World of Pageantry

THSDM03 wrote: No offense, but saying that high school kids can't play clarinet in jazz band because they can't top Benny Goodman is saying that high school kids CAN top Miles Davis because they play flugel horn in high school jazz. Benny Goodman is seriously a great player. Heck, I study some of his books myself. But I don't think he's the reason clarinets are not in jazz ensembles.

Nah, what I'm saying is that's why they stopped playing clarinet in jazz bands (not high school ones, just jazz bands in general)... b/c no one would even attempt to top Benny Goodman he was so good.

I agree w/ no flutes, but there are parts written for clarinets, and they canread tenor. I mean, in one of my jazz bands we have a clarinet who is learning the Benny Goodman clarinet solo in Sing, Sing, Sing its KARAZAY! She also learns some very difficult stuffs that aint just for the normal HS clarinet! So if u got the right player, use her/ him in the jazz band!
you don't mean a thing if u cannot swing!

First, a little background on our program...

We have a Big Band with 4 trumpets, 5 saxes (3 alto, 1 tenor, 1 bari), 4 trombones, 1 drummer, 1 pianist, 1 bass, 1 guitar, 1 vibist/ and misc. percussionist.
Then we have a "lab-band" which varies each year, and is most of the new people. This group includes the "non-jazz instruments" such as tuba, clarinet and flute. But alas, baritones still learn trombone or trumpet if they wanna jazz it.

So now to the heart of the debate...
1. I've heard a lot of really cool clarinet and flute jazz. Our bari in the big band is a flautist as a principal instrument, and her solos are awesome. We also have had clarinetist learn sax and vice-versa for various reasons, but it's nice to have one around. Soprano sax can sometimes be sufficient, but sometimes, something else just won't do.
2. Varied instruments are good for color. The tuba is a sorta neat bass color, especially in latin jazz (or at least I think so), and flute is nice in smooth jazz.

So anyway, for the sake of the topic, why not suggest a separate jazz group for the miscellaneous/ left out instruments? Keep the normal orchestration, though. It could prove to be a great learning experience and a lot of fun as well.

Now that I'm thinking about it, there are never enough cool vibe parts.

Anyway, hope I've been of some help!

I don't really have an opinion on clarinets in jazz, but i'll tell you what i think about flutes.

Anybody who says flutes should not be in jazz is crazy. I've heard some amazing stuff with flutes in it. That music is kind of obscure but you gotta hear it! But ya can't just take any old group of flutes from your concert band and stick 'em in your jazz band.

The main reason for that is probably because there isn't very much music written for jazz flutes. I'm not saying I think flutes should be a regular section as part of a jazz band, but the occasional solo and maybe even flute-centered piece is great.

Two things are essential if you want to mix flutes with jazz:
1. A really great flautist who knows what he/she is doing
2. The music, or a director who is willing to write parts

If you do it right, it sounds freakin-awesome!!!!

this year we have a tuba in jazz band, and it sounds pretty kool.

I only did jazz band my freshman year when I was on sax. There weren't any instruments that were disallowed. But I think the reasons there aren't any clarinet players or flute players is that our jazz band only played one piece with a clarinet out of the 3-4 we played. Why have a clarinet play one song and then sit there for the other 2-3 when you have a sax player that can play clarinet for that one song? Also we used a mixture of trombones and baritones. We never had any flugelhorns though because the school didn't own any and I assume none of the students did either.

Wer don't have clarinets. If they play clarinet, they can sometimes learn to play sax. We have a tuba in ours, but he might switch to trombone because some of the music is kinda hard for a tuba to play at the correct tempo and have the sound come out clean.

We dont allow tubas we just get ourselves a bass trombone and no one has tried any of those other intruments lately so i cannot tell you what would happen

If you delve a little into the history of jazz, the clarinet is one of the origonal jazz insturments. The reason, I believe, that clarinet parts aren't always written for jazz songs is that saxes are more popular and clarinet players can double.
Me, I don't double. The director gives me the tenor sax parts.

We have a basic jazz band set up:
1 piano (me )
1 bass
2 dummers (they switch off of course)
1 vibes
Saxes:3-4 altos, 2 tenors, 1 bari
Bones:4-5 including bass bone
5 trumpets

Sometimes we have one of our lead sax player's play flute, but I wish it was me it's not that she sucks it's just that I love playing bossa nova and chick corea stuff on flute. It's the greatest.

just a little note to all of you who are saying that there isn't much jazz written for those instruments...

jazz cannot be limited by instrument. all you need is a melody and chord progression. transpose it into all the necessary keys and there you have it: a jazz piece that any instrument can play. we did that all the time when i was in high school. i'd take my bass part and go play it on cello in orchestra and hey, it worked. all you have to do is go through the melody once or twice [or however many times you want to], solo through the progression, and play the melody again. jazz has no limits. that's what's so wonderful about it. my director even took some of our violinists to a jazz violin workshop and they learned their first bits about jazz there.

it's possible. anything is with jazz. don't limit it. and most of all, don't limit yourself.