Author: brycon
Date: 2015-02-01 03:39
Listen and transcribe.
When I was in high school, I wanted to sound like Cannonball (Who doesn't want to sound like Cannonball?). My saxophone teacher showed me how altering the oral cavity, airstream, and embouchure could get me closer to that sound, but I never really got there. When my teacher had me start transcribing Cannonball's solos, however, I learned to copy his swing feel, articulations, and vibrato. And after hours of playing along with recordings, I also began to alter my tone (intuitively, that is) to match his.
What I learned is that swing feel, articulation, etc. are as much of what it is to sound like Cannonball as the basic tonal concept is. You may be able to sound like player x, y, or z on a single pitch (if you take out the player's characteristic vibrato, attack, taper, and so forth), but as soon as you play a couple of notes, you sound nothing like him or her.
So to start, narrow your field--"old school jazz clarinet" is hopelessly broad; Sidney Bechet sounds rather different than Artie Shaw, but they could both be described as old school. Which players do you like listening to? Start with them.
If you mess around with your embouchure, oral cavity, etc. without being able to play in the jazz style (or klezmer style or whatever other style you wish to play), you're just going to sound like a crappy classical clarinetist attempting to play jazz. So if you really want to sound like an old school jazz clarinetist, start transcribing.
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The Clarinet BBoard
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