 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Bill
Date: 2012-09-28 21:15
For no reason that is entirely clear to me, I have always been interested in swing-era clarinets, and of those the Selmers most of all. I don't play "jazz" or "klez" (as people always dismiss the old, wide-bore Selmers) but Rose etudes and Uhl and the three Opperman etude books (quite poorly). And the Voxman book of Bach/Handel.
So tonight I am "Buffet curious" and will play on my 1936 Buffet. But it is a foreign instrument to me, uncomfortable in the hands and (are you ready for heresy?) not as easy for me to be *expressive* with.
You love what you know.
Bill Fogle
Ellsworth, Maine
(formerly Washington, DC)
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Author: SteveG_CT
Date: 2012-09-28 22:56
Bill wrote:
> I don't play "jazz" or "klez" (as people always
> dismiss the old, wide-bore Selmers) but Rose etudes and Uhl and
> the three Opperman etude books (quite poorly).
The only people who dismiss the old large bore Selmer clarinets (or large bore clarinets in general) as being "only good for Jazz" are people who either:
a.) Have never played one.
b.) Are hopelessly blinded by Buffet bias
c.) Satisfy both of the previous criteria.
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Author: Bill
Date: 2012-09-28 23:11
Thanks Steve. They are fine clarinets. My point was that everything takes some getting used to, and I have played the old Selmers so frequently that they are "normal" to me. The Buffets (and I have 1930s as well as 1960s Buffets) feel weird.
Bill Fogle
Ellsworth, Maine
(formerly Washington, DC)
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Author: chris moffatt
Date: 2012-09-29 01:41
Always intriguing when people talk about "Jazz clarinets" and Large-bore clarinets as "jazz clarinets"...since the Selmers were top of the line instruments for all kinds of musicians - hot, sweet, danceband, classical. Personally these Selmers, especially K & L series are my favorites and IMHO far surpass anything Buffet was building at the time.
SteveG: Buffet bias? say it isn't so!
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Author: Bill
Date: 2012-09-29 03:08
Agree. My K series is outstanding.
Bill Fogle
Ellsworth, Maine
(formerly Washington, DC)
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Author: Chris P
Date: 2012-09-29 09:45
If large bore Selmers were solely 'Jazz' clarinets, then why did the Boston Symphony orchestra players use them in the era of Gino Cioffi and Charles Munch? They are indeed great for Jazz and dance band playing, but they are also great for 'straight' playing as well!
I still think Selmer ought to relaunch the CT and K-series as Reference 54 and 36 (or thereabouts) series clarinets as they have done with saxes considering how many people it seems are hankering after large bore French clarinets of this type when good examples of old Selmers are increasingly hard to come by.
Former oboe finisher
Howarth of London
1998 - 2010
The opinions I express are my own.
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