Jazz for aficionados

I can't understand why Ry Cooder's music would make a person want to kill themselves. However, I fully understand why living in East St Louis would. :)

Cheers

Been away for a while; hope everyone is well and doing lots of listening. The subject of the pit musician is one which very close to home so I wanted to have time to do the subject justice.

The "pit musician" Orpheus refers to is not the same pit musician that Rok refers to. Orpheus was impressed by a player known as a "doubler". The term usually refers to woodwind, or reed, players who double on multiple woodwind instruments. While good doublers will excell on all flutes, clarinets and saxophones, most have a particular strength on one of those instruments. Additionally, some will also be able to play one of the double reeds: oboe or bassoon. Double reed doublers are very in demand; particularly in Broadway pits. Orchestrators for musical theater, and other commercial music productions, expect woodwind players to be proficient doublers; and, as a result of the continuing reduction in the size of pit orchestras (due to financial considerations), they really exploit doublers' flexibility by sometimes writing extremely busy parts with very quick changes from one instrument to another.

The level of proficiency in the "doubling world" has risen dramatically over the last couple of decades. This has been a result of better training and also of the continued scarcity of work for many musicians. There was a time, not long ago, when there was so much, more glamorous and lucrative, work for commercial musicians in the recording studios and radio and television staff orchestras, that the best players did not take "pit work". As staff orchestras disappeared and studios closed, these players moved to the pit orchestras with a resulting dramatic rise in the level of proficiency in the pits. These are very good and extremely versatile players who are often also good jazz improvisers. But, the truth is that it is rare the woodwind player that, in spite of tremendous technical and stylistic flexibility, can play any one woodwind instrument at the same extremely high level that a successful orchestral ("straight") wind player can. Classical orchestra players have always set the standard for proficiency on an instrument in absolute terms; and are often revered by "doublers". It is not surprising, given the tremendous amount of training and practice that is required to reach that very exalted level of proficiency on ONE instrument; let alone several. At the same time, the accomplished "doubler's" stylistic flexibility can sometimes give him the edge over a "straight" player when a specific stylistic approach is required for a part in an orchestration. This need for stylistic flexibility applies to all players, not just woodwind players. It is common nowadays for Broadway pit orchestra brass sections, for instance, to be composed of players who also work as extras in the Lincoln Center Orchestras (NY Phil, Met, ballet, etc.), and/or prominent jazz bands.

There have been a few heroes in the woodwind doubling world that have been able to reach, on more than one instrument, the level of proficiency of great orchestral players; they have usually been clarinet/saxophone doublers. The greatest of them all was the great Alfred Galladoro who was an amazing saxophone and clarinet virtuouso, and was on staff at NBC and played in Toscanini's NBC Symphony, member of Paul Whiteman's orchestra and recorded extensively as a soloist and sideman, among many other accomplishments.

Well past his prime, but here is a charming video of Al before his passing a couple of years ago:

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Rr6ynMTuHn4

IMO, the greatest doubler of all time, and one who was able to add equally proficient flute to his arsenal (although he has more recently concentrated on the clarinet) is the incredible Eddie Daniels who played in the Broadway pits before gaining recognition as a soloist in, among others, the Thad Jones/Mel Lewis big band (the Village Vanguard Jazz Orchestra of today). He posseses an uncanny ability to move from a classical music sensibility to jazz and pop:

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=GTUCtf8txQw

Eddie on tenor:

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=6Bm44p04SVY

The "pit musician" that Rok refers to is the classical player who happens to work in a ballet or opera orchestra pit. They are, as instrumentalists, generally of the same extremely high caliber that most orchestral players are. Playing in a ballet or opera orchestra requires a somewhat specific sensibility compared to orchestral playing on a concert hall stage. This is primarily due to the fact that, generally, the orchestra is accompanying the singers or dancers; but, this point can be easily overstated. However, a particularly keen sense of restraint and flexibility is sometimes required playing in an opera orchestra. Still, the orchestral repertoire, as a whole, puts more extreme technical demands on players than much of the opera or ballet repertoire. They are somewhat different disciplines, but both on an equally high level.

The term "pit musician" unfortunately possesess negative connotations for purists who consider playing on the concert hall stage the pinnacle of instrumental playing. While this may be true to an extent, in reality it's a much more complex issue than that.

Eddie on flute:

http://m.youtube.com/watch?feature=fvwrel&v=Wv2Q2ivSA1A

Eddie in the reed section of the Thad Jones/Mel Lewis Orchestra. Checkout the reed section lineup; incredible!

http://m.youtube.com/watch?feature=related&v=4ZLvqXFddu0

Welcome back Frogman. The word on the street here in Texas was that you had packed all your Spike Jones LPs and headed up state New york to become a gentleman farmer. Guess the street was wrong.

Excellent and informative post on the 'pit musician,' as are all your posts.

Cheers

Thanks. I don't know about the gentleman part, but the farmer part might surprise you :-)