chris Posted May 5, 2005 Report Share Posted May 5, 2005 My understanding is that the clarinet has fingering similar to the saxophone and it was quite popular until Bop came around. Why'd it become so much less popular. Just circumstance or was there a technical reason? It really has a beautiful tone... maybe too smooth Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jazz Kat Posted May 5, 2005 Report Share Posted May 5, 2005 It was too hard. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guy Berger Posted May 5, 2005 Report Share Posted May 5, 2005 The flipside is that it made something of a comeback with free jazz. Guy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jazz Kat Posted May 5, 2005 Report Share Posted May 5, 2005 Check out Buddy De Franco. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Fitzgerald Posted May 5, 2005 Report Share Posted May 5, 2005 Read here: http://users.bestweb.net/~msnyder/clarinet/clar1945.htm Mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bright Moments Posted May 5, 2005 Report Share Posted May 5, 2005 Check out Buddy De Franco. no jk, check out david murray! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nate Dorward Posted May 5, 2005 Report Share Posted May 5, 2005 I don't play sax or clarinet but my understanding is that clarinet is much harder, especially the jump between the registers (it's not an octave as on saxophone but a tenth, if memory serves). There are plenty of clarinettists from bop & onwards but the original poster is certainly right that it substantially lost ground to the saxophone in popularity. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
P.L.M Posted May 5, 2005 Report Share Posted May 5, 2005 I don't play sax or clarinet but my understanding is that clarinet is much harder, especially the jump between the registers (it's not an octave as on saxophone but a tenth, if memory serves). Right but I think that the true reason is not a technical one, only than clarinet, in a context of a bop combo, had a too thin sound to compete with a trombone or a trumpet (imagine Gillespie with his trumpet and Parker with a... clarinet). Aniway, clarinet play a role during the West-Coast era (cf. Jimmy Giuffre). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AllenLowe Posted May 5, 2005 Report Share Posted May 5, 2005 nah, the damn thing is a pain in the ass....tough embouchre, and the most annoying thing is that the identical fingering represents two different notes in different octaves - I always got lost playing it - my favorite clarinetist, however, is Lester Young - Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John L Posted May 5, 2005 Report Share Posted May 5, 2005 my favorite clarinetist, however, is Lester Young - Mine too. Why did Lester stop playing clarinet in the 1930s (other than that single very strange late Verve session)? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stereojack Posted May 5, 2005 Report Share Posted May 5, 2005 Why did Lester stop playing clarinet in the 1930s (other than that single very strange late Verve session)? Perhaps the same reason Johnny Hodges stopped playing soprano sax? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AllenLowe Posted May 5, 2005 Report Share Posted May 5, 2005 (edited) he actually did play it on a Verve in 1957 or 1958 I think - am I correct in this? If memory serves, it was on a date with Sweets Edison - Edited May 5, 2005 by AllenLowe Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jazz Kat Posted May 5, 2005 Report Share Posted May 5, 2005 Bill Smith! You can actually hear some radical clarinet playing with Dave Brubeck on his more recent, (circa 1985) quartets with his son Chris on bass. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guy Berger Posted May 5, 2005 Report Share Posted May 5, 2005 Why did Lester stop playing clarinet in the 1930s (other than that single very strange late Verve session)? Perhaps the same reason Johnny Hodges stopped playing soprano sax? Didn't Hodges stop playing ss because Duke wouldn't pay him as a "doubler"? Guy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JSngry Posted May 5, 2005 Report Share Posted May 5, 2005 The shape of a good clarinet tone is at odds with the shape of a good bebop line. One of'em's gonna get clipped, no matter how good the player or the line is. If it don't fit, don't force it. But some people did anyways. Just my opinion. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bertrand Posted May 5, 2005 Report Share Posted May 5, 2005 Is this bass clarinet also harder to play? Man, I love that thing, especially on Bitches' Brew. Bertrand. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jazz Kat Posted May 5, 2005 Report Share Posted May 5, 2005 Harder? I dont think so. Same finguring right? Has to be. IN school the teacher picks the advanced clarinet players to try bass clarinet. It couldn't of been that much of a jump. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AllenLowe Posted May 5, 2005 Report Share Posted May 5, 2005 (edited) it actually may be a bit easier because of the bigger sound bore - probably takes less breath control - just like it's easier to get a sound on the tenor sax than the alto - Edited May 5, 2005 by AllenLowe Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Fitzgerald Posted May 5, 2005 Report Share Posted May 5, 2005 An important difference between soprano and bass clarinet is that the bass clarinet has keys (like a saxophone) that cover the holes. On the soprano clarinet, there are no keys for the primary fingers and the fingers themselves have to cover the holes. I agree with Allen about the air requirements. Mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
medjuck Posted May 5, 2005 Report Share Posted May 5, 2005 Wow. This same discussin is taking place (at length) on the Duke Ellington List Serve here my only contribution was: "Tony Scott--Nuff Said." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JSngry Posted May 5, 2005 Report Share Posted May 5, 2005 An important difference between soprano and bass clarinet is that the bass clarinet has keys (like a saxophone) that cover the holes. On the soprano clarinet, there are no keys for the primary fingers and the fingers themselves have to cover the holes. I agree with Allen about the air requirements. Mike Yep. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
montg Posted May 5, 2005 Report Share Posted May 5, 2005 A couple of people have mentioned the thinning tone in the context of bop lines--why would the speed or the harmonic challenges of bop impact the tone? Just curious. I've tried to appreciate Buddy DeFranco, put his tone just sounds so grating to me. Like it's always thin and always a little bit sharp. I can't even listen to the Hampton/ DeFranco Verve sessions because of the SOUND of the clarinet. It really irritates me. And I normally love to hear the clarinet---I could listen to Edmond Hall all day. And Bechet had a nice sound on the clarinet on those few occasions when he put down the SS. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim Alfredson Posted May 5, 2005 Report Share Posted May 5, 2005 Clarinet is a really sweet sounding instrument. I wish more people played it. How about an organ quartet with clarient, bass clarient? That would be cool! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jazzbo Posted May 5, 2005 Report Share Posted May 5, 2005 Wow, how about REED organ and a couple clarinets? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AllenLowe Posted May 5, 2005 Report Share Posted May 5, 2005 Best clarinetist I ever heard was Art Pepper - in Boston at Paul's Mall, circa 1977 or 1978, somebody gave him a clarinet between sets. He took it on stage, announced that he hadn't played one in ten years, and blew the hell out of it - liquid tone, swinging, great ideas - wow - Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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