Author: Andy Firth
Date: 2007-10-04 22:07
Hi Clarinbass and other interested parties,
What you need to keep in mind is that when I made the "Funky Bee" I was 27 years old and working to keep my head above the sea of rock and pop albums flooding the Australian airwaves and market. The track is from an album called "Fresh Starts" (my first CD effort) and it was a time of fun, excitement and experimentation. You need to lighten up your heart and judgements a little though, I think.
All artists do what they do because their heart dictates that this is way it needs to be at that point in time. If you think the Funky Bee is citche (whatever that means these days), well you'd be amazed at some of the stuff I do that gets audiences on their feet. If I had a dollar for every Stranger on the shore, Golden Wedding and Sing, Sing, Sing performance I done and been asked to do I'd have my own record company! It's great music but after the 100th performance, you long for them to book you to do the Artie Shaw Concerto (which I'm doing this month in QLD actually). You see, being a clarinetist in a rock driven world is hard and most of the people that attend my concerts just want to be dazzled and entertained. I've done my degree in classical playing-KV 622, Weber, Seigmeister, Copland, etc, etc but I chose to play jazz, rock, pop and Latin styles because this is where my heart is. If you don't dig it, don't listen to it. I started the clarinet at 4 1/2 years old because I heard Benny Goodman and Buddy DeFranco on record and I just knew that no matter what it took, I wanted to be able to some of that stuff! I grew up in a small South Australian country town (Pt. Augusta) where if you played clarinet or flute and didn't like footy and cricket, you got beat up on. It was tough and I practiced 5-7 hours a day-no childhood really, just practice and hard work. At the age of 17 the great Don Burrows (a huge influence on my playing) introduced me on National TV at a jazz summit ESSO staged and the rest was learning the ropes, traps and doing all I could to keep my head above water and pay the rent on time. The real world does not provide people like me with the luxury of being able to play only what I want to play and so sometimes I record stuff like "The Funky Bee" just to have some fun. I'm 42 next year and I'm giving my Carnegie Hall debut at Weill Recital Hall with my idol, Buddy DeFranco as my guest artist. I have met and in some case worked with the players that shaped my playing and were and are inspirations to me: Buddy DeFranco Eddie Daniels, Ron Odrich. Buddy invited me to be his guest this year at his Jazz Festival in Montana and we played a concert together. I think that I've done OK for a South Aussie kid from a tough town. I respect your comments but try to understand that the music industry is not the most forgiving place to make a living in. Sometimes paying the rent means backing a really bad celebrity "singer", playing sax solos in rock cover bands, writing and playing corny jingles and other stuff that you wouldn't ask your worst enemy to do. At the end of the day all it comes back to is are you happy doing what you do and do you manage to put a few smiles on your listener's faces now and then and in that respect I think I've been successful. The reason you guys can't get my CDs is that I make them and produce them myself and I can't find a record company that wants to put them out there (I'm one of thousands I'm sure). My website is the best and only way to get them. We make 1,000 copies of each and when they're gone that's it. I sincerely hope that you'll listen to a bit more of my work other than the "Funky Bee" which even I cringe at when people mention or request it on a gig. I've also done a 16 clarinet version of "Lover" (Kenton style) on "Me, Myself & I" and so before you mention that track...it was done for the same reason as the "Funky Bee". I toyed with a funk version of "Moto Perpetuo" by Paganini but decided in the interests of good taste not to. I look forward to joining in on the discussions on this board as I've only just discovered it today when my Brother sent me an EBay message about one of Benny's clarinets being up for grabs. At 12-18,000 US I won't be making a bid. I have to record some more Citche tracks to pay the mortgage...:) Oh, By the way, the day I start believing my own publicity is the day I'll seek therapy.
If you're ever at a gig of mine, please drop backstage and say "G'day!"
Take care,
Cheers!
Andy Firth.
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