Originally published in The Clarinet 51/2 (March 2024).
Copies of The Clarinet are available for ICA members.
The Jazz Scene
by Tim Bonenfant and the ICA Jazz and World Music Committee
Top Jazz Clarinet Recordings, Part 1
Would you like to start playing jazz as a clarinetist, but you don’t know where to start? The best thing to do is to start listening to the great jazz clarinetists. But which ones?
We, the members of the ICA Jazz and World Music Committee, would like to recommend what we consider to be some of the more interesting examples of jazz and world clarinetists on record. The nine members of the committee each submitted a list of five of their favorite albums, with a short explanation of why they choose these particular recordings. This first article presents the choices of three of our members, Simon Wyrsch, (chair of the committee), Brian Gnojek, and Samantha Wright. Other committee members will present their choices in subsequent articles. A playlist titled “ICA Jazz/World Music Top 5 Album Recommendations” is available on YouTube.
Simon Wyrsch recommends:
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The Complete Gramercy Five Sessions
by Artie Shaw
Recommended track: “Summit Ridge Drive”
This is a simple blues format, but is so unique for a lot of things: instead of piano they use a harpsichord, unheard of in jazz (even to this day). Boogie-woogie elements are squeezed in, and usually vibrato on clarinet sounds rather old fashioned, and there’s nothing wrong with that, but when Artie Shaw uses vibrato it sounds so modern in my eyes, because it is a fast vibrato with a lot of waves. All the core elements of jazz are exposed in this track: call and response, background lines, solo and collective improvisation, two-harmony part by clarinet and trumpet. All in all, this is just a unique track.
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Benny Goodman Sextet,
featuring Charlie Christian
Recommended track: “Gilly”
A classic recording of the legendary Benny Goodman, with a lot of drive, little arrangements and swinging solos, which also shows Benny`s talent to discover newcomers like Charlie Christian in this case, who is the starting point for the modern guitar in jazz.
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Chip Off the Old Bop by Buddy DeFranco
Recommended track: “If You Could See Me Now”
That legendary “open G” of Buddy was so unique—that tone, that air in the sound—he was the ultimate bebopper that took the clarinet from the swing era and made the transition into bebop. Great modern solo with the new vocabulary like upper structure triads, away from the arpeggio up and down more into chromatic lines.
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Real Time by Eddie Daniels
Recommended track: “You Stepped Out of a Dream”
Modern post-bop playing by Eddie Daniels, who took the next step after Buddy DeFranco, bringing the clarinet to new fields of playing in a contemporary way similar to lines and sounds you would hear regularly on a saxophone, which he also plays.
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Old Tyme Modern by Herb Hall
Recommended track: “Old Fashioned Love”
A very hip recording with old stuff that sounds so fresh and timeless in his own way.
Herb Hall sings beautifully on the clarinet and tells stories. It is a very different style of playing music from just spelling out chord changes. He is speaking on the clarinet and uses it like a voice. A very original recording of an unsung hero of the jazz clarinet.
Brian Gnojek recommends:
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To Bird with Love by Eddie Daniels
Recommended track: “East of the Sun”
This album dedicated to the music of Charlie Parker has a knockout, all-star rhythm section (Fred Hersch, Al Foster, and John Patitucci!), and when pitted against his other albums, I just feel this one has something “extra.” He also quite simply plays the bell off his clarinet. The opening track “She Rote” is one of my favorites, to the extent that I did a whole analysis of it in college.
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Illinois Concert by Eric Dolphy
Recorded during a short time when Herbie Hancock joined Dolphy’s quintet, this album starts with a 20-minute jam on “Softly As In a Morning Sunrise” which shows about all the bass clarinet is capable of, followed by a short but beautiful ballad in “Something Sweet, Something Tender.” As far as I can tell, there are five recordings of Dolphy playing “God Bless the Child” out there. This one is not the most well-known, I think in part just because it’s not the one that has been transcribed (yet, stay tuned!). Recorded two years after the others, you can tell from the first notes that this one is different, and is going to be a wild ride. After this he switches to flute and saxophone, but the rest of the album is still worth a listen.
