 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Kurt
Date: 1999-07-21 21:08
Could someone recommend some good recordings featuring bass clarinet. I'm interested in either classical or jazz.
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Author: Don Poulsen
Date: 1999-07-21 21:28
I recently acquired Michael Lowenstern's Spasm CD. He is very talented and can do some interesting things with his instrument. However, if you are looking for something you can walk away humming afterwards, this may not be for you. It is very cutting edge.
I also picked up a CD by Giora Feidman, a Klezmer clarinetist, that contains a couple of numbers on bass clarinet. I don't recall the title offhand, but one of the pieces done on bass clarinet was Granada. Of course, everything is in the Klezmer style and he almost makes the bass clarinet sound like a saxophone.
Richard Stolzman's New York Counterpoint exclusively uses the various members of the clarinet family in combination. There is nothing highlighting the bass clarinet, but it can be heard. I frequently hear a cut from this CD used on NPR between news stories.
I'd like to hear some opinions on other recordings myself.
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Author: STuart
Date: 1999-07-21 22:22
YO! I gotta hear that Spasm CD! I heard Lowenstern at the Clarinet Fest in Chicago and he kicked it! Is it mostly original material?
Man, between this and this Bill Smith guy, I need to get myself to the record store!
Some of my favorite bass recordings are:
-Eric Dolphy "Out to Lunch","Live in Europe(several volumes)", and his live stuff with Mingus, he is the greatest
-Ben Goldberg and Marty Ehrlich "Light at the Cross Roads"
-also: Eric Friedlander's Chimera has a bass clarinetist named Andrew D'Angelo, wild sound and a beautiful group (cello, bass, clarinet, bass clarinet)
I have yet to hear a Harry Sparnay recording but will eventually, did anybody else catch him in Chicago a couple years ago?
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Author: wayne
Date: 1999-07-22 03:45
Hear! Hear! on the previous suggestions (esp. Dolphy--maybe even more as a composer than as a player, though there's really no distinction there in his approach to music)
For those who enjoy the more "out there" stuff (eg Spasm), you might want to check out Evan Ziporyn's work on bass clarinet ("Animal Act" is interesting...)
One name I haven't seen mentioned elsewhere is Hans Koch--Swiss composer/improviser--plays saxes and soprano clarinet, too, but I find his bass clarinet stuff most impressive. Check out "Acceleration" (with Martin Schutz and Marco Kappeli) on ECM, or "Hardcore Chambermusic" on Intakt if you can find it.
For suggestions on "classical" works and more contemporary compositions, check out the Castle Music Society's website @ www.new-music.org/clarinet.html. And/or check out their bass clarinet listserv @ Onelist.com. Y'know, even the more staid, compositional stuff for bass clarinet seems to be pretty experimental and "out there"--nature of the beast, I guess. Probably why I love it so.
--w.
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Author: Daniel
Date: 1999-07-22 03:54
I have a recording by a German bass clarinetist, Renate Rusche. On this album, she's doing several 20th century classical works for bass. She even plays the Messiaen 'Abyss of the Birds' from the "Quartet for the End of Time", which is hard enough on soprano clarinet. She's got phenominal technique. I consider her the Sabine Meyer of the bass clarinet world.
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Author: Daniel
Date: 1999-07-22 03:56
Don Poulsen wrote:
-------------------------------
Richard Stolzman's New York Counterpoint exclusively uses the various members of the clarinet family in combination. There is nothing highlighting the bass clarinet, but it can be heard. I frequently hear a cut from this CD used on NPR between news stories.
I personally like Roger Heaton's version of New York Counterpoint. Probably because i don't care for Stoltzman's sound.
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Author: Joanne
Date: 1999-07-22 14:09
Just picked up Harry Sparnaay's Ladder of Escape I CD from the library. Haven't had a chance to listen to it yet, but it's all solo bass clarinet stuff.
