[Dixielandjazz] Clarinet Players and Cleo Lane

[Stephen Barbone]

Ivor Jones in sunny Portugal wrote: (polite snip)

"What I am surprised by is that some good competent musicians and
especially clarinet players seem rarely to talk about the
likes of Omer Simeon, Johnny Dodds, and others of their generation, but
Bilk or Sunshine or Kenny Ball. And I am talking of 60/65 years old guys
who I would have thought would have gone back to the roots for their
inspiration. On another subject I was amazed that the wonderful Cleo
Lane was not known to many of our American friends, another example of
the insularity of those
who live across the pond."

One good thing about the insularity of those clarinet players, good or
bad, who live across the pond, is that we rarely, if ever, talk about
Bilk, Sunshine or Ball. We do however talk about Dodds, Simeon and a
whole host of other wonderful jazz clarinetists.

Regarding the gentle Cleo, there are quite a few of us (clarinet players
and others), in the Colonies who are familiar with her and John
Dankworth. It's just that following our instincts about Bilk, Sunshine
and Ball, we see no real urgency about discussing Cleo and John either.
;-) chuckle VBG

Cheers,
Steve Barbone