Oh, and Dmitri, there`s a big difference between the military marching bands of the turn of the century and the bands of today. It`s how Louis Armstrong first discovered the trumpet - he played in a military school marching band.

Yeah, they do destroy technique nowadays.

Al

Alyssa...you are correct. Many of the finest players played in bands. It wasn`t until much later that the best players played in orchestras.

Alyssa,

I agree with pretty much everything you said. I feel like every musician SHOULD be creative-whether its legit or jazz-and if they are not then they should find something else to do in life.

With that said, I feel like the "they either have or they don`t" attitude to jazz isn`t right. For instance, there is a wide spectrum of talents when looking at jazz musicians. Not all of them are either great or horrible. I think that believing a musician is either born great or not is a very pessimistic way of looking at things. If the student is creative and has the work ethic, then they can play as well as they want to play- legit or jazz.

The creativity in classical music is a very interesting topic. I would say that jazz doesn`t require more or less creativity, but instead jazz requires the player to be creative in a different sense. Classical musicians are just as creative as jazzers, but in their idiom, I think that they must use their creativity more subtly. It`s not that classical music has more restraints, its that they are a different type of restraint.

Just as classical musicians would get pelted with rocks for over romanticizing a Bach prelude; so would a jazzer for playing funk licks over a bop tune.

Can anyone find me a clarinet jazz site? I started about four months ago and all the jazz pieces i find are way too fast.

Sure, I`ll take your point. Its not to say that I think that someone who DOESN`T have that X Factor is a bad musician - of course not. George Winston (the pianist) doesn`t have perfect technique but he still has something about his playing that makes him incredibly interesting. Its another internal quality to the music than just the music on the page. Its the same with a lot of performing arts fields (sorry to use the ballet analogy but Margot Fonteyn had average technique but she had ballet`s version of the X factor to compensate). Anyone is entitled and should be able to experience jazz in performing but I just think that merely being taught this is sometimes just not enough.

I play Jazz clarinet
I listen to Artie Shaw, Eddie Daniels, and Benny Goodman all the time! I think anyone that think Jazz clarinet sounds `bad` they dont know what they are really missing!

"Robert- Can anyone find me a clarinet jazz site? I started about four months ago and all the jazz pieces i find are way too fast."

I have been playing jazz on my clarinet (and occasionally a sax when I have the money to rent one) and I must tell you that most jazz songs are going to be pretty fast. And, to tell you the truth, it is my experience that songs are easier to learn faster than they are slower...

However, if you want a couple of easy tunes to start out with...

Dixieland Jazz:

Bill Bailey
Melancholy Blues
Tin Roof Blues
Angry

Swing/Big Band:

Kansas City
Tuxedo Junction
Yes Sir, That`s my Baby
Ain`t She Sweet

I agree with Alyssa... you definitely need that creativity factor in there for jazz. However, I believe that if you were almost completely shot of technique, yet had the spirit almost equivalent to that of the heavens, it`s better than having a lot of technique and no spirit, energy, or creativity.

By the way, Bryan: I don`t know if you know this, but you previously said Miles Davis went to Juilliard. I think I read that he quit that school on the second day to follow musicians in jazz clubs in NYC.

Erica,

My point was that Miles Davis had enough technique to get accepted at Juilliard. Moreover, the reason he quit was because he felt like he already knew all the material that was being taught.

I also disagree with your statement of technique versus creativity. If you want to express your creativity you need to have a level of technical proficiency that is sufficient to manifest it. It just doesn`t make any sense to say someone can be creative, have no technique, and make great music. It doesn`t matter what medium it is- jazz, classical, art, prose- the artist needs a certain amount of technical facility in order to realize their creativity.

Well... here`s also a thought...

Before technique was made, there was creativity. And creativity was what formed music in the first place, even if it was primitive.

Once the music is made, then people try to perfect that by learning how their previous people (I blanked out on the word for that... sorry) have done it, and they add to it with their own imagination. Really, I believe, technique is just the appreciation of those that came before them, and trying to learn there language.

When people created language, didn`t they have to make something before they could use it?

I mean, it was developed over a long period of time, and people needed to become fluent in the language to make it how it is today.

But the base of it was on creativity.

I just really wouldn`t think of it so much in a "technical" way. If someone can listen well enough to eventually come to an understanding, they can communicate back in his/her own way.

I know my ideas may seem a little weird, but I did give this some thought.

if you wanna hear AMAZING clarinet jazz improv, listen to a jazz band call BIG PHAT BAND. Their clarinet ist is a guy named Eddie Daniels. Find a recording of their song Sing, Sang, Sung. The clarinet solo in there was improvised by Daniels.

hey i play Clarinet and i think any insturment can do jazz no matter what u say. there is a famouse jazz band and they have two of the greatest jazz clarinetest players, Benny Goodmen and he played clarinet also they had Artie Shaw too.

Don`t mean to shift the subject, but it has been stated; jazz clarinets sound like saxaphones. I have to disagree, because saxaphones are not only jazz instruments. we don`t always sound jazzy; thats just an option. I (and every other sax player) can still play with a really pretty tone, a jazzy tone, or whatever I/him chooses to. It`s just what kind of music your playing.

JOIN the Army, and make a difference

I dont know why everybody is refering to benny goodman and artie shaw. Swing is good but Bebop is better!! and there you may find buddy defranco, rolf Kuhn, tony scott and many more.....
Look at eddie daniels____ you defenitely dont need vibrato or a "sidney betchet like sound" to play jazz on a clarinet.. the reason why you very soldom see jazz played by cl is because its at least twice as hard as playing it on a sax.. as Don Byron said and he plays both perfectly well!!!
the rest is just a matter of liking/disliking