 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: SteveG_CT
Date: 2010-12-06 01:55
He switched around a lot. If I recall correctly he played on a Selmer Balance Tone earlier in his career and later played on a Selmer Centered Tone and a Boosey & Hawkes 1010. Towards the end of his career I think he played on some Buffet clarinets as well.
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Author: William
Date: 2010-12-06 14:48
To guy's like Goodman and Shaw, they made the equipement play for them, not the other way around (as we so often mistakedly try to do). Goodman certainly did switch mouthpieces and clarinets often in his career, but he always managed to sound like, "Goodman". FWIW, I have always thought he was basically a Selmer artist who sometimes played a Buffet. Perhaps he had G.A.S. like many of us.........lol.
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Author: Ken Shaw ★2017
Date: 2010-12-06 21:05
Early in his career, Goodman played a Selmer Balanced Action clarinet, which had a large bore. Later he played a Selmer Centered Tone, with a similar bore.
He studied with Reginald Kell, which many people think "ruined" his playing. [Nonsense!] For classical playing, he switched to B&H 1010s, which were as close as possible to Kell's "False Martel" clarinets. For jazz, I'm reasonably sure he stayed with a large bore Selmer, but others have much more expertise.
Ken Shaw
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Author: SteveG_CT
Date: 2010-12-06 21:17
"Early in his career, Goodman played a Selmer Balanced Action"
It think you mean "balanced Tone" or did Benny also play sax and I wasn't aware of it?
I have heard similar things regarding his work with Reginald Kell and I don't agree that it ruined his playing either. Interestingly however Reginald Kell initially didn't want to take him on as a student because he didn't want to be known as the guy who ruined Benny Goodman.
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Author: Ken Shaw ★2017
Date: 2010-12-06 21:29
You're right about "Balanced Tone." Thanks for the correction. BG played sax occasionally, usually tenor. I have a CD with a couple of tracks.
Ken Shaw
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Author: Tony M
Date: 2010-12-06 21:58
Benny Goodman did play sax and Artie Shaw (in his 'Cinderella' book) says that he wasn't that good at it. But there was a tiny rivalry.
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Author: William
Date: 2010-12-07 14:31
Was that the orchestra that Benny walked out on, as depicted in the movie about him??
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Author: FDF
Date: 2010-12-08 01:49
Don't remember the film that well, but Goodman did quit Pollack's band after playing with him for about four years starting at age 16. Discontent had been building for a while, but after Pollack fired one of Benny's friends, he flared up and quit to go out on his own. The biography, "Swing, Swing, Swing," has an interesting account of the incident and Goodman's years with Pollack's successful orchestra.
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Author: JEG ★2017
Date: 2010-12-09 01:36
At the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, in the instrument room, there is a display of, among other things, clarinets. One of the clarinets on display is a Buffet that belonged to Benny Goodman, I assume late in his career.
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Author: SteveG_CT
Date: 2010-12-09 02:27
Isn't the one in the Met the one he was practicing on shortly before having his heart attack?
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Author: weberfan
Date: 2010-12-09 02:38
Not sure if it was the last very clarinet he played, but the display gives that impression and dates his use of the Buffet to 1986, the year he died.
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Author: Klarnetisto
Date: 2010-12-10 03:02
A certain auction site recently had a Benny Goodman model ligature made by Selmer. It had a single screw which would sit atop the mouthpiece, not over the reed, and there was a sort of slot to hold the reed. It looked like a thoughtful and interesting design. It had Goodman's name stamped on it.
Klarnetisto
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Author: Adrian
Date: 2010-12-10 20:01
I live near the Met Museum. I'll go over and see if they'll give me the serial number of Benny's Buffet they have on display.
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