The Clarinet, Benny Goodman and Me!

MY INSTRUMENTAL SIDE!

I love music but I am not very talented when it comes to playing an instrument.

However, I taught myself to play the clarinet many years ago with the help of a book manual on how to play the clarinet and trying to follow recordings by Artie Shaw, Benny Goodman and the Original Dixieland Jazz Band at a time when there were no video tutorials and the internet was non-existent. Today it's a lot easier to learn the right way to play the instrument by following step-by-step coaching in the many pages and videos devoted to teaching the basics to mastering the clarinet.

I am still learning the darn thing and can actually play a few pieces of music at a very basic beginner's level. Anyway, good or bad, I've found playing a musical instrument is a very nice occupational therapy.

Playing the guitar never appealed to me but I faked it on a recent trip to the NBC Studios Tour in NYC.

I did play the clarinet on stage on a music show many years ago. The audience was very kind and actually applauded my rendering of AS TIME GOES BY and ST. LOUIS BLUES with a piano accompanist.

I once tried learning to play the piano, back in my preschool days but my lack of talent in that endeavor was appalling. Nevertheless, I sat at the piano at an art exhibit in Manhattan just for show.

At first glance, this appears to be a picture of me playing the accordion. In actuality, it is a photoshopped image of Lawrence Welk with my face pasted on.

These however, are real photos of me back in first grade when I took accordion classes from Miss Ann Pertack Raush who was the school's accordion teacher. As a soloist, I played IN THE MOOD at a school festival. The highlight of my accordion year was a performance with the complete Modern American School Accordion Band at the Manuel M. Ponce Hall of Mexico City's Palace of Fine Arts. I have no recollection whatsoever of what we played at that concert.

THE CLARINET THERAPY!

 

It doesn't matter if you play horribly (like me) or not, the simple fact that you're playing it

will help you relax and release all your anxieties and tensions!

CLARINETITIS!

First performed in 1697, William Congreve's play The Mourning Bride includes as its first line, “Music hath charms to soothe the wild beast, to soften rocks, or bend a knotted oak,” implying that the rhythm and sounds in music can calm even one with a violent, aggressive nature. In the matter of my clarinet playing, it has a quite different effect!

HENRY MANCINI

                            30 years ago, we lost Henry Mancini. (April 16, 1924 – June 14, 1994)

                                                     Gone but his music will live on forever! 

My connection with Mancini is by way of the Pink Panther. I spent almost 18 years writing and drawing

THE PINK PANTHER comics for the Spanish speaking market at Novaro Publishers by permission from Western Publishing Co. and DePatie-Freleng.

Main Titles from THE PINK PANTHER

DANCING TO THE HITS!

 

THE RETURN OF THE CLARINET!

After more than 30 years of having abandoned it, I finally got another chance to play the clarinet thanks to a much welcome recent birthday gift.  But of course, it has been so long, I have to remember how to play the instrument, so I'm back to my beginner's days and dusting off those old clarinet courses, charts and tutorials. I'm back to square one with embouchure, fingering, tone and reed control.

Will I ever attain professional status?  Of course not! Will I become the next Benny Goodman? Never! 

But the point here is to just have fun and play to myself trying not to squeak much and flub as less as possible.  Music, maestro, please!

My first year trying to get some decent sound out of the instrument!

After much practice, I was proficient enough to get a gig on stage at a small dinner theater, playing

 "As Time Goes By" and "St. Louis Blues" in a musical show!

The day I got my new clarinet, 30 plus years after I had abandoned the instrument.

Back to the Clarinet Player Starter Kit!

Hopefully, this won't ever happen...but you never can tell!

MY TOP TEN ALL-TIME BEST CROONERS LIST

With the passing of Tony Bennett, this past July 21, one of the last remaining male singers from the great Golden Era of Pop Crooners was gone. I've always had great admiration for singers, especially since I can't utter a single good note with my vocal chords. In honor of Tony Bennett and all of the rest, I've compiled my personal list of great crooners, starting with number one, the top of the line and personal favorite, Frank Sinatra!

                                                              1) FRANK SINATRA

2) NAT KING COLE

 

3) DEAN MARTIN

4) BING CROSBY

5) SAMMY DAVIS JR.

6) TONY BENNETT

7) ANDY WILLIAMS

8) MATT MONRO

9) HARRY BELAFONTE

10) JACK JONES

As of this time, Jack Jones is the only performer in this list who is still with us. 

May he long continue to be so!

Vic Flick and Plas Johnson

 VIC FLICK -                                                                                                                                              You may not know the name Vic Flick, but you know his signature motif–that reverby lick from the James Bond theme, recorded in 1962 for Dr. No, the first in the long-running film franchise. Flick played on every Bond smash through Diamonds are Forever, and even recorded with Eric Clapton on the latter-day 007 soundtrack, License to Kill. You can further hear the guitarist in the film scores such as Midnight Cowboy and The Return of the Pink Panther, as well as cult shows like “The Avengers” and “The Prisoner.”

The John Barry Seven, featuring John Barry on trumpet and Vic Flick on the guitar.

Vic Flick 

The Clifford Essex Paragon Deluxe Guitar used by Vic Flick 

on the original James Bond Theme recording of 1962.

John Barry recorded a revised version in 1967.

You can listen to it here:

THE JAMES BOND THEME

The original James Bond Theme used in DR. NO :

The Original James Bond Theme

PLAS JOHNSON -

Plas Johnson's seductive tenor sound has been utilized on many studio sessions, including - most notably - the Pink Panther film (1963). A more versatile player than one might think, Johnson sounds equally at home in blues, R&B-ish, and hard bop settings. He recorded a single in New Orleans (1950), moved to Los Angeles, and was quickly established as a popular studio musician. Johnson worked with Johnny Otis and Charles Brown, recorded dates as a leader for Tampa (1956-1957), Score, Capitol (1958-1960), Ava (1964), and Concord (1975-1976), worked with the Capp-Pierce Juggernaut, and toured with the Gene Harris Superband in 1990. But to date, his most famous piece is the theme from THE PINK PANTHER, composed by Henry Mancini and recorded in 1963. 

"The Pink Panther Theme" is an instrumental composition by Henry Mancini written as the theme for the 1963 film The Pink Panther and subsequently nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Score at the 37th Academy Awards but lost to the Sherman Brothers for Mary Poppins. The eponymous cartoon character created for the film's opening credits by David DePatie and Friz Freleng was animated in time to the tune. The tenor saxophone solo was played by Plas Johnson.

PLAS JOHNSON

The Pink Panther original recording:

THE PINK PANTHER THEME

Music in the Cloud!

 

ACCORDION IN HELL

I took accordion lessons way, way back in Grade School. 

According to this FAR SIDE cartoon by Gary Larson, does that mean I'm going to end up 

at the place down below?

 

Since I know you're all dying to know, here's a close up of the Hohner Accordion Model that I used to play. The expression on my face on the picture at right, tells everything about the joy I felt about learning this instrument.