Benny Goodman and George Lewis * Tonight at BLU Jazz +

Tonight my band and I continue our survey of historical jazz clarinet composers "From Bechet to Today" taking on the legacies and contributions of two very different, yet nearly equally influential artists: Benny Goodman and George Lewis.

Now stylistically speaking, despite his vast influence over many players, I don't really solo like Benny. I love his playing and his originals, though, which are really very interesting proto-modern numbers that give a soloist plenty of room to stretch. Here's a chorus of mine on my very favorite Goodman composition, "A Smooth One" from last fall at The Bop Stop in Cleveland. We'll feature this tune again tonight...

The second half of the program will feature originals and spirituals associated with George Lewis, the great New Orleans trad clarinetist whose band set off New Orleans revivals globally in the 1950s and '60s. Included tonight will be his original numbers 'St Philip's Street Breakdown' and 'Burgundy Street Blues'. Here's my band playing the traditional spiritual 'Go Down Moses' on a concert of ours last fall. We'l play this again tonight.

 

Uniting all of these elements of style and influence, I'll be performing some originals as well (as we do on all of our programs). Tonight we'll lead off with a tune I wrote last year, and which has become quite popular with local audiences: 'Jeremiah Blues'...

We hope to see some of you in Akron tonight at one of DownBeat magazine's top rated jazz clubs in the world: BLU Jazz +. For our international readers, perhaps I can bring my music closer to you someday!

Keep swinging!

-Eric