Larry, check out Ross Wooldridge's new CD which is a Sextet recording of a Benny Goodman Tribute. It was done in 2010 in Ancaster at an outdoor concert at the Fieldcote Museum. It's a wonderful recording and Ross is playing at the top of his game. He is without a doubt in my not very humble opinion the best clarinetist this country has ever produced in the jazz idiom...bar none...I mean it...he is that good.
As a matter of fact I would go further and say that Goodman probably did not have the chops to play in the ranges that Ross is fluent with...and RW plays all of those swing licks right through all of those registers and he does so comfortably and flawlessly and with such a great sound...no small achievement... ...and to hear
DT (Don Thompson) play so lucidly over those basic changes is a pure delight...and he swings in this genre which is not really or normally his bag... ...great piano player also...other guys in the band not shabby either... Ross sounds so much better on the recording than he does live like in the club at the Rex last night at the CD release party where that nickel and dime sound system really distorts and thins the sound of the clarinet...
Larry you gotta get this CD...it is masterpiece...a gem for sure...I have other BG Tribute albums by Buddy De Franco and Eddie Daniels and Ross' work is as good if not better than Eddie Daniels or DeFranco. If you already have this CD let me know what you think of it.
All the best to you and Marnie.
Cheers,
Bernie
Bernie Turcotte is a Music Consultant (retired) for the Ontario Ministry of Education for Toronto and Central Ontario Region, Executive Director for the IAJE Canada (International Association of Jazz Educators), and is a Past President of the OMEA (Ontario Music Educators Association).
