Segment 5: Master Class for

Clarinet/Saxophone (22:33)

For use in Lesson #10.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

To go to a specific chapter, slide the elapsed time indicator in the video screen to the timing point shown for that chapter below.

Chapters:

1. Clinician introductions: Evan Christopher, Scott Robinson (0:00)

2. A Look at the Clarinet—Boehm and Albert (0:57)

3. A Look at the Soprano Saxophone (3:48)

4. A Look at the Tenor Saxophone (5:03)

5. Your Role (6:06)

6. New Orleans Clarinet: The Sound (8:10)

7. New Orleans Clarinet: The Phrasing (11:15)

8. Chicago/Swing/Mainstream Style Clarinet and Tenor (14:32)

9. Other Clarinetists to Listen To (16:39)

10. A Message From Evan (17:44)

11. A Message From Scott (18:23)

12. Clip of Pee Wee Russell (18:56)

13. Clip of George Lewis (19:33)

14. Clip of Coleman Hawkins (20:18)

15. Clip of Sidney Bechet (21:02)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A detailed description/transcription of this video segment follows for reference

Clinician Introductions: (left to right) Evan Christopher, Scott Robinson

Evan: [plays “New Orleans” on clarinet] Hello, my name is Evan Christopher. Currently I live in New Orleans, where I’m proud to be performing and researching traditional jazz clarinet.

Scott: [plays “ Sleepy Time Down South” on clarinet] Hello, I’m Scott Robinson, musician and composer, and I’m a perpetual student of this great American phenomenon that we call jazz music.

 A Look at the Clarinet—Boehm and Albert

Scott: Got some clarinets here to show you that I’ve been playing on. This is the type you’re most accustomed to seeing, a wooden clarinet. This one is a little bit more unusual, made out of old airplane propeller wood, and I used this one for years. And then now, I’ve been playing this metal one, and I’ve kind of come to like this. Now here’s an unusual one. This is an Albert system fingering, which is what pretty much all the old New Orleans players used, and it has a kind of a distinctive sound, a little bit bigger tone than the Boehm system clarinet. [plays a blues chorus on Albert clarinet] And this has a very unusual little turned-up bell, which is similar to the type that was used by the old New Orleans player Alphonse Picou. He played an instrument like this with a little curved-up bell; it’s a little unusual. It’s a nice little horn.

Evan: The Boehm system is probably better for fast technical passages and difficult keys. I prefer the Albert system, because for me it helps me evoke the spirit of the great New Orleans masters.

Evan: The keys are different. For instance on the Albert system: [plays chromatic notes] And the Boehm system: [plays the same]

Scott: The Albert system is a little bit more primitive mechanically, but for some reason it gets a big broad sound, especially in the low register. You can kind of get that sound on the Boehm, [plays a low register lick] but you’ve got to really push the air through the horn to get it. [plays another lick] And with the Albert, that type of sound just really has the potential to really roar through, and it’s a very beautiful, very impassioned thing, when you combine that tone with the big vibrato; it’s very affecting.

A Look at the Soprano Saxophone

Scott: There are times in a traditional jazz situation where the soprano saxophone is used in the place of a clarinet. They play in a similar register; a little bit different sound. And the soprano does not have quite the range of a clarinet. But it has a fluid sound, a singing quality that can be very nice. Some players will use both, and it’s always a good skill to learn both instruments and be able to switch off as required. [holds up straight soprano sax] This is a soprano saxophone, the type that you most commonly see. The great New Orleans master Sidney Bechet played an instrument very similar to this one. [holds up curved soprano sax] I’m kind of partial to the little curved soprano. It’s cuter, and it plays the same notes. [plays “It’s Right Here For You” on soprano sax]

 A Look at the Tenor Saxophone

Evan:  The dance bands of New Orleans, and the early jazz bands, added saxophone sometimes to their front line. Tenor sax being in the range of the trombone, and alto saxophone sometimes being in the range of the trumpet.

Scott:  The tenor sax does have a place and a history in traditional jazz music, although not as much as a clarinet. But sometimes it’s used as an extra instrument in the front line. Some of the great proponents and players of this instrument include Bud Freeman, who’s a real favorite of mine—Chicago player—also Eddie Miller, and certainly the great Coleman Hawkins, who’s thought of as really the grandfather of the tenor saxophone in jazz. [demonstrates tenor sax]

Your Role

Evan: Have you ever listened to a good traditional jazz band, and wondered how all those musicians improvise at the same time without getting in each others’ way? Collective improvisation is one of the hallmarks of traditional jazz, and an art in itself.

