[Dixielandjazz] Woody Allen

[ROBERT R. CALDER]

Anyone who heard Woody Allen's BBC Radio 3 series some years ago would appreciate that his approach to the clarinet is actually excessively academic, for in that series he explored the stylistic and other genuine complexities of a range of clarinetists who stand in relation to Buster Bailey almost as John Lee Hooker does to Bucky Pizarelli. Actually Hooker could be more interesting, but only over a severely restricted range, Strictly he couldn't play guitar, he could only play blues on guitar.
His later success had to be managed with expert support.
Prior to which, as has been said about Allen, he went around and a lot of people were put off. 
Allen should probably find himself a protege or someone to champion -- there surely are some very good clarinetists he could afford, with a stylistic capacity to work beside him  -- and actually be telling the truth when he told the audience how good the other player was. Humphrey Lyttelton's recorded book would afford ample precedent for Allen repertoire performances with two clarinets.