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Rabble Without A Cause
Wednesday December 17th, 2014 with Bernard Stepien
Bass Clarinetist Louis Sclavis vs Le Quatuor Habanera

The clarinet is an iconic musical instrument of early Jazz that ruled the Jazz world from Johnny Dodds to Benny Goodman. Then it suddenly disappeared altogether except for Buddy deFranco that took it to Be Bop. But that was not enough! Thanks to Eric Dolphy, the clarinet, this time in its bass rendition (bass clarinet), change its fate radically and the clarinet came back to the forefront of Jazz. The early death of Eric Dolphy in Berlin in 1964 could have spelled a second end to the clarinet in Jazz. Instead it started a new trend and nowadays, for Free Jazz and straight ahead reed instrumentalist, the bass clarinet is a must. Among them, French bass-clarinetist Louis Sclavis took it to unexpected summits. However, maybe another reason of the resurgence of the clarinet is because it crossed its path with classical music where the clarinet had enjoyed a high status for centuries. After all, when Benny Goodman gave up his famous big band in the early ‘50s, he went over to the classical music world to enjoy a very good career. But this is not a case of turncoat but more of secret agent of Jazz that resulted in classical musicians starting to play like Jazz musicians. Bass clarinetist Louis Sclavis literaly crossed his path with a contemporary classical saxophone quartet, the Quatuor Habanera. The result is a CD, l’Engrenage (gears) that demonstrates the full cross-breeding of Jazz and contemporary classical music. Tonight, we will try to sort out what is what, if possible…
séparation
Louis Sclavis - l'engrenage - alpha
danse
Louis Sclavis - l'engrenage - alpha
petites flammes
Louis Sclavis - l'engrenage - alpha
nébuleuses
Louis Sclavis - l'engrenage - alpha
durch
Louis Sclavis - l'engrenage - alpha
ven d'est
Louis Sclavis - l'engrenage - alpha
fleur d'eau
Louis Sclavis - l'engrenage - alpha
engrenage
Louis Sclavis - l'engrenage - alpha
épilogue
Louis Sclavis - l'engrenage - alpha
golden drops
Louis Sclavis - l'engrenage - alpha