[Dixielandjazz] Benny Goodman Centennial

[Stephen G Barbone]

On May 29, 2009, at 11:51 PM, doctordubious at verizon.net wrote:

> It was also on last night, May 28, and I went. What a night. Not  
> only great
> clarinets, but the contrast in styles was rewarding. Buddy DeFranco  
> (wasn't
> he a mentor of yours, Steve?) very much more "modern" with "blocked
> phrases". Wilber and Peplowski more fluid and lyrical ala Benny and  
> Goines
> with a harder edge and tone. Ted Nash also came from the orchestra and
> contributed admirably.
>
> Some interesting charts that I had not heard much before from when  
> Benny
> formed what they called "the new band" , I guess in the later '40's.  
> Some
> great Eddie Sauter and Mel Powell charts.
>
> If this comes to TV, don't miss it.
>
> Regards,

Tom & Listmates:

Here is Nate Chinen's NY Times review of the BG Cenntennial concert.  
No, Buddy was not what I would call a mentor, but when I was a young  
confused wannabe,  I tried to model my upper register tone after his  
and my lower register tone after Tony Scott. I played a lot of gigs  
with Buddy's older brother Lennie (now deceased) who was a bass player  
as well as an excellent piano tuner.

Buddy DeFranco surprised a lot of people by playing bop on clarinet.  
It is not an easy thing to do.

Cheers,
Steve Barbone
www.myspace.com/barbonestrteetjazzband

May 30, 2009 - NY Times - By Nate Chinen


Homage to a Carnegie Hall Concert That Put the Kingdom of Swing on the  
Map


Among the more ebullient moments in Jazz at Lincoln Center’s  
centennial tribute to Benny Goodman at the Rose Theater on Thursday  
night, one stood out decisively. It came at the start of the second  
half and featured not one but four clarinetists — Ken Peplowski, Ted  
Nash, Victor Goines and the evening’s musical director, Bob Wilber —  
playing tightly voiced enlargements of Goodman’s frolicsome phrasing.

The effect of this harmonization was crisp and sprightly, even if the  
device itself skirted jazz-repertory cliché. And when it was time for  
a round robin of solos, each musician offered his take on a signature  
style.

They weren’t the only ones. In the first half the venerable Buddy  
DeFranco attested to the far-reaching influence of Goodman’s  
instrumental voice.

“His impact was so strong,” Mr. DeFranco said, adding that he and most  
other jazz clarinetists owed an obvious debt. Then came a musical  
illustration, in the form of a Goodmanesque sextet romp through “I  
Surrender, Dear” and “After You’ve Gone.” Mr. DeFranco, 86, played  
expressively, acknowledging the nature of the role while maintaining  
his own more boppish identity.

But Goodman’s clarinet playing formed only part of the picture in a  
program equally devoted to the legacy of his big band. And here the  
concert showed its clear strengths, as the Jazz at Lincoln Center  
Orchestra brought power and conviction to some of the swing era’s most  
durable arrangements. The unforced precision among the saxophone and  
brass sections was well met by the swinging ease of the rhythm  
section. A few designated soloists — notably the trumpeters Marcus  
Printup and Sean Jones, both charismatic in their upper registers —  
delivered compact, historically appropriate flashes of bravado.

The concert had been billed partly as a salute to Goodman’s historic  
1938 concert at Carnegie Hall, a debut for jazz as well as for his  
band. For unstated reasons, that point of reference surfaced only  
glancingly. The orchestra closed the first half with “Sing, Sing,  
Sing,” and it was a predictable home run, especially as a feature for  
the drummer Ali Jackson, who summoned Gene Krupa’s tom-tom rumble  
without resorting to camp. But there was no piano solo, which had been  
a serendipitous highlight of the Carnegie version. And it made little  
sense that the tune came so early in the show, and not as the finale.  
(The actual finale, “Oh, Baby,” could hardly compete.)

Mr. Wilber, who is 81 and once led a more faithful re-creation of the  
Carnegie concert, on the occasion of its 50th anniversary, faced a few  
other challenges as producer. One of them might have been  
generational. When he pared down to a combo, there were mild issues  
with the vibraphonist Warren Wolf (standing in for Lionel Hampton) and  
the pianist Dan Nimmer (ditto for Teddy Wilson), who seemed  
constrained and perhaps ill at ease.

More unfortunate was Mr. Wilber’s decision to feature his wife, Joanne  
Horton, in any vocal capacity beyond that of a commentator. Despite  
considerable experience as a jazz singer, Ms. Horton wasn’t up to the  
task: each of her appearances fell emphatically flat.

Thankfully those appearances were few and far between, outweighed by  
stronger fare like “Clarinet à la King,” a full-dress number featuring  
Mr. Peplowski. There, with the band firing on all cylinders, the  
appeal of Goodman’s music felt alive and close at hand.

Performances continue through Saturday at Frederick P. Rose Hall, Jazz  
at Lincoln Center, 60th Street and Broadway; (212) 721-6500, jalc.org.