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Re: Body and Soul, or Baermann?

Author: MarlboroughMan
Date: 2012-12-29 21:42

Interesting choice of players, especially as they both made major changes to their approaches at pivotal point in their careers--and both for double lip embouchure.

Of the two, I think Wright's progression to a double lip embouchure was more natural, or at least more logically sequential. By this I mean that Harold Wright's playing seems to have followed a strong trajectory towards an ideal sound, which he acheived finally through a double lip embouchure. There is a real difference in tone between his first recording of the Brahms sonatas and his second--and embouchure was, I think, part of that difference. Still, I'd be willing to bet (without having seen pictures) that Wright's basic approach to embouchure was very close to the same before the switch--there is a logical similarity of approach and progression.

Benny's switch was more drastic and more radical. I've often wondered why he would change at all, and beyond his apparent obsession with Reginald Kell, I can't hear any good reason why. His embouchure in the late 1930s, especially, was radically different than his later double lip embouchure, and so was his tone. In my opinion, there is no question that his sound and approach was better before the switch than after it.

His first recordings of Body & Soul (for Victor) present a sound that can't, in my opinion, be achieved by his later approach, and yet he did make at least one classical recording (the Debussy Rhapsody in 1940 with the NY Phil and Barbirolli) that seems to justify this early approach in a classical setting. This is, to me, a historical quandry: why did a man with an approach to the horn so effective in both realms abandon it? It's almost as vexing as why Artie Shaw packed up the horn before recording more of the classical repertoire (which he certainly could have managed--I'd trade half my classical recordings to hear what Artie would have done with Brahms or Schumann).

After many years of working in both worlds, so to speak, I do think there is a decision to be made about embouchure approach. If one wants to walk into Benny's old world, the player needs to make a commitment to playing the horn a certain way; developing the habits so as to make it second nature. This is no less true of Harold Wright's world--it takes a single minded type of dedication, before any other concerns like talent level, etc., are even mentioned.

My one big criticisms about those who do Benny Goodman tribute albums* (or cash-in albums, whichever they might be) is that they don't dedicate enough time to understanding the timbral language Benny so brilliantly created--they use more or less their classical tone and embouchure concept. There is a tremendous amount of subtlety lost if we don't listen careful to Body & Soul, and realize that Benny gave us a masterpiece, as nuanced as any classical recording, and demanding similar rigours.

[ * one major exception to this criticism is Eddie Daniels's album with Gary Burton, which is a mature statement in its own right. ]

Eric

******************************
The Jazz Clarinet
http://thejazzclarinet.blogspot.com/

Post Edited (2012-12-29 23:01)

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