On the shoulders of giants: Bechet, Noone, Goodman and the efflorescence of jazz clarinet and the improvised solo

Abstract

Benny Goodman was a major figure in the jazz clarinet lineage and represents the pinnacle of creativity, style and technique within the pre-bop era of jazz. Despite this fact, research seeking to understand his influence from an analytical perspective, along with the great innovators that preceded him, namely Sidney Bechet and Jimmie Noone, is meagre. Their influence upon reed players from the bebop era and beyond is also poorly documented. The current study explores the influence of pre-bop clarinettists by undertaking comparative analyses of selected improvisations of Bechet, Noone and Goodman. The objectives of the research are: 1) to create a compendium of stylistic and technical elements inherent in the improvisations of Bechet, Noone and Goodman; 2) to explore how these elements can be incorporated into a performer’s own style with the view to producing a stylistic amalgam that blends pre-bop era jazz with the harmonic and rhythmic complexities of the post-bop era. The focal point of this performance-based dissertation is four CDs, a total of four hours of music, in which the findings of the research are applied. The study provides a model through which other jazz musicians might incorporate similar techniques from the classic jazz period in order to enrich their own conceptual approach to improvisation. Chapters One, Two and Three identify the key stylistic and technical elements of the improvisational approaches taken by Bechet, Noone, and Goodman respectively, and details how those elements have been adapted and incorporated by the author in the corresponding CD recordings of their repertoire. By way of conclusion, Chapter Four outlines the simultaneous combination and integration of the techniques of Bechet, Noone and Goodman in the body of original compositions recorded in CD 4.