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greenfox
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« on: 22:46:43, 13-01-2008 » |
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My sister learnt the clarinet at school. She used to practice in her bedroom, I vaguely recall as an unpracticed sound not very endearing.
But I think in some ways, its a very lovely instrument: it doesn't have the machismo of the sax, or the penetration of the trumpet, but something else. Always soft, quite often comical in the best way: last time I heard it live, lady in the audience had a near constant grin on her face. This is fun!
Like the vibes perhaps, the clarinet doesn't have a prominent or strong position in jass - compared to the sax or trumpet for example. And yet, its fun to pursue this instrument and who does it best. Some Acker Bilk material comes to mind, and even Benny Goodman.
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John W
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« Reply #1 on: 00:42:41, 14-01-2008 » |
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greenfox,
Try and get a listen to Johnny Dodds in his 1920s recordings, that was a hot clarinet player, and another hot American who worked in Britain in the 1930s, Danny Polo.
John
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greenfox
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« Reply #2 on: 10:52:53, 14-01-2008 » |
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OK ta I'll check out YouTube
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John W
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« Reply #3 on: 14:11:09, 14-01-2008 » |
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OK ta I'll check out YouTube
Well greenfox, I don't expect there's any video of either at youtube, but there should be plenty of soundclips of Johnny Dodds as he's on a lot of recordings from the 20s including many of Louis Armstrong's Hot Five records and various other bands e.g. his own Black Bottom Stompers, Washboard Band and jug bands etc Danny Polo, again no video, and will likely not be named on anything at youtube though he's on many of the hotter Bert Ambrose records that people have put on there, and at Amazon you can catch sound clips of his Swing Stars band. Benny Goodman did make some great records, and I enjoy his small group work with his own quartet and sextet. Another name to look for (hard to find recordings) is Frank Teschmacher. I agree with you that the clarinet as a solo instrument gets overshadowed nowadays by the sax players, and in local bands today the clarinet improvisations just sound like 'noodling around' the melody.The art of hot clarinet playing that you hear from Johnny Dodds and Dany Polo seems to have disappeared. John W |
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calum da jazbo
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« Reply #4 on: 14:44:50, 14-01-2008 » |
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You will find Jimmy Giuffre, Pee Wee Russell and George Lewis on YouTube. These three had sounds that were more individual, and definitely not classical, on the clarinet. They all played a pretty mean solo too.
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It's just a matter of time before we're late.
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Tantris
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« Reply #5 on: 14:50:16, 14-01-2008 » |
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For a straight ahead, bebop approach, Buddy De Franco is worth listening to - there is a Mosaic set of his Verve recordings which is excellent.
Jimmy Giuffre's use of the clarinet in Free Fall effectively established a new language for the clarinet - it really is worth tracking down this recording, and indeed some of the solo Peter Brotzmann recordings where he makes use of the clarinet and taratoga.
In a different context, Harrison Birtwistle's use of the clarinet seems to find expression with this instrument that eludes others - I'm thinking particularly of the song cycles such as The Woman and the Hare, and the chamber opera The Io Passion, where the music comes from a string quartet and clarinet.
I'll end by mentioning Messiaen's Quartet for the End of Time where the instrument is used in a way which was possibly unprecedented at the time and which I find extremely moving.
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time_is_now
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« Reply #6 on: 19:05:34, 15-01-2008 » |
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In a different context, Harrison Birtwistle's use of the clarinet seems to find expression with this instrument that eludes others - I'm thinking particularly of the song cycles such as The Woman and the Hare, and the chamber opera The Io Passion, where the music comes from a string quartet and clarinet. I've actually never heard The Woman and the Hare, Tantris, so thanks for that recommendation. Of course, we also shouldn't fail to mention Birtwistle's wonderful earlier clarinet works, such as Linoi for clarinet and piano in the 60s (as was Peter Maxwell Davies's virtuosic Hymnos of the same period) and then in the 70s some of his greatest works: Nenia: The Death of Orpheus, with a prominent clarinet in the accompaniment, Melencolia I for clarinet and string orchestra. There's also a Clarinet Quintet from about 1982, which I don't know. These pieces were written for Alan Hacker, who returned to view some 20 years later with The Io Passion that you mention. Incidentally, this is an unexpectedly fascinating reedread (oops, no pun intended, but I really did type 'reed' there at first!), although I confess the penultimate paragraph has me scratching my head a bit. |
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The city is a process which always veers away from the form envisaged and desired, ... whose revenge upon its architects and planners undoes every dream of mastery. It is [also] one of the sites where Dasein is assigned the impossible task of putting right what can never be put right. - Rob Lapsley
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oliver sudden
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« Reply #7 on: 21:44:47, 15-01-2008 » |
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Here I was hoping to learn a bit about jazz clarinettists and the thread's gone over to Birtwistle!  |
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time_is_now
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« Reply #8 on: 21:49:17, 15-01-2008 » |
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That would be a great cue for John to tell us that Birtwistle can be heard on some 50s vinyl playing dixie under the name of Harry Doolally ...
If only it were true!
