[Tradjazz] Pee Wee Russell

[Steve Barbone]

Hi Bruce:

So Bruce McN doesn't like Pee Wee's sour notes. Well you are not alone. I
think it was Artie Shaw (or Benny Goodman) who said he sounded like a leaky
bicycle pump. And Thelonious Monk was bemused when they played together at
the Newport Jazz Festival. IMO the world is split about 50/50 regarding what
Russell does on clarinet.

Kenny Davern? Loves him as do I. In fact a careful listening of what Kenny
does with his axe shows Pee Wee influences throughout. And Davern will tell
anyone who listens what a great COMMUNICATOR Pee Wee Was and how his own
playing was shaped by Pee Wee's ideas and approach.

And "communication" is the key. Russell approached the horn as a simple
communication device, not as an instrument to be mastered as say, Benny
Goodman believed. Shaw, though he disliked Russell's sound, had the same
approach to the clarinet. "I don't play clarinet", he would say, "I play
music." 

Russell who knew how to play "correctly" (just listen to his recordings of
the 1920s) specifically chose to communicate the way he did later on. And,
like Bix, he was harmonically advanced. (they made some neat sounds
together) Heck, he was blowing quarter tones before any of us reed men knew
they existed.

My opinion? Since music is communication, the player should communicate in
his own creative fashion to "his" audience. Russell was somewhat unique and
"his" audience is therefore smaller and more fragmented than most. He was a
multi dimensional character and for me, a joy, both to know and to hear.

Cheers,
Steve