[Dixielandjazz] Clarinet or Soprano?

[Charlie Hooks]

On Tuesday, June 7, 2005, at 09:40 AM, Tom Belmessieri wrote:

>  Personally I prefer the clarinet sound in a traditional dixieland 
> front line because it has more of a contrast to the brass 
> instruments, especially the trombone.  Also, the sound does not come 
> out the end of a clarinet, or any woodwind for that matter, but 
> rather the holes (unless they are all covered up).  So one does not 
> have to tilt one's head back to project the sound into the audience 
> as one suggested.  And what's wrong with using a mike?  Granted, 
> I've had my share of dealing with poor sound men, but if it's 
> adjusted and balanced right, one may not even realize the mike was 
> on.
>

I prefer the clarinet, too. So do we all.  But unless it can be 
actually heard by a human ear, whatever sound the instrument makes is 
like a tree falling in the forest: kind of a non-event.

If you want to test whether sound comes out the bell of the horn, get 
someone to blow his clarinet bell into your ear.

Sound does indeed come out the holes--well, out the one just under 
the covered ones--and a mike placed there is a fine solution...unless 
you are walking down the street and need guys to carry the amp, the 
generator for the amp, the mike stand, the speakers...well, you take 
my point, I'm sure.
Now that nanoexperiments have shown that one molecule can be made to 
function as a transistor, there's promise that one day the whole mess 
can be fitted into a clarinet bell and solve all our problems, making 
Kenny
Davern's chops unnecessary. But until then...

BTW.there's another Iron Chops player around, one who used to be in 
Chicago, then moved home to Boston: Jerry Fuller.  Jerry gets a 
gorgeous sound by using a Fibercane reed chopped off with a special 
reed cutter and his own steel jaw!  Memory: when I came to Chicago 
off the Celebration Road Show in the seventies I'd been playing 15 to 
20 jobs a week--night and day--and was using a #5 cane reed, 
clipped.  I thought I could blow anybody's set-up.  Then I tried 
Jerry's.  I got all air.  ALL air!  No sound at all until I nailed a 
double high C!  I remember thinking that no human being could play 
this set-up, yet Jerry sounded perfect.  I handed the horn back to 
him and said as a friend, "Screw you very much."

Charlie
__________________________________________________________________
"An expert is somebody who is more than 50 miles from home, has no 
responsibility for implementing the advice he gives, and shows 
slides."--Ed Meese