Scott: For me, one of the really fun challenges of traditional jazz music is that you get to make up your own part. But of course you don’t want to make up a part that doesn’t make sense; you want to make up a part that works with the band as a whole, a part that exists in the service of the music. So there’s an element of individuality and at the same time, subverting your own ego to the greater good of the whole piece of music. And this is a challenge, and it’s what makes it fun. I’m not talking about soloing now, I’m talking about as a group, playing the group improvisation part. The clarinet is I guess the most decorative instrument in the front line of a traditional jazz band, playing what could be termed “obbligato”. “Obbligato” is a part that weaves around the melody, and kind of fills in the cracks, and adds some filigree here and there.

Evan: Now watch out, you clarinet players. Because you’re improvising almost the whole time, this means your part will be most likely busier than the lead. Be conscious of the energy you’re trying to create, and be listening to the other musicians around you, so that you’re not too busy, and so that you’re creating the right type of energy. Remember, in good traditional jazz, everyone is responsible for creating that rhythmic energy, not just the rhythm section.

Scott:  The clarinet needs to be heard along with the melody. So, don’t hold back too much, because the trumpet’s liable to just drown you out. So let yourself be heard; fill up with air and blow, and put your ideas across.

New Orleans Clarinet: The Sound

Scott:  The New Orleans players, as a group, got a particular kind of sound out of the clarinet that’s very different from a classical clarinet sound. It’s a very strong folk art, that style of clarinet playing. And it doesn’t always adhere to the principles that many of us are taught in our daily lessons with classical studies of how the clarinet should be played. But it works. It works for that music, and I always believe that whatever works in the service of music, that’s what’s worthwhile. The intonation of some of these players has been brought under criticism. But their music is about telling a story, and intonation is—pitch is another tool that can be used to tell a story. Pitch is something that can be malleable; it can be bended and formed. And there’s certain phrases, certain ideas that just wouldn’t come across the same if they weren’t formed and shaped in the way that these masters do with their instruments.

Evan: Here’s how those elements of the mouthpiece, the reed and the embouchure work together to give you that different sound quality that you’ll hear with New Orleans music and traditional jazz. On the Boehm system, I have a little slightly closed, more closed mouthpiece, a slightly softer reed, and I’ll use a tighter embouchure. [plays an arpeggio] Here on the Albert system, I’ve got a little, slightly more open mouthpiece; the tip opening is slightly larger, the reed is a little bit harder, and I’m going to loosen my embouchure a little bit. I’m going to use a little vibrato, to make the sound a little warmer, a little more spread, less focused; and I’m going to try to get the wood of the sound that you hear with the New Orleans clarinet players. [plays an arpeggio] This different sound quality for traditional jazz, with the slightly more open mouthpiece and the different embouchure, is a departure from European classical technique, and so are the other devices that you use in improvising in this style. You’re going to use scoops and bends and glissandos and growl tones; these are all part of the language of traditional jazz.

Scott: A harder reed will tend to give you bigger sound and a stronger upper register, but there’s a tradeoff to that; you have to work very hard and you can get quite tired. Find the combination that works for you of reed strength with mouthpiece opening; try to find something that lets you get all registers of the horn, and that allows you to get a good vibrato, which is important in traditional jazz music, to have a good vibrato.

New Orleans Clarinet: The Phrasing

Scott: [plays “Hindustan”] That’s how you might play a chorus of “Hindustan” if you’re playing with a New Orleans type of ensemble.

Evan: The earliest New Orleans clarinet players were taught by their teachers to subdivide not in a 4/4 feel but in a 2/2 feel, like this. [plays “Hindustan”]

Scott: I’m a really big fan of the great Johnny Dodds, and he’s one of the real New Orleans masters, along with Omer Simeon, and Jimmie Noone, Barney Bigard; so many great players came from New Orleans. [plays 8 bars of Dodds’ solo on “Potato Head Blues”]

Evan: Another interesting clarinetist out of that Creole paradigm was Jimmie Noone. He had that light articulation, and a good handling of the blues, and used some very interesting false fingering devices. [plays a blues chorus a la Noone] The greatest improvising virtuoso to come out of New Orleans was Sidney Bechet. He gained his fame and fortune in Paris, and mostly played soprano sax, but in his early recordings on clarinet he was unstoppable. [plays 4 bars of “Blue Horizon” plus improvisations, a la Bechet]

Scott: San Francisco gave rise to a form of jazz that’s like the New Orleans tradition but with a different spin on it. It reminds me a little bit of parade music; a very strong beat and a lot of brass, and the same type of New Orleans clarinet sound.

