[Dixielandjazz] Bigard & Barnet

[Richard Broadie]

Barney was my mentor and friend for 25 years.  Yet he never once mentioned 
Artie Shaw to me.  I guess I never asked him who his favorite clarinet 
player was.  Shame on me!

Guess I was too busy asking him, "How'd you do that?"  I still have one of 
his Albert System clarinets.

Then again I also have a closet half filled with Charlie Barnet master 
tapes.  Anyone know a good jazz museum with interest in such stuff?

Dick


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Steve barbone" <barbonestreet at earthlink.net>
To: "Chuck Kercher" <cfkercher at prepaidlegal.com>; "DJML" 
<dixielandjazz at ml.islandnet.com>
Sent: Sunday, January 09, 2005 8:08 PM
Subject: Re: [Dixielandjazz] Shaw & Goodman


on 1/9/05 5:01 PM, Chuck Kercher at cfkercher at prepaidlegal.com wrote:

> Probably someone on the list knows the exact quote and the book wherein I
> had read it (I can't seem to find it) but anyway a paraphrase:  The quote
> was from Barney Bigard in which he said that in his estimation Artie Shaw
> was the premier jazz genius of clarinet. If I were Artie I would've
> treasured that quote more than a top Downbeat rating or such.

Hi Chuck & List mates:

The quote was in an Artie Shaw Obit from the NY Times by John S. Wilson on
December 31, 2004. Wilson was a well respected jazz critic for the Times. He
died in 2002, and the obit, written prior to Wilson's death, was in the NY
Times obit file, waiting for Shaw to die. Snip from that obit below.

Cheers,
Steve Barbone

----begin snip ------

"Shaw impressed and amazed clarinetists of all schools:

? Barney Bigard, the New Orleans clarinetist who was Duke Ellington's
soloist for 14 years, said he considered Shaw the greatest clarinetist ever.

? Phil Woods, a saxophonist of the be-bop era, took Charlie Parker as his
inspiration on saxophone, but he modeled his clarinet playing on Shaw's.

? John Carter, a leading post-bop clarinetist, said he took up the
instrument because of Shaw.

? In 1983, when Franklin Cohen, the principal clarinetist of the Cleveland
Orchestra, was to be featured in a performance of Shaw's composition
"Concerto for Clarinet," he listened to Shaw's recording of the work and
said he found his playing unbelievable.

'Shaw is the greatest player I ever heard," he said. "It's hard to play the
way he plays. It's not an overblown orchestral style. He makes so many
incredible shadings.'"

----end snip----


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