 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: vickibluemountain
Date: 2015-11-23 14:04
Last year I performed the Artie Shaw clarinet concerto at a local theatre with a full big band. This year, I've been invited back for an anniversary concert and need to follow it up with something equally fabulous with the same big band. Quite a tall order, since nothing much compares to the Shaw!
In an ideal world, I'd love to play something like Pete Fountain's 'Beale Street Blues' but a) I can't find an arrangement and b) I think there could be copyright issues with this.
I'm happy for the piece to have sections of improvisation (I play a fair bit of dixieland clarinet, so am used to this) and could learn my part from memory in any case, but the band will need to have written parts, obviously.
Any ideas as to what I could play and where to source a great arrangement from?
Thanks.
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Author: Ken Shaw ★2017
Date: 2015-11-23 14:15
Just because something is under copyright doesn't mean you can't play it. Get in touch with the publisher and pay a (probably fairly small) fee.
Ken Shaw
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Author: vickibluemountain
Date: 2015-11-23 14:27
Thanks, Ken. I'd be happy to pay a fee to play it but can't even find anyone who publishes the sheet music for this (or for any of Pete Fountain's charts, for that matter).
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Author: seabreeze
Date: 2015-11-23 17:49
Right now, I can only give you a few clues as to what became of the charts that Charles Bud Dant (a Los Angeles film composer born in Indiana, I believe, and died in Hawaii) wrote for Pete Fountain's more than 40 big band recordings on Decca. These were mostly done when Pete Fountain was living in California and moonlighting from his gig with the Welk band in the early 1960s.
Some of the older studio players in Los Angeles might know; you could try calling the LA Musicians Union at 323-462-2161 or Robert Gilbert's woodwind shop in LA at 323-549-4671 to see if they can put you on the right track. The University of Indiana has one or two very old non-clarinet arrangements by Dant in their archives but they might know the whereabouts of more. At one time, Washington Times Herald columnist Don Cosby had done research on Dant's career. Don't know if he's still around, but his email used to be doncosby@att.net.
Living in New Orleans, I heard Fountain play a lot right after his stint with Welk, and he always played with small groups around town rather than big bands. He was a quick learner and could do tunes for recordings after just hearing them once or twice. After the big band recordings, I'm not sure he, or any other clarinetist, ever played those Charles Bud Dant arrangements again. Also, most of the clarinet parts in the original are probably very sparse; all that melodic figuration was supplied not by the arranger but by Fountain the improviser--nothing like the completely worked out part in the Artie Shaw Concerto. Fountain never aspired to be a big band leader, but if you put him in front of one, he knew what to play.
If I have time, I'll try to find out more.
Another possibility is to contact Gregory A. Harrison, an engineer and jazz clarinetist who has given many presentations on Pete Fountain (including one at the 2014 ICA ClarinetFest in Baton Rouge) and sometimes performs with a band that recreates Pete Fountain performances or at least closely follows his recorded style. I don't have contact information for him but I'm sure the International Clarinet Association can put you in touch with him. (Try 301-405-9220 for their research library or execdirector@clarinet.org.)
Post Edited (2015-11-24 07:02)
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Author: johng ★2017
Date: 2015-11-24 03:54
How about Morton Gould's Derivations for Clarinet and Dance Band -written for Benny Goodman or Leonard Bernstein's Prelude, Fugue and Riffs written for the Woody Herman band.
John Gibson, Founder of JB Linear Music, www.music4woodwinds.com
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Author: vickibluemountain
Date: 2015-12-29 21:56
Thanks seabreeze and johng - what a wealth of information! I'll certainly follow up all these recommendations and let you know how I get on. :-)
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