Chicago/Swing/Mainstream Style Clarinet and Tenor

Scott:  We come to the Chicago style and mainstream, where you have walking bass and swinging cymbal work, and more of a swing feel to the music. The clarinet in that situation is maybe not playing so many arpeggios; a little more of a linear approach. [plays a solo chorus of “Hindustan” on clarinet]

Evan: [plays a solo chorus of “Hindustan” on clarinet]

Scott: [plays a solo chorus of “Hindustan” on tenor sax]

Other Clarinetists to Listen To

Evan: When I really started to get into traditional jazz, I discovered some great clarinet players. One of my favorites was Edmund Hall. Beautiful attack and swinging drive. You’ll hear him on records with Louis Armstrong’s All Stars. He used a technique called a growl tone, where he would sing a little bit while he played. [improvises a la Hall] Another great clarinetist I discovered was New Orleanian Barney Bigard. He also worked with Louis Armstrong, and Duke Ellington too. He practiced chromatic scales constantly, and had a wonderful ability to use glissandos for his more florid style. [improvises a la Bigard]

A Message From Evan

Evan: By no means have we covered all the great musicians of traditional jazz. It’s your job to go discover them on your own. Find the ones you like the most. Let the way they create energy become a part of you. Your creative capacities are the greatest thing about you. Have fun. [plays a blues chorus]

A Message From Scott

Scott: Each style of music is a certain language. If you’re speaking Spanish, let’s say, then you’re not using French, you’re not using Russian; those things are in a different world. You’re speaking in the Spanish language—but that language, even though it doesn’t include French, Russian, all these other languages—that world of the Spanish language is infinite. There’s infinite possibilities of what you can say in that language. That’s how I think of music.

Clip of Pee Wee Russell

Evan: Now here’s a unique clarinetist associated with the Chicago style: Pee Wee Russell.

Pee Wee Russell plays “Rosetta” with the Red Allen All-Stars

Clip of George Lewis

Evan: George Lewis was one of the most popular clarinetists of the New Orleans Revival.

George Lewis plays “Burgundy Street Blues” with his group

Clip of Coleman Hawkins

Scott: We can’t talk about the tenor saxophone in jazz without talking about Coleman Hawkins, a player who spanned many generations and styles of music. Here he is.

Coleman Hawkins plays “Rosetta” with the Red Allen All-Stars

Clip of Sidney Bechet

Scott:  Listen to the great Sidney Bechet. I think to some degree, any band he played in kind of became his band. His part is so strong and soaring over everything, with that characteristic big vibrato, which I love.

Sidney Bechet plays “Royal Garden Blues” with the Claude Luter band

 

Performance Clip Details

Ch. 12: Red Allen All-Stars, “Rosetta”, 1957: Pee Wee Russell clarinet, Nat Pierce piano, Danny Barker guitar, Milt Hinton bass, Jo Jones drums

Ch. 13: George Lewis and His New Orleans Allstars, “Burgundy Street Blues”, 1963: George Lewis clarinet, Joe Robichaux piano, Emmanuel Sayles banjo, “Papa” John Joseph bass, Joe Watkins drums

Ch. 14: Red Allen All-Stars, “Rosetta”, 1957: Coleman Hawkins tenor saxophone, Nat Pierce piano, Danny Barker guitar, Milt Hinton bass, Jo Jones drums

Ch. 15: Sidney Bechet with Claude Luter and his Orchestra, “Royal Garden Blues”, 1952: Claude Rabanit trumpet, Sidney Bechet soprano saxophone, Claude Luter clarinet, Bernard Zacharias trombone, Raymond Fol piano, Roland Bianchini bass, Moustache Galepides drums

Music heard under the “A Message From…” chapters is performed by the Capital Focus Jazz Band youth group of Washington, DC.