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The city is a process which always veers away from the form envisaged and desired, ... whose revenge upon its architects and planners undoes every dream of mastery. It is [also] one of the sites where Dasein is assigned the impossible task of putting right what can never be put right. - Rob Lapsley
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Notoriously Bombastic
Posts: 181
Never smile at the brass
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« Reply #9 on: 00:17:14, 16-01-2008 » |
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Recently, Eddie Daniels? I've heard him with the GRP big band, also Gordon Goodwin's Big Phat Band.
What about the sound of a clarinet section as opposed to solo work? I believe the Ellington band was unusual in that all the saxes regularly doubled on clarinet (including Harry Carney on bass)
On a more 'legit' note, what do people think of Bernstein's 'Prelude Fugue and Riffs'? Of my two recordings, I'm afraid I prefer Andrew Marinner with LSO brass (+ some saxes. And Derek Watkins) to Benny Goodson with Lenny. I remember hearing another good recording on the radio about ten years back. I can't remember the soloist but Wayne Marshall was on piano, and he kicked off at the end.
NB
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Tony Watson
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« Reply #10 on: 20:48:30, 16-01-2008 » |
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On a more 'legit' note, what do people think of Bernstein's 'Prelude Fugue and Riffs'? Of my two recordings, I'm afraid I prefer Andrew Marinner with LSO brass (+ some saxes. And Derek Watkins) to Benny Goodson with Lenny. I remember hearing another good recording on the radio about ten years back. I can't remember the soloist but Wayne Marshall was on piano, and he kicked off at the end.
The soloist with Wayne Marshall was Sabine Meyer. I've got that version and one played by Michael Collins. But is the Bernstein "legit"? When it was first given to jazz players they said they couldn't play it because the time signatures were many and varied. They were much more used to 4/4 time. I like the piece, though, especially the saxophone middle section. When I was starting to play the clarinet in the 1970s, I was always being asked if I could play Stranger on the Shore. And on a slightly different note, I was told recently of a piece for clarinet, called something like Disappearing Clarinet, in which the soloist bit by bit removes the lowest part of the instrument until he is just left with the mouthpiece. |
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Tony Watson
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« Reply #11 on: 23:47:18, 16-01-2008 » |
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Here's something that struck me tonight, but which is probably of no consequence.
I assume all jazz clarinettists played the B-flat model, which would make sense as that would fit in with the saxophones in B flat and E flat and the trumpets and other dance band instruments. So is much of jazz played in keys involving flats?
Tonight, however, on BBC4 I watched the 1967 Top of the Pops review of the year and apart from Whiter Shade of Pale (C major) and Lulu (D minor) all the songs were in keys involving sharps. Thus the Beatles, Monkees, Bee Gees, Cliff Richard and Dave, Dee, Dozy etc were all in G major, Engelbert Humperdinck was in D major... you get the idea. I suppose that is because such keys suit guitars better. (Is it significant that Lulu's song - so memorable I can't remember what it was - and Procul Harum's did not feature guitars much?)
Imagine the late 1950s when to some extent it was jazz versus pop. In effect it was flats versus sharps. Just a thought...
And while we're on the subject of potentially useless information (apologies if I've mentioned this before) Procul Harum is grammatically incorrect. Procul ("far away from") should take the ablative and yet Harum ("these") is a feminine genitive plural. The correct form would be His. Procul His.
Putting on my coat (anorak) and making for the door before someone comes along and corrects me...
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« Last Edit: 23:51:36, 16-01-2008 by Tony Watson »
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time_is_now
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« Reply #12 on: 00:32:52, 17-01-2008 » |
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And while we're on the subject of potentially useless information (apologies if I've mentioned this before) Procul Harum is grammatically incorrect. Procul ("far away from") should take the ablative and yet Harum ("these") is a feminine genitive plural. The correct form would be His. Procul His. Good job they were called Pro col Harum then, isn't it! Might as well be doubly incorrect if you're going to start making schoolboy errors like that ...  |
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The city is a process which always veers away from the form envisaged and desired, ... whose revenge upon its architects and planners undoes every dream of mastery. It is [also] one of the sites where Dasein is assigned the impossible task of putting right what can never be put right. - Rob Lapsley
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richard barrett
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« Reply #13 on: 00:33:51, 17-01-2008 » |
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Tony still gets my POST OF THE DAY award!
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Ubu-Impudicus
Posts: 44
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« Reply #14 on: 17:55:45, 10-02-2008 » |
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Professor Braxton used to play a mean B flat clarinet earlier in his career (Montreux/Berlin concerts), as did Tony Scott in the 50s & 60s. Apart from this straight model, usually just known as 'the clarinet' there's a model in A, which gives orchestral player an easier time with sharp keys, an octave below the standard B flat one, there' the bass clarinet, brought to maturity as a solo instrument, history books tell us, by Eric Dolphy. Buddy de Franco used it on one album only called 'Blues bag' with Art Blakey. Later notables on this instrument have included Rudi Mahall, Michel Portal, Louis Sclavis & Jacques di Donato. A farther octave down is the contrabass clarinet; a fit instrument to communicate with whales, some wag remarked. Braxton & German Wolfgang Fuchs are noted performers on this, as is remarkable Californian multi-instrumentalist Vinny Golia, who plays nearly every instrument with a reed in it.[/shadow]
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