[Dixielandjazz] Clarinets in acoustic performance

[David Dustin]

Somebody wrote:
At  a recent concert for the Southern Highlands Classic Razz and Ragtime
Festival the Buddy Bolden Revival Orchestra did a 2 hour concert in a large
theatre with good accoustics. For various reasons we decided to dispense
with amplification. ...... As it turned out we had no problems filling the
space and even the vocals could be heard clearly.

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Key here, IMO, is ³with good acoustics².  Most of our venues (restaurants,
laundromats, funeral parlors, etc) lack them, meaning that most hobby bands
have to presume they¹ll be playing in a carpet shop and come prepared. And
hobby bands like mine do a large amount of business in outdoor bandstands.
We don¹t mike anybody, but most people who listen to us don¹t even know that
we have a clarinet in the front line, regardless of how much the cornet and
I suck on our horns and point at the guy. So, as part of my continuing quest
to learn more from you pro¹s about the OKOM band business, I would like to
know how most trad bands that play airstream handle the clarinet?  Vince
Giordano¹s living room sports his grandmother¹s Victrola and a large antique
³clarinet megaphone,² a large cylinder on a stand resembling a fat
telescope, with two openings on the sides for the player¹s hands. So,
regardless of how soft Doc Cheathem recalled King Oliver¹s band sounding
back in the day (hey, I thought the house I grew up in was HUGE til I saw it
again after 50 years), I guess early jazz bands faced the familiar problem
of how to get the clarinet up to the level of the brass.

David Dustin