Bop is often associated instrument-wise with Charlie Parker alto sax, Dizzy Gillespie trumpet, Bud Powell piano, Curley Russell double bass, Max Roach drums and others. But what about Stan Hasselgard clarinet, Buddy deFranco clarinet and even Benny Goodman, clarinet? This week’s Phantom Dancer feature set is bop clarinet from live 1940s radio.

SHOW

The Phantom Dancer is your non-stop mix of swing and jazz from live 1929 – 65 radio.

Mixed live-to-air by 1920s – 1930s singer and actor, Greg Poppleton, on radio 2SER 107.3 Sydney since 1985, The Phantom Dancer is re-broadcast on 23 radio stations of the Community Radio Network and online at 2ser.com.

You can hear lots of past Phantom Dancers, too, at 2ser.com.

PLAYLIST

The Bop clarinet feature and a whole mix of swing and jazz from live 1920s-50s radio. Read the full play list below.

Remember – from 1-2pm on 107.3 2SER it’s the ALL VINYL FINYL HOUR.

BOP CLARINET

What is bop? Well, for all you squares out there you’re 70 years too late to write to Symphony Sid c/- WMCA NY for your booklet ‘What is Bop?’. So I suggest you check out the definition somewhere online, or listen to this week’s Phantom Dancer for some aural clues.

This week, The Phantom Dancer features the common swing and trad jazz instrument least associated with bop – clarinet. In particular, well hear airchecks from three of its practitioners.

BENNY GOODMAN

The ‘King of Swing’ had a short dalliance with bop in 1948-49. The pianist in Goodman’s bop group, Buddy Greco had this to say about Goodman’s take on the new music,

“Benny respected boppers like Fats Navarro as the musicians they were, but I don’t believe he understood bop or ever really liked it. I know he didn’t like it. He had a habit of putting us on a little bit, making musical fun of what we were doing. Sometimes he did try to stretch out and play more modern, but he was so good at what he did that when he soloed on the new charts in his usual style, to my way of thinking he fit in just fine. It would have been a shame for him to change.”

Stan Hasselgard and Benny Goodman

STAN HASSELGARD

Hasselgård was a swing clarinetist in Sweden before moving to New York City in 1947. He was a Benny Goodman fan and joined the Goodman group, switching to bop when Goodman made his foray into the new music in 1948.

Hasselgård was the “famous bop clarinettist who died in an Illinois car crash recently” the memory of which spooked Sal Paradise on his journey to Chicago in Jack Kerouac’s 1957 book, On the Road.

Buddy de Franco

BUDDY DE FRANCO

De Franco picked up the clarinet aged nine and by age 14 had won a national Tonny Dorsey swing contest.

He remained largely a swing player, leading the Glenn Miller orchestra in the 1960s and 70s.

But he also rose to the challenge of jazz clarinet, playing in bands lead by Charlie Parker and Miles Davis in 1947 and 1949 respectively.

VIDEO

Benny Goodman and Stan Hasselgård duet on ‘All The Things You Are’ in a 1948 broadcast from The click in Philadelphia, just five days before Stan was killed in a car crash.

2 OCTOBER PLAY LIST