Rovner Eddie Daniels Model Ligatures  After nearly a decade playing every gig and practice session on my second vintage Rovner Eddie Daniels model ligature, I've decided it's time to change equipment: to my third vintage Rovner Eddie Daniels model ligature. As you can see, I don't change ligatures that often. In fact, with the exception of one gig in 2015, and some practice sessions using German mouthpieces and string, I think I've played only two of these Rovners for the last 22 years. Making this decision today was simply a matter of wear and tear - the old lig was star ..read more

For those interested, I've published another blog for years entitled Seddon Done. Much of that time, it's been basically dormant; serving as a place for me to collectively present academic articles I'd published in various journals.  Over the last week or so, though, I've decided to revitalize Seddon Done and focus for the foreseeable future on CD reviews and other work in the realm of classical, specifically the works of Ralph Vaughan Williams.  If any of you readers of The Jazz Clarinet have an interest in what this jazz clarinetist does outside of the jazz world, Seddon Done is th ..read more

RIP, Desmond Tutu. I met him when I was 14 years old or so, doing service hours at Holy Cross Monastery in West Park, NY. My brother and I were carrying bags for all of the Anglican bishops gathered there for some global conference, a couple of years after Tutu had won the Nobel Peace Prize. I didn't carry Bishop Tutu's bags (we weren't important enough for that honor), but I ran into him while cutting through the Refectory -- he stopped me with his characteristically huge, warm smile and said "You're running around way too fast, young man! Working too hard!" Then, grabbing me by the arm and p ..read more

  1927 Conn New Wonder II Soprano Saxophone Eric Seddon Collection I've played Soprano Sax for over twenty years now, and most of that time my axe was a beautiful Yamaha Soprano YSS-675 with two necks -- one straight and one curved. I've used both of those necks  over the years, for different occasions. That horn has a beautiful, round, golden tone and plays very well in tune. Then, one day, my good friend, fellow reed man and jazz historian John Richmond told me he was selling one of his vintage sopranos. At the time I thought he was interested in selling his 1927 Buescher ..read more

When I founded it a decade ago, this blog was originally called Marlborough Man Music, as a take-off on a nickname I'd acquired in grad school. Being originally from Marlboro-on-Hudson, NY (or greater Marlborough, as the case may be) I was dubbed the "Marlboro Man" in certain circles. Around that time, in the early days of the internet, I'd often use "MarlboroughMan" or "MarlboroMan" as a handle.  From the outset, this blog was meant to discuss all things clarinet. Soon after my initial posts, though, I realized there was a need for more focused discussion of jazz clarinet, specifically ..read more

It's not often that a newly refurbished, high quality mid century instrument falls into your lap for a test-drive, but that's precisely what happened to me this week. Local Clevelander Patrick Price, who purchased this vintage 1966 Buffet R13 for his daughter, wanted to know what he had, and what I felt of it's value as clarinet. After talking with Patrick for just a few minutes, it was clear that he had done his research and knew the market value of the horn -- what he wanted to know was more of how good an instrument it was, and what this clarinet could accomplish in terms of expressive rang ..read more

I'm honored to have been interviewed by Eva Wasserman-Margolis for The Clarinet (the journal of the International Clarinet Association).  In the interview, Eva and I discuss jazz, faith, and family. Enjoy ..read more

 For some reason, I've just finally stumbled across a short but fascinating interview with Don Byron dating January 1, 2000: the very day we were all sitting around wondering if all the computers in the world were going to fritz out.  In it he speaks of the importance of Benny Goodman, but then reflects upon the influence (on him personally) of Tony Scott, Jimmy Hamilton, and Buster Bailey. This interview gives a better musical context to Byron's thoughts than I've run across before--I think it helps explain Byron's musical perspective very well. The last paragraph is brilliant.  ..read more

In the wake of the ICCC Jazz Competition, I've made it my business to pay more attention to my fellow judges' websites--to check out what they're up to, the projects they've been involved with, and dig into their thoughts.  Ken Peplowski's website is a treasure trove of interesting content--well worth investigating. For the historically minded there is a very insightful interview on Ken's blog, conducted by Jesse Cloninger, entitled "My ABSOLUTELY Last Words on Benny Goodman!"  I clicked on it, expecting to find a short statement or two about how annoying it is to always have to answ ..read more

This past Fall, in the devastating wake of the pandemic that has wiped away gigs of musicians around the globe, I was asked to be a judge for the jazz division of the International Clarinet Corona Competition. This grass roots effort to help younger professionals gain some exposure was spearheaded by Artistic Directors Eva Wasserman-Margolis, Elizabeth Crawford, and Diana Haskell and coordinated by Dylan James.  In was honored with the request to serve on a panel comprised of the leading jazz clarinetists of our time: Jazz Judges Victor Goines, Facilitator St ..read more