Stompy Jones Soprano Summit 1977
09:37
From the 1977 Jazz Festival in Nice France comes this music from the Soprano Summit. Bob Wilber and Kenny Davern and a rhythm group with Bucky Pizzarelli gtr, George Duvivier bass, and Bobby Rosengarten drs.
Of course both Bob and Kenny are incredible musicians, but in this tune, Stompy Jones, Kenny's clarinet solo was so ingenious, with humor, technique, warmth and emotion. To me this is Kenny's ultimate creation. Therefore I like to emphasize a bit more on Kenny Davern (1935 - Dec 12, 2006)
After hearing Pee Wee Russell the first time, he was convinced that he wanted to be a jazz musician, too; and at the age of 16 he joined the musician's union, first as a baritone saxophone player. In 1954 he joined Jack Teagarden's Band, and after only a few days with the band he made his first jazz recordings. Later on, he worked with bands lead by Phil Napoleon and Pee Wee Erwin before joining the Dukes of Dixieland in 1962. The late 1960s found him free-lancing with a.o. Red Allen, Ralph Sutton, Yank Lawson and his life-long friend Dick Wellstood.
At this time, he had also taken up the soprano saxophone, and when a spontaneous coupling with fellow reedman Bob Wilber at Dick Gibson's Colorado Jazz Party turned out be a huge success, one of the most important jazz groups of the 1970s, Soprano Summit, was born. Co-led by Wilber and Davern, both switching between the clarinet and various saxophones, during the next five years Soprano Summit enjoyed a very successful string of record dates and concerts. When the group disbanded in 1979, Davern devoted himself to solely playing clarinet, preferring trio formats with piano and drums. His collaboration with Bob Wilber was revived in 1991, the new group being called Summit Reunion. Leading his own quartets since the 1990s, Davern has preferred the guitar to the piano in his rhythm section, employing guitarists Bucky Pizzarelli, Howard Alden and James Chirillo.
A full, rounded tone, especially "woody" in the lower chalumeau register, combined with highly personal tone inflections and the ability to hit notes far above the conventional range of the clarinet, have made his sound immediately recognizable. In the late 1980s, the New York Times hailed him as 'the finest jazz clarinetist playing today'.
In addition to his accomplishments in jazz, his ardour and knowledge of classical music is encyclopaedic, particularly of the work of conductor Wilhelm Furtwängler
Tags: jazz classic swing wilber davern
