Jazz Clarinet Gear Review: 1927 Selmer Albert System Clarinet - fine tuned by Arthur Benade

To round out my collection of historical jazz clarinets, I've long needed a Selmer Albert, the clarinet of choice for the famed second generation of New Orleans jazz clarinetists - Sidney Bechet, Jimmie Noone, Johnny Dodds, Omer Simeon, Barney Bigard, Edmond Hall, and others. Sometimes referred to as "Simple" System, the Albert differs from Boehm System clarinets not only in key arrangements and fingering, but in bore and timbre. 

Opinions differ as to how great a degree the Albert contrasts with the Boehm, and whether one can achieve the same timbres on either. Albert Nicholas, for example, switched mid-career for the technical facility offered by the  Boehm system, claiming there was no real difference in the sound. Many others disagree, using all sorts of adjectives to describe what can or can't be replicated on a Boehm. 

My own opinion is that they are very different instruments. The upper clarion and altissimo on this Selmer Albert open to a much wider, sheet like sound that can be heard on recordings by Jimmie Noone and Sidney Bechet. Among other tonal aspects of the horn, I don't think I could ever fully replicate that timbre on any of my various Boehm system clarinets. 

The clarinet reviewed here was another acquisition from the Benade Collection, and from exterior evidence and the name stamp Arthur Benade put on it, suggests a good deal of acoustic fine tuning was done by the master himself.    

1927 Selmer Albert System Clarinet
fine tuned by Arthur Benade  
Eric Seddon Collection
Marlboro Man Music 

Readers of this blog will know that I hold the late Arthur Benade's contributions to our understanding of wind instruments in very high regard, and that I'm hopeful clarinet makers will study his clarinets and incorporate his advances into their own models - most specifically learning from the instruments in my collection reviewed earlier this year.  That pair of clarinets was unique, so far as I could tell, in the Benade collection, in that he had essentially used Selmer clarinets as blanks, altering them to such a degree that he erased the Selmer logos on them and inscribed his own name and the date he considered them to have been completed. 

This Selmer Albert System clarinet clearly wasn't altered to the same degree - the logos and serial number have been left intact. 

1927 Selmer Albert System Bell
fine tuned by Arthur Benade
Eric Seddon Collection/Marlboro Man Music

And yet, just below the old Selmer "Lyre" Logo (prior to Selmer's famous "laurel" logo that dominated most of the 20th century) we see the stamp "A. H. Benade." To me, this indicates that Benade did enough fine tuning to warrant putting his name on the work - and perhaps that he was satisfied enough with his results that he wanted it to bear his name.  

It may seem a niggling point, but I think it's important, when we are talking about historically informed performances - I don't consider the Benade Pair in my collection to be "Selmers" - they were originally Selmers, but were transformed into Benade's ideal clarinets. Contrastingly, this is indeed a Selmer Albert clarinet - it responds and sounds like one. Hence my labeling it as being fine tuned by Arthur Benade. 

Some more photos:

1927 Selmer Albert System Clarinet (detail)
fine tuned by Arthur Benade
Eric Seddon Collection/Marlboro Man Music

1927 Selmer Albert System Clarinet (detail)
fine tuned by Arthur Benade
Eric Seddon Collection/Marlboro Man Music

This instrument is in need of a thorough overhaul before I'll be able to perform with it - but I'll keep everyone posted regarding when they might be able to hear it in the future. 

Once again I would like to thank Martin Benade, son of the late Arthur Benade, for entrusting these instruments to my care.  

 

1927 Selmer Albert System Clarinet
fine tuned by Arthur Benade
Eric Seddon Collection/Marlboro Man Music

Introducing the Eric Seddon [FUSION] Trio

I've always said jazz is a full contact sport. You must engage your intellect, emotions, memory - your very soul - and your body. And as you get older, there are various challenges each of us has to face. Some struggle with nerves on stage, others with tendonitis or arthritis, while some lose their hearing. As I've neared my fifth decade of music, the biggest struggle has been with my ears, which cannot sustain clarinet or saxophone work as long as they used to. Years of playing in symphony orchestras and in loud jazz bands, combined with countless hours practicing in the altissimo register, has resulted in tinnitus, and forced me to limit my time on traditional acoustic instruments. 

