[Dixielandjazz] Sol Yaged Benny Goodman Clone?

[Steve Barbone]

Sol like all of us clarinet wannabe's in the 1930s/40s couldn't help but
play like Benny. BG influenced all of us. Sol idolized him.

Yaged went a step further when playing at the Metropole, or the Onyx and
other NYC clubs where he was surrounded by bands and musicians that did not
play the same music BG did. (He played on opening night in Birdland in
Kaminisky's Band)

And you are right about him sounding just like BG when the spirit moves him.
When young, he used to hang around Benny all the time, like Wilber did with
Bechet. And Yaged can blow some Goodman solos note for note that would
confuse all but the most careful listener. IMO, when he wanted to be, he was
closer to Goodman's playing than Peanuts Hucko was.

Yaged found a niche playing like BG. And that niche can be lucrative. Most
recently at his ongoing restaurant gig, he had a trio. I think I posted a NY
Times article about it 3 or 4 years ago. The restaurant is Il Valentino in
Brooklyn.

I went to see him back then and they start their evening with Goodman like,
American Songbook tune renditions. Then the morph into Dixieland style
stompers. but Yaged is a smart man. He knows there is money to be made
playing the Goodman stuff and so he does that too.

I remember a quote from that article by a patron to the writer. It went
something like; "I hope you tell your readers that the food is awful here
and the staff is surly. We don't want to have to fight larger crowds coming
here to see him". As I recall, the patron was an old fart like us . . . and
that's who the market for Goodman is. <grin>

Is he making a lot of money? Probably not, but I suspect he is making more
than most jazz musicians in the USA and has been for 65 years. He might have
made more touring but he chooses not to. He prefers to stay in NYC all year
rather than tour and I hear that, loud and clear  being that way myself here
in the Philadelphia area.

Cheers,
Steve Barbone