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Author: Dave Spiegelthal
Date: 1999-07-22 15:16
About half a year ago I heard on the radio a cut from a Don Grolnick CD that featured Bob Mintzer (normally a tenor saxophonist) playing an absolutely fantastic bass clarinet solo -- Although it was most definitely modern jazz improvisation, what struck me was his tone, it was the most "classical" I've yet heard in the jazz world (compared to Dolphy, Marty Ehrlich, etc.). Unfortunately I don't know the name of the tune nor the title of the CD. I went back to the music store to look for the CD and found only one Don Grolnick album, but this one had Ehrlich doing the bass clarinet playing. Even though it wasn't the CD I was looking for, I bought it anyway, and frankly, I was disappointed by Ehrlich's playing. My feeling was, 'yeah, big deal, I can do better than that myself'. But Mintzer's solo from the "other" album, as I recall, was BAADDD!!!! If anyone out there knows the album I'm talking about, please clue us in!
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Author: STuart
Date: 1999-07-22 16:16
Dave, you outta check out Ben Goldberg and Marty Erlich's "Light at the the Crossroads." I think it might change your mind about him, he' playing a lot of original compositions and you get a chance to feel his whole artistry.
When you said, "I can do that", did you mean you could play the same thing or conceive it spontaneously and play it. What i'm trying to say is: Do I smell a challenge? What sort of challenge would that be? One of technique or truth or both? do tell......
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Author: Dave Spiegelthal
Date: 1999-07-22 18:55
Stuart (et al),
I apologize for letting some braggadocio enter my response. I'll respond privately to the 'challenge', and in the meantime I'll give this other recording a listen.
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Author: STuart
Date: 1999-07-23 00:00
Oh no! I APPRECIATE what you're saying. I think a little fun boasting is only right and natural. I hear records all the time and think "Someday I'm gonna eat you up sucka!"
Ha! :P It's all part of the art, y'know?
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Author: Ken Shaw
Date: 1999-07-23 20:57
To the list, let me add Josef Horak. He put out a bunch of remarkable records on Suprafon and related labels, some of which are being reissued. There's nothing he can't play - the Martinu Sonata, Abimes des Oiseaux, etc. He's had probably a hundred new works written for him.
He tours with his wife, an excellent pianist, as the Duo Boehmi di Praga.
I met him at the International Clarinet Congress in London several years ago and took a couple of lessons. I learned most just listening to him play. A very sweet personality. He told me that he played the Hindemith Bassoon Sonata on bass clarinet and afterward, Hindemith, who was in the audience, came up and told him he now preferred to hear the sonata on the B.C., at least when Horak played it.
Best regards.
Ken Shaw
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Author: Lelia
Date: 1999-07-24 00:03
For fans of free jazz (not in the "hummable" category...!), the Ornette Coleman Double Quartet recording, "Free Jazz," from about 1957, has some incredible bass clarinet playing. I also like Hamiett Bluiett. I guess he's an acquired taste. Once when I raved about him on a sax site, someone said he played out of tune with Duke Ellington. That's a legitimate knock, but I still think he's a fantastic player. He's better known for baritone sax, but on many of his recordings, including the Jackson-Thiam collaborations ("Same Space" and at least one other), he doubles on bass clarinet. Anyone who still doubts that double-tongueing and triple-tongueing is feasible at warp speed on large single reeds should hear this guy.
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Author: Daniel
Date: 1999-07-24 02:49
I know this is a little off topic. But a friend of mine said he once heard a recording of Gerry Mulligan playing clarinet on a tune. He can't remember what chart it was or what record it was. As far as we know it's the only tune that Mulligan released that has him playing clarinet. Was just wondering if anyone had any ideas.
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Author: Henk raven
Date: 1999-07-24 08:10
I want to add two names to this list of inspiring bass clarinetists.
1) Louis Sclavis who made a lot of recordings in several groups. He is a French modernist playing mostly his own compositions which are influenced by French folklore, but go far beyond that. Very energetical virtuoso and original playing.
2)To relax from Sclavis I would advise the CD "Ballads for Basclarinet" from David Murray. He is so easy on his Bass, nice and a bit freaky at the same time.
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