Necessity being the mother of invention, I weighed my options and bought an Akai EWI SOLO last summer. As one who had never worked in the realm of electric instruments before, everything about this experience was new. I fell in love with this powerful and expressive instrument immediately, though, and soon was out playing concerts. 

Akai EWI SOLO - Eric Seddon collection

Fast forward a year, and I've launched a new project - Eric Seddon's [FUSION] Trio. As one who grew up in the 1980s, with a profound love of jazz fusion, this need to play EWI has turned into a blessing in disguise, forcing me to expand into a realm of jazz that is quite possibly underserved and certainly deeply rewarding artistically. The immediacy with which jazz fusion speaks to our culture without the need for historical references is tantalizing. It's great to write and perform music that speaks to the people of today with an immediacy like no other. 

We made our debut at The Treelawn in Cleveland a couple of weeks ago, and I'll keep everyone posted as to our whereabouts going forward. 

Eric Seddon [FUSION] Trio debut at The Treelawn in Cleveland 
September 2026

You can follow us on Facebook  and on  X (Twitter)  @FusionEWI

I'm not retiring from clarinet, nor from posting about the clarinet in jazz, but you can expect more content relating to jazz fusion and the EWI in addition to the writing you've read here for the last 14 years or so. 

Excelsior! 

Happy Birthday, Benny Goodman!

Back in the late '90s, I was part of a long, late night grad school discussion, purely theoretical, wherein we debated who might be the greatest (or most important) instrumental musician of the 20th century. We argued in terms of genres (classical, jazz, pop, etc), in terms of social and political importance, and in terms of historical importance. To the surprise of all of us (myself decidedly included), by the end of the evening, we all agreed it was Benny Goodman.

From his dominance of the pop charts in the '30s and '40s, to his virtuosic jazz playing (which pushed soloists' boundaries across the artform), to his racially integrated quartet and sextet (which blazed the way for Jackie Robinson in baseball, as Lionel Hampton pointed out), to his commissioning of repertoire pieces such as the Copland Concerto and Bartok's Contrasts, there is really no parallel for his career.

Happy birthday, Benny Goodman, born on this day in 1909!

Clarinet Gear review: Arthur H. Benade Clarinets in Bb and A (circa 1970)

Six years ago, John Richmond introduced me to Martin Benade, son of the late Arthur Benade, and I was given the great honor of playing several instruments from his father's collection. Among them were many fine clarinets, including one which had been owned by Reginal Kell, several historic period instruments, and what was for me the most exciting discovery of that day: a pair of clarinets so completely altered by Arthur Benade that he had removed the original Selmer logos from them and stamped them with his own name. 

Arthur H. Benade Clarinets in Bb and A
[ Eric Seddon Collection ]

  

Close up of A.H. Benade Stamp
[ Eric Seddon Collection ]

These instruments have been so thoroughly altered in accordance with Benade's acoustic theories and experiments that the original instruments can have been said to have been treated as blanks. Even these few pictures will reveal some significant changes. 

Arthur Benade Clarinet in A 
[ Eric Seddon Collection ]

The A clarinet has an altered bore, and the tone holes significantly renovated (to the point that a flute key was placed over the D/A tone hole). The model is quite old, featuring the wrap-around register key.

Arthur Benade Bb Clarinet
[ Eric Seddon Collection ]

There are many obvious modifications that I could get into, and perhaps will someday. The reason for the present post is simply to say that, while these clarinets have been dormant for decades, and have fallen into some disrepair, I have already played them several times, and believe they might be the most acoustically perfect clarinets I've ever encountered. 

It's no secret that over the last two decades, I've tried to encourage a renaissance of large bore Parisian clarinets - even suggesting Selmer release a Reference 55 clarinet based on my Q-Series Selmer Centered Tone. I feel strongly that we should not lose the living sound tradition of the clarinet from before the polycylindrical bore. Having said that, the instruments in these photos might be even more important. 

I can't give a full review until these are refurbished, but that will be coming soon. Stay tuned.  
 

Happy 116th Birthday, Artie Shaw!

