Word: clarinet
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...stage were some of the greatest of jazz improvisers: gaunt, lean-fingered "Pee Wee" Russell, famed for his hoarse clarinet tones; bobbing, supple-wristed...
Some of us have remarked within the past couple of years how his clarinet playing seemed to have deteriorated, that it his lacked the verve and snap and inventiveness of yore. not only in his commercial products of popular airs, but in his too infrequent jazz records, his solos have been adversely affected by his full-dress symphony performances, for the cold, pure classical clarinet tone Mozart wanted sounds cold and pure when transferred to jazz, where tone can express so much...
...chiefly by a well recorded rhythm section. There are no limits to Ellington's opportunities for solo improvisation in his band. I notice that the Duke has another record out today, and where last week he let Rex and Ben Webster loose, so today it may be Bigard's clarinet, Hodges' alto, or any of three trombones, which gets a chance to dazzle. And since Ellington is generally conceded to be at least a decade ahead of everyone, except perhaps his imitators, that record will be worth hearing--more than once...
...that jazz is serious. At the moment a hot guitarist, academically introduced as a "demonstrator of social and protest blues," was beginning to take effect on listeners like Conductor Wilfred Pelletier of the Metropolitan Opera. Soon Benny Goodman arrived, said "Hi" to the assembled thinkers and blew into his clarinet. In the early dawn he was still going strong. So were Mouth-Organist Larry Adler, Pianist Alec Templeton, and the dogged panel of classicists. By that time the classicists more or less agreed: it would be all right for Manhattan's Station WQXR to broadcast blues...
...other days, it would have been called Gems from Show Boat. Ol' Man River rolled in on the violas and bass clarinet...