[Dixielandjazz] Oboe - King of Reeds.

[Steve barbone]

LARRY at sign.guy at charter.net wrote: (about the Demand for Oboe players as
cited by the NY Times Article

> Very good article.  I majored on Oboe in college and played Oboe in the AF
> band for a while.  I got my scholarship just warming up in the hall.  I
> didn't even have a formal try out.  At that time I just didn't know that
> high school oboe players were supposed to sound bad.  I had lots of musical
> problems but a big sound wasn't one of them.  While in college I played with
> the Cape Girardeau Symphony as well as the college band, orchestra and
> Woodwind Quintet.  The part about pressure is real.  Oboe is the most
> demanding horn I can think of.
> 
> When I graduated I could see no prospects for employment as a Oboe player.
> At that time big salaries were not a part of Symphony work and here in St.
> Louis the same two players held the job for years and years finally died in
> the job.  I just couldn't wait and hope to keep the chops up.  I just
> couldn't see continuing.  The practice regimen is demanding too.  It's a lot
> like training to be a track star or other athlete.  You need at least 2-3
> hours a day and that drove me nuts.  Just ask my wife how much she liked me
> doing endless drills, scales and other practice.  I don't care what you
> sound like you need a soundproof room or a deaf wife.
> 
> Yesterday I went to a music contest and there was a high school girl that
> had the best sound of any H.S. player I ever heard including mine.  They
> come along every so often.

When I was a High School reed player, late 1940s, (Bayside High School, NYC
Concert Band) our band leader Alfred Leuschner took 3 clarinetists and our 2
oboe players to hear the Philadelphia Symphony Orchestra and World famous
oboe player, (and Godfather to all American Symphony Oboists these days)
Marcel Tabuteau. I forget what they played featuring Tabuteau but he was
absolutely amazing.

The 2 oboe players in that 105 piece band went on to become Symphony
players. The other 2 clarinetists? Raoul Querze who became, First Clarinet
behind Gillotti at the Philadelphia and Ron Paolillo who went to First Chair
Pittsburgh symphony or somewhere further west. Those 4 were extraordinary
players. 

Mr. Leuschner wanted to switch me to oboe as the other two were leaving a
year ahead of me. But, my head was too far into jazz by that time and I was
digging the music of Pee Wee Russell, Artie Shaw, Hank D'Amico, Tony Scott,
Buddy DeFranco and Sidney Bechet. Fooled around with oboe for a short time,
putting it down because it was far too difficult for me to get comfortable
with as a jazz instrument.

Cheers,
Steve Barbone