- Happy Song by Anat Cohen Tentet
It’s tough to pick a favorite of Anat’s, but I just love listening to this album. Her playing is fantastic, after years of playing jazz and becoming one of the masters of Brazilian choro. I love the sound of the Tentet, which includes cello and accordion on some tracks (the latter being virtuosically played by Victor Gonçalves who also plays piano on the album) in addition to bass, drums, guitar, trombone, trumpet, and baritone saxophone. Cohen often takes a backseat to the other players, in some cases only playing on a small portion of a track. It’s refreshing to see a band leader allow the other musicians to shine (one of my favorite things about Miles Davis’s Milestones album). The title track of this album is exactly as described; you can’t help but have a smile on your face while listening to it.
(Side note: my favorite thing Cohen has recorded may very well be her version of “Eye Gedi” on her album Poetica. It is stunningly beautiful.)
4. 
The Complete Gramercy Five Sessions by Artie Shaw
While Benny was responsible for so many amazing commissions for clarinet, purely from a jazz standpoint I’ve always been more partial to Artie Shaw. He seems a little freer with his ideas, and his high register is so clear and controlled! For both of them, I tend to like their small group work better than their more well-known big band stuff. I’m not sure I’ve ever heard a harpsichord in a jazz setting outside of this group, but it works in a refreshing, if in a slightly eccentric way.
5. Buddy DeFranco and Jim Gillis
by Buddy DeFranco
This one is tricky, because I believe it is only available on LP, and isn’t available on YouTube, Spotify, or anywhere else. However, it was my first Buddy DeFranco record, and it still has a special place in my heart. His playing takes a well-earned spot between Benny and Artie, and Eddie and Anat. This album has an intimacy to it that I love, since it’s all only clarinet and guitar. Jim Gillis is also fantastic, not doing much improvising, but doing a great job of providing both the bass line and chord comping at the same time on one instrument.
Samantha Wright recommends:
Have a Little Faith by Bill Frisell, featuring Don Byron on clarinet:
I love everything about Bill Frisell’s music: the sensitivity, honesty and the blending of instruments. I particularly love the clarinet sound in combination with his electric guitar. Incredibly moving music. Don Byron also inspires me greatly—it’s always interesting to hear about his philosophical thoughts in interviews and this transcends into his music. He plays a variety of styles, which I feel is a reflection of the music he feels connected to and fascinated by. He made a great statement some years ago which really resonated with me, along the lines of, “as a listener we appreciate many styles of music, so as a performer I shouldn’t feel restricted to one fixed style either.” Another great album with Don Byron and Bill Frisell is The Sweetest Punch, playing the music of Elvis Costello.
Old Tyme Modern by Herb Hall
Herb Hall is the brother of Edmond Hall! His playing is so melodic and heartfelt. Beautiful. I go to this record often, to appreciate the honest phrasing and feel. Gorgeous.
Impressions of New York by the Rolf & Joachim Kühn Quartet:
Rolf Kühn was my clarinet teacher while I was completing my master’s studies in Hamburg. He is my hero! I’m fascinated by his musical career, having learned the clarinet through Benny Goodman records, moving to New York in the late ’50s, playing with bebop all-stars such as Toshiko Akiyoshi and Jim Hall, then exploring free jazz. This is one of my favorite albums by him. The beautiful bond between Rolf and his brother Joachim is just incredible. Within just the first few seconds you are introduced to this exciting world of sound explorations and harmonic freedom.
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Thesis by Jimmy Giuffre
Jimmy Giuffre’s journey through music and his explorative nature also really inspires me. Listening to his recordings from the ’50s fills my heart with so much joy, appreciating his heartfelt melodic lines and warm sound. In the ’60s his pairing, particularly with Paul Bley, blows my mind. A favourite song of mine is Carla Bley’s “Jesus Maria.”
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Sweet but Hot by Jimmy Hamilton
I love Jimmy Hamilton!!! I often ask myself how different the Ellington Orchestra could have sounded without his entrance in 1943 (of course then along with Billy Strayhorn’s compositions). He was the first clarinetist in the band to play the Boehm system and to come from a more classically inclined school of learning. The music developed into new directions, but somehow always the heart of New Orleans was at its core, thanks to Duke Ellington’s vision. In this album we hear Hamilton with his own small band, instead of with a big band. Again, his playing is so melodic and he really makes the clarinet sing. I remember being so obsessed with this recording of “I Can’t Give You Anything But Love” for such a long time. And I’m a strong believer that most songs always sound better in the key of G!!
I found this to be an interesting and informative set of lists, with both albums I have loved throughout the years, mixed with music I have yet to discover myself. I hope this is beneficial in your search for hearing the clarinet as a jazz instrument.
