Can anyone recommend some Jazz clarinet players for me to listen to or indeed saxophone players with a style which would 'translate' onto a clarinet? I've just had my first lesson in over 21 years (on clarinet) and am keen to learn to play jazz but I must confess that I am starting pretty much from scratch as far as jazz is concerned. I would be really grateful for any suggestions!

There are many, many possible clarinetists that could be recommended. My personal top three, for listening and also playing, would be: Sidney Bechet, Benny Goodman and Artie Shaw.

I'm sure others will now plug the merits of Buddy DeFranco, Eddie Daniels, Johnny Dodds etc. (there are many of equal ability and it ultimately comes down to your preference of a specific style)

Alan Barnes, Tony Coe

I'm a big fan of Artie Shaw and Eddie Daniels.

There are lots of different styles of jazz and I'm not knowledgeable enough to even attempt to explain them I'm afraid. My own favourites are from the Big Band era of the 1930s - Artie Shaw for clarinet and Sidney Bechet for soprano sax (and clarinet). Have a listen to these clips which give a flavour of the styles...


Artie Shaw, Concerto for Clarinet

Artie Shaw, Begin the Beguine

Sidney Bechet, Summertime

Sidney Bechet, Petite Fleur


As regards playing the above pieces, Artie Shaw's Clarinet Concerto is probably Diploma level, but the others are all much easier and great fun to play.

But as I said, the above clips are just one style of jazz and there are many others if that particular style doesn't appeal to you

Just a quick line to say many thanks for your replies. My favourites so far are Buddy de Franco, Eddie Daniels and Benny Goodman on clarinet and Sonny Stitts (sp?) and Paul Desmond on sax. I've actually listened to loads more than that but these are the players which really stood out for me. Still lots more to listen to but if anyone wants to add any more suggestions to the list for me, then please do!

Also, if anyone wants to suggest any reading for me (something which covers how Jazz evolved and the different styles etc) then I'd be grateful for suggestions there too.

Thanks again for your help everyone.

For an insight into the lives of the early jazz musicians, there's a book called Jazz : A History of America's Music by Geoffrey C Ward and Ken Burns. The book has almost 500 pages of text and hundreds of images of mainly black America from the early years of the 20th century when jazz was born, up to the 1960s and the present day. If you're interested in the history of jazz and the context in which jazz grew, I can recommend this book - there's more about it at this link (ignore the ?30 price tag, it's available at a third of that price on Amazon etc).

I'd suggest the Louis Armstrong Hot 5 and Hot 7 where (I think) the clarinettist is Johnny Dodds. Wonderful recordings by any standards. For modern players, Eddie Daniels, and also Alan Barnes and Gilad Atzmon (phew!) play some wonderful clarinet, but you would have to home in on their clarinet (as opposed to sax) recordings.

You have a fair chance of seeing one of these two, or Dai Pritchard, playing somewhere near you.

I've just been listening to the new Ken Peplowski / Alan Barnes CD "Doodle Oodle" (available from iTunes). Both play sax and clarinet but there are a fair few tunes with one or both on clarinet - highly recommended.

Of Alan's releases you could try "Swinging in Studio One" which is Paul Clarvis, Alan Barnes and Jim Hart which is largely clari. One of my favourite tracks for clari is "A Child is Born" which is on the Alan Barnes Quartet "Blessing in Disguise" CD. I'd really recommend trying to get Alan play live if you can though, he plays pretty much all over the country, the gigs are often mostly sax but the clarinet always makes an appearance at some point.

Have spent the last few days listening on Spotify and have also found the Alan Barnes CDs on ITunes. Thanks TSax - love Swinging in Studio One and have now found 'A Child is Born' too. I've only heard the first 30 seconds but liked what I heard, so am about to download this too! Thanks again for your suggestions, everyone!