Born in New York City on this day 116 years ago, Artie Shaw went on to redefine the clarinet's range, flexibility, and lyrical capabilities. From his 1936 composition Interlude in Bb to his famous last recordings in the 1950s, Shaw developed and expanded the vocabulary of jazz clarinet perhaps more than any other player. 

Here is a short version of his Concerto for Clarinet, as performed in the movie Second Chorus (1940). There are great close ups of his finger technique and embouchure, along with improvised sections differing from the studio recording. 

An Interview with Eric Seddon by Eva Wasserman-Margolis

Back in September of 2021, I was interviewed by Eva Wasserman-Margolis of The International Clarinet Association. In our brief discussion, we cover a lot of ground: clarinet, faith, the blues, jazz, and some thoughts on the future of this music. 

Anyone familiar with Eva's work knows her warmth, sincerity, and depth. It was an honor to be interviewed by her. 

Jazz Clarinet Gear Review: 1942 Conn 444N Connstellation Clarinet (Artie Shaw Model)

As one who grew up in awe of Artie Shaw, I've always wanted the opportunity to at least test the only American made model he endorsed: the large bore Conn 444N, aka the Connstellation.   

Even the name rings like the legend of a bygone era, and the obscure, sometimes contradictory stories of Shaw surrounding the Connstellation add to the misty, Excalibur quality of these rare horns.  

Well, a few years back I finally got my chance. Tom Ianni of Academy Music in Cleveland Heights called me one day, saying he had one available that I could take on trial. 

The case was sturdy and well preserved - brown leather of a bygone era. Opening it made me smile: Excalibur, King Arthur's sword, would certainly need a plush purple lining, and so this case did. A royal instrument for the King of the Clarinet. 

Conn 444N Connstellation Clarinet (Eric Seddon collection)

The 444N is a plain Boehm system with 17 keys, 6 rings, made of grenadilla and pitched in Bb, as seen here. 

Conn 444N Connstellation Clarinet
(Eric Seddon collection)

For years I'd read that Shaw loved the tone quality and the evenness of the instrument - from various quotes, it seems the intonation and scale were superior to other instruments of the day. But Artie also said, multiple times, that the 444N wasn't as loud as a Selmer, and so he had to resort to a Selmer Balanced Tone on the bandstand. 

detail:Conn 444N Connstellation Clarinet
(Eric Seddon collection)

Playing this old beauty myself, I found nothing to add to Shaw's assessment. It is exceptionally even in timbre for the age in which it was made - all registers are balanced and resonate uniformly, from top to bottom. The throat tone keys are a little smaller than Selmer keys, and interestingly enough, the instrument feels noticeably lighter. There is a sweet roundness to the sound, and the pinpoint focus to altissimo notes we so often hear on Shaw's recordings, but it never opens up into the raw power of a Selmer. In some ways it reminds me of Leblancs from the 1990s for it's evenness and restraint. An instrument, perhaps, well ahead of it's time. 

Bell:Conn 444N Connstellation Clarinet
(Eric Seddon collection)

Because of this refined volume and power, Shaw hinted his use of the Conn was limited to the recording studio. But even that is exciting to contemplate. There are anecdotes that the 444N graced his legendary Stardust recording, among others. We'll never know all the details, but I can confirm that the sound world of this instrument is instantly nostalgic - nothing to my knowledge has been made like it since. That ethereal, floating quality Artie Shaw got so often in ballads is present and I, for one, have no doubt many of his classic records were made on a Connstellation.   

Barrel: Conn 444N Connstellation Clarinet
(Eric Seddon collection)

So what does a jazz clarinetist do when a 444N Connstellation falls into his lap? He buys it, of course.  At least that's what I did. To have this instrument is to have a piece of history, from back when American instrument makers were among the finest in the world, trying to produce increasingly superior horns. It immediately conjures up the sound world of the 1940s, especially when paired with a vintage Brilhart mouthpiece. And while it isn't much use for gigs that demand the volume and power of a Selmer Centered Tone, it is perfect for house parties and other intimate settings. 

Case:Conn 444N Connstellation Clarinet
Ready for the gig!
(Eric Seddon collection)

Keep swinging, everyone!