many of the recordings and is really terrific. George
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Author: ghuba
Date: 2006-06-12 03:06
I've always thought that Bitches Brew (the whole album) requires a lot of repetitions as it is so dense, a beautiful but challenging work. I have consistently thought, since first purchasing it in college 35+ years ago when it first came out, that the bass clarinet work of Maupin really "frames" the work of Miles, Joe Zawinul, John McLaughlin, Wayne Shorter, et al. If anything, it is the interplay of Maupin on bass clarinet and McLaughlin on guitar that sets the "tone" of the album against which Miles and Wayne Shorter play.
George
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Author: Pathik
Date: 2006-06-12 13:09
For more jazz on bass clarinet, I recommend the album "Blues Bag" by Buddy DeFranco. As far as I know, it's the only occasion when Buddy DeFranco has been recorded playing bass clarinet, and the result is very fine indeed. It was recorded late 1964, just a few months after Eric Dolphy had died, and has been reissued on Vee-Jay records. The CD includes an original album by the Louis Hayes Quintet, which is also good (but no clarinets on this one!)
Another musician who plays truly fine jazz bass clarinet is Don Byron. His CD Ivey-Divey from 2004 contains three tracks on which he plays bass clarinet, and he sounds great. The whole album is very good, probably one of his best for a long time, with less of his idiosyncracies and more of just great clarinet and bass clarinet jazz playing. It's inspired by Lester Young, especially his mid-forties trio recordings with Buddy Rich and Nat King Cole.
....and (maybe not for the fainthearted) there's also Anthony Braxton playing and improvising on contrabass clarinet. If you're interested, look for an album called In the tradition or What's new in the tradition. He plays bebop standards like Ornithology and Donna Lee on contrabass clarinet.....it's a bit strange and rather unique, but he sounds great.
In the realm of "big clarinet jazz" though, nobody equals Eric Dolphy. He's in a league of his own. Somebody said in a previous post that "he was probably at his peak on both bass clarinet and alto sax" in 1961 when this clip was recorded. Maybe so, but listen to him on "Out to lunch" and "Last date" from 1964, certainly as good if not better than ever. Also the version of "God bless the child" on this clip cannot be said to be his best version of the tune. The Copenhagen version, Five Note version (both 1961) and University of Illinois version (1963) are all even better than this.
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Author: Ralph Katz
Date: 2006-06-13 00:14
Another fascinating jazz bass and contra clarinet player is tubist Howard Johnson. Google him for links.
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