[Dixielandjazz] Ted Lewis and the "gaspipe"

[Bob Romans]

While we're on the topic of Ted Lewis...
My first real inspiration to jazz when I was about 15 years old, was a tenor 
sax/trumpet/clarinet/flute player in, of all places, Loveland, Colorado, 
named Dick Mango. He was originally from New Jersey, and was schooled in the 
old Italian school of solfeggio...movable or stationary Do. He led a big 
band and was it very busy in N. Colorado, believe it or not!
Back to Lewis...Dick Mango played with Ted Lewis during the WW-2 years, and 
made two movies while in his band, 1942 and 1943, both of them named, for 
some reason or other, "Is Everybody Happy"....Dick still had the movie 
posters...
I remember he had a bunch of Vido Musso records, and he played right along 
with every one of them. He could write an arr like most people sit down and 
write a letter. Does anyone remember a 78 rpm album that came out in the 
late '40's called, "Join The Band"? Billy May's band recorded it, YOU played 
or sang the lead...I still have it, but I think two of the four records are 
gone...dammit! Dick wrote out a solo for me on "I May Be Wrong", that I 
still have. Took him about five minutes writing as fast as he could.
This DJML is something else! Sure does retrieve memories! Thanks to the 
founder, Peter Lovric!!!!
Warm regards,
Bob Romans,
Cell Block 7 Jazz Band
1617 Lakeshore Dr.
Lodi, Ca. 95242
209-339-4676
www.cellblockseven2002.net
Cell 209-747-1148
Because I play trumpet, I envy no one.
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----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Steve barbone" <barbonestreet at earthlink.net>
To: "DJML" <dixielandjazz at ml.islandnet.com>
Sent: Monday, January 09, 2006 7:09 AM
Subject: [Dixielandjazz] Ted Lewis and the "gaspipe"


> To add to the fine post by Bill Haesler about "gaspipe clarinet".
>
>
> Note #69, page 778-779, "Lost Chords" - Richard Sudhalter Oxford 
> University
> Press - 1999.
>
> 69. "Lewis's reputation has taken something of a pounding at the hands of
> jazz fans and critics, due in equal measure to his vaudevillian antics and
> his truly dreadful "gaspipe" clarinet playing. But another, surely more
> balanced, view comes from trombonist George Brunis, who in 1958 
> emphatically
> reminder an interviewer that Lewis "was a great showman; he gave me a 
> great
> schooling for talking to an audience" (June 3, 1958, Hogan Archive). Lewis
> paid both Brunis and Spanier well, even in the darkest days of the
> Depression, and gave them plenty of chances to solo. Spanier's choruses on
> such Lewis records as "Dinah" and "Headin For Better Times" number among 
> his
> finest. Lewis also employed Benny Goodman, Jimmy Dorsey, and, for two
> memorable record titles in mid 1929, Frank Teschemacher."
> --- end note
>
> On the other hand, I think it was Eddie Condon who said something like; 
> "Ted
> Lewis makes his clarinet talk. It says 'put me back in the case'."
>
> And then, from another biographer: "Lewis himself played clarinet in what
> was often referred to as "gaspipe" style, overblowing and creating a 
> shrill
> tone that was very useful on novelty tunes but frowned on by most players 
> in
> most settings (though as Rob Bamberger points out in his excellent essay 
> on
> Lewis, the fingering and control involved in effective "gaspipe" clarinet
> was just as daunting as any more standard approach to the instrument).
>
> If one googles for "Gaspipe Clarinet" (yes, put the quotes in) one will 
> find
> all sorts of other information about the style.
>
> To some degree, players such as Pee Wee Russell and Tony Scott used part 
> of
> the basic approach to "gaspipe", modifying and refining it to suit their
> communicative skill and technical ability.
>
> Cheers,
> Steve Barbone
>
>
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