I have recently been turned on to Buddy DeFranco who has been called "one of the 'senior statesmen' of jazz ...generally regarded as the greatest jazz clarinetist of all time." I have one of his LPs with Oscar Peterson on piano.
I apologize if he isn't playing bass clarinet but ever since I was a baby I have loved the sound of the clarinet. I don't know why since for most of my life the clarinet wasn't heard very often; perhaps it was because my parents listened to Benny Goodman. |
The I-do-not-know-how-to-label-that-style jazz clarinetist Gianluigi Trovesi sometimes plays the bass clarinet to stunning effect.
And on a few of his albums, the great Klezmer/traditional/tango/classical clarinetist, maestro Giora Feidman uses it in one or two pieces. Besides, Feidman's recording 'The singing clarinet' gets my high recommendation, but you'll only find one or two bass clarinet sets on it. |
Anouar Brahem, The Astounding Eyes of Rita on ECM is a new recording with an aud (lute/guitar)player as leader, but the whole record features bass clarinet and music excellent, if not straight ahead jazz. The recording quality is stunning. |
The new Stephon Harris CD, Urbanus, has a lot of nice BC work on it. Unexpected, but really good. |
Brian Blade and the Fellowship Band - Season of Changes. |
I like the Edmund Welles stuff. Another good David Murray is Lucky 4. Christer Bothen discs have some excellent sound and playing on them. If you can get Budi and Gumbls, (also released as Budi Siebert Hmm...) on vinyl you'll probably be glad you did. |
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Let us not forget the amazing bass clarinet work on the many SUN RA recordings by Robert Cummings, John Gilmore (yes, he doubled on the instrument), and Eloe Omoe. |
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Incidently, I did see that David Murry had a record out called "Ballads for Bass Clarinet", also on the DIW label, but its out of print and used copies on Amazon START at $50. If anyone has a copy they'd be willing to part with for a more reasonable amount of money - say $20 or $25 - please feel free to contact me. |
Thanks for the responses. I did check out a David Murray record called Deep River. It only had two tracks with BC, but its a great album. The recording is fantastic. Possibly the widest soundstage I've ever heard in my system. |
I too love the bass clarinet. I thought this was the second thread in Audiogon history talking about the bass clarinet but it appears there are in fact three others, not one other. Talk about a happening subject!
I love the contrabassoon, the contrabass, the bass (and contrabass) sax, the bass clarinet, all kinds of bass.
Take a look on Youtube for Edmund Welles. Some of their stuff is a real kick. |
Check out Janacek's Mladi. It's a sextet, wind quintet plus bass clarinet. I seem to recall there's a nice Chandos cd with the Netherlands Wind Ensemble. |
After you collect all the Eric Dolphy recordings,under his own name and with Charles Mingus,i would seek out some recordings by David Murray.His small group and octet recordings for the Black Saint and Soulnote labels in the 70's and early 80's feature some impressive bass clarinet performances.His primary instrument is the tenor saxophone,he doubles on bass clarinet.The recordings i mention also benefit from superb recording quality. |
I hope member Frogman sees this thread, he should have some recommendations, as he plays the instrument professionally (as well as the sax). |
If you like the bass clarinet then check out Carol Sudhalter on baritone sax. I may have 2 LP's by her and
I have had a hard time finding more but they are great too. |
