[Dixielandjazz] WOODY ALLEN_Dixielandjazz Digest, Vol 48, Issue 30

[ALOHArose at aol.com]

In a message dated 12/16/06 11:06:33 PM, 
dixielandjazz-request at ml.islandnet.com writes:


> Hi:
> Been watching this thread and thinking about Woody Allen and his music.   I
> saw the TV documentary on his European tour.   I remember that the spokesman
> (banjo player I think) said that their style was a very archaic style of 
> playing
> that you won't hear any more.   Personally, I found that it sounded a lot
> like folk music, and I enjoyed it.   Of course, in a couple of scenes Woody 
> Allen
> had a cold or something and couldn't even blow the clarinet.   I enjoyed it,
> I have to say. 
> 
This thread weirdly caught me just after viewing two Woody Allen films; i'm a 
huge fan, so after this Woody Allen riff, I put on The Bunk Project, which is 
not perfect...but i was too busy enjoying it to analyze or crit.   Woody is 
one of the few remaining musicians who still uses the Albert method, and that 
*archaic style* referred to must be the double-embouchure  which produces a 
sound unique to the lower range.   Older musicians were always partial to this 
sound.  Today, only a handful of clarinet players, if there are any left at all, 
still favor the Albert method of double-embouchure, and one of those rare 
musicians is Woody Allen. Mastering this now obsolete method surely must require 
some diligence, and his accomplishment also nourishes the traditional, 
something intensely promoted here, so give the guy a break!
 Lived many years in New Orleans during the 50s (way before it was called 
NOLA), and spent every weekend plus all day Sunday pursuing the music.   The 
Woody Allen performance as described here could fit many performances heard then, 
and is not uncommon to those who play continuously. It is the rare performance 
that is flawless; and those earlier performances would never have been damned 
as arrogant. They might even have been applauded for pluck, so from the 
audience I salute Woody Allen.
ALOHA! and Happy Holidays,
from Rose in California