The Jazz.com Blog
April 27, 2009 · 12 comments
Has the Clarinet Gone the Way of the Banjo?
Michael Pellecchia concludes his look at the rise and fall of the clarinet below, in the final installment of this three-part article. Click here for parts one and two.T.G.
Back in the "jazz age," when a popular classical piece adopted a “jazzy” sound, courtesy of George Gershwin, it rode on the crest of a clarinet. The introduction to his Rhapsody in Blue needs no introduction. This clarinet cry begs to smother all other. Using another straight stick as a comparison, it’s as if Sidney Bechet never existed in the eyes of a Kenny Gorelick fan. The instrument is a musical actor.
Everyone has heard of Ornette Coleman, but how many know of his childhood schoolmate whose compositions represent some of jazz’ true caviar? That would be the late clarinetist John Carter. Another great jazz composer and theoretician, Alvin Batiste, had clarinet as his primary instrument.
On a 1967 album called “Ask Me Now,” Pee Wee Russell plays the Monk tune and many others with an ageless sound and style that suggests the eternal spotless mind of the clarinet. Russell plays without any particular decade in mind, and epitomizes the strangeness of someone who would take up this instrument rather than another one. Is he the character Woody Allen channels on clarinet?
Prominent clarinetists in every area of jazz today have kept this pud-puller of an instrument alive. Universities and conservatories employ many top clarinetists who can play jazz. In the late 1980’s, I was allowed to include a couple of jazz tunes in my master’s degree clarinet recital. Classicists such as Richard Stolzman put their personal stamps on a jazz repertoire. There’s Paquito D’Rivera, Giora Feidman (carrying the substantial influence of Dave Tarras’ klezmer), Allan Vache (doing the same for trad), Ken Peplowski, Brad Terry, Michael White, the late Kenny Davern.
A newer generation includes Evan Christopher, Don Byron, Anat Cohen, Marty Ehrlich, Dan Block. Update this list with names of your own. It might be fun to keep a tally of 21st century clarinetists, to imagine what future generations may write about the postmodern clarinet. For every great clarinetist, there are ten great saxophonists. As a jazz instrument, the sax has it all over clarinet. Let’s not diminish the clarinet’s achievement, though. Like the banjo, it is more important to music at large than to jazz in specific.
Most followers of the jazz clarinet have their memories and great recordings to hold them. Half a century ago, Pete Fountain might play the latest chart hit on “Lawrence Welk” for millions of viewers. During the last 25 years, few clarinet sounds have broadcast more widely than Billy Novick’s, plaintively introducing the TV show “This Old House.”
Relegated to nostalgia, yet the clarinet never had to don a disguise to do its job. Perhaps that’s part of its problem. To get where it is today, the electric guitar has had to be many things to many people. A saxophone choir can produce a mass of audio chocolate that a clarinet choir might envy. The saxophone has actually been very good news for the clarinet. It doesn’t squeak so much, it’s the prime instrument of jazz, and a saxophonist can play at doubling the clarinet for an arranger’s benefit. Nothing has changed with the old cliché, that if one starts out on clarinet, the sax will seem much easier by comparison.
In the hands of an expert, the clarinet’s special effects go beyond boundaries. The same instrument which can sing an aria, burn the midnight oil at Mozart’s place, and execute a Charlie Parker solo up to speed, can also produce multiphonics, tweets and splats which most jazz might eschew (John Carter to great exception).
Finally, it comes down to image. The computer or television screen can make a person look fatter but not a clarinet. Kenny G, with what many listeners think is a metal clarinet, revived the image of a person with a long skinny thing coming out of his mouth. It helped that he looked like Weird Al Yankovic. Benny Goodman’s avuncular appearance may have made him the perfect clarinet holder for his time. Swing was a rebellion, but Goodman was no Che Guevara.
I am haunted by a scene in Bert Stern’s 1960 film Jazz on a Summer’s Day. It shows a filmic interpretation (definitely not a “documentary” in the sense that we normally think) of portions of the Newport Jazz Festival. In one scene, there’s a classic mismatch. Or is it? The drummer is Jo Jones, the bassist is Tommy Bryant, and the clarinetist is Rudy Rutherford.
The guitarist and vocalist is Chuck Berry.
The scene says everything that this blog doesn’t. We’ll never know how jazz would have evolved without this tube of squeaks. Or whether rock ‘n roll would have been invented!
P.S. Gene Krupa wouldn’t have looked so cool behind a banjo either.
This blog entry posted by Michael Pellecchia.
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These posts were entertaining, informative and witty, thank you so much for honoring the instrument that got me into Jazz! Also, what about all of the beautiful and invigorating orchestral effects used by Ellington, Miller, the Bob Crosby band, Thad Jones/Mel Lewis and more recently Marsalis/Lincoln Center?
Good article series. Your gig hit the nail on the head. The major problem with the clarinet is mic-ing it, as the sound comes out of ALL of the holes as opposed to the bell for the sax. I think it's relative resurgence is due to the modern technology.
