Re: clarinet

[Alex J. Lubet <lubet001...>]

Fashion is certainly part of it, but things change rather more slowly in the 
world of orchestration than in many other places.  Blood, Sweat, and Tears 
retained a guitarist and electric bassist and nothing has yet to challenge the 
hegemony of electric strings in rock.  They largely supplanted unamplified 
strings in many repertoires.  Volume was one reason.  Another was that they 
supplied timbres conducive to in-your-face repertoires like bebop and rock.  
There are always reasons for fashions.  The shift in the jazz instrumentarium 
was slow and incremental:  trumpets remained on the scene when clarinets began 
to disappear.  On the other hand, to the extent that clarinet-based jazz 
repertoires persisted, the instrument remained in those ensembles.  

On another thread, my zeyde Hymie from Vilna changed our name from Lubetski to 
Lubet, which has led numerous people to think I'm French and even Quebecois.  A 
pity.  Here we are in Minnesota with no skis.

  



Alex Lubet, Ph. D.
Morse Alumni Distinguished Teaching Professor of Music
Adjunct Professor of American Studies
University of Minnesota
2106 4th St. S
Minneapolis, MN 55455
612 624-7840 612 624-8001 (fax)

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