Michael, Excellent! Many smiles and recollections from your delightful and thoughtful presentation. A former Brit am I - born in 1930. An uncle played saxes/CLARINET on THE CUNARD LINE, and around England. So, I wanted to learn the cla- rinet. At 14 years of age, I went with my ma to a musical instrument shop, in the heart of Sheffield. I KNEW ABSOLUTELY NOTHING ABOUT THE INSTRUMENT, other than its blackness; a long stick with silver keys...and, of course, its appealing sound. After showing and provi- ding price information on several clarinets,a salesman suggested an Albert-system, asking whether I would like to try it. Shyly, I said, "Yes,please." He handed it to me. Well, I blew and blew, only to hear hissing. Politely, he took it back from me........and, after removing the mouthpiece cover, handed it back to me. I was bloodywell embarassed and wanted to die - at least disappear! I am much better at it now - 65 years later. A BOEHM SYSTEM left the ALBERT in the dust. Michael, I've had the joy of playing it,and alto/tenor/ soprano saxes...AND SINGING...all over the place!!! I'm tempted to keep talking, including about my LOUIS ARMSTRONG song, "I'D LIKE TO BE BACK WITH YOU - A Satchmo Remembrance", which is at THE LOUIS ARMSTRONG ARCHIVE, at Queens College, New York...SINCE 1991. See what you did ... you got me talking and talking!! THANK YOU for the article that inspired me to get on my magic musical carpet. Bernard LEE
Michael, Great closing article on your excellent observations on the clairnet. I had become concerned that no where in the two previous articles had you mentioned the iconic opening to George Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue. We now know that you were saving that added punch for your closing article. Brilliant restraint! B. Benge
Great article. Pleased that the maligned banjo crept in. Lee
As the writer of this "3-parter", I just want thank everyone for comments and corrections, posted at the end of each part, for all to read. Some readers who know far more than I do have posted corrections, so I encourage everyone to read all three parts as well as the various corrections posted. http://www.jazz.com/jazz-blog/2009/4/6/rise-fall-clarinet-one http://www.jazz.com/jazz-blog/2009/4/14/rise-fall-clarinet-two http://www.jazz.com/jazz-blog/2009/4/27/rise-fall-clarinet-three
Pellecchia - Great to see you're still alive and writing. Nice work. Drop me a line some time. Best, Bob Hill
I am glad that you wrote this article, as great clarinet playing is certainly one of the most satisfying experiences in listening to traditional, and even some wonderful contemporary jazz. I was drawn to your title, and think that there is a similarity between the banjo, (tenor banjo that is, which is used in traditional jazz) and clarinet. That is, somehow, even more so than other instruments, the clarinet and the banjo sound absolutely terrible in the wrong hands. The Clarinet squeaks. The banjo is tinny and loud. Played well though, these two instruments still have the potential to create the most powerful, and beautiful sounds in jazz. It takes patience to find, but when a banjoist is really great, it can be like hearing Benny Goodman on Clarinet.
Matthew, I'm listening to the piano performance of your composition "Pine" on your website, on my Gateway laptop with the tinny on-board speaker. I can easily imagine this on banjo, and would love to hear what happens on banjo when the "rhapsody" chords start hitting!
Agreed, the juxtaposition in Jazz on a Summer's Day is telling. The sound of clarinet would seem to be incompatible with the inevitable ascendancy of Rock & Roll. In The Triumph of Vulgarity, Robert Pattison argues that American mass culture tends towards vulgarity. The most popular musical forms are those that increasingly cater to the more romantic/pantheistic/democratic/vulgar impulses in modern culture. His book is an attempt to offer intellectualization of how once vital musical forms are gradually relegated to ghettos of respectability and academia. This process climaxes with the electric guitar becoming the heroic instrument of the 20th Century (electricity apparently the driving force of vulgarity). Now that the 20th century itself has crashed, it’s assumptions and myths have scattered. Sifting through the ashes, it turns out the clarinet was there all along; creating it’s own convoluted alternative history of sound. Of course, the clarinet itself is no stranger to vulgarity, as given expression by German free-jazz legend Peter Brötzmann’s use of the instrument in the 1980’s. Case in point his 1984 album Berlin Djungle, an 11-piece, 6-clarinet sonic blowout; something that would surely make Chuck Berry roll over.
I just ordered a copy of Berlin Djungle, and am excited about hearing Tony Coe as well. Brotzmann appears tonight (May 8) I believe in New Haven.
Well Michael , I enjoyed your bittesweet tribute. I am a practictioner of the clarinet for 44 years,as I started at age nine in Philly . I play Jazz ,Klezmer/Classical and Dixie on the instrument . The clarinet needs a major marketing booast ,if only Hugh Jackman could play a solo on clarinet to a beautiful leading lady in the next Hollywood blockbuster . Well here's the reality . I play very strong Alto and Tenor sax and flute . But if I show up in a jazz club with my clarinet ,I find that people are surprized to hear someone play a wailing ,emotional clarinet solo , as the instrument get's very little exposure . I find myself having my own psychological doubts, about the benifits of playing this thing ,when I could be sceaning out an Alto solo instead .... But thanks to your encouragement ,I will show up this week , May 10th 2009 ,at many of L.A.'s Jam session , with Jazz clarinet complete with 4 octave high c chops at the ready , to take on any Sax player in the joint , who can make more music han me and my sweet little, "Buffet Crampon Clarinet"