They Can’t Take That Away From Me
This seems an appropriate piece of music for these days. It’s an unusual but deeply moving performance by the legendary Lester Young who was best known as a tenor saxophonist, but decided to play clarinet on two numbers that wound up on an album called Laughin’ to Keep from Cryin’. I have the original vinyl LP, which was issued on the Verve label, but it’s still waiting for me to transfer it to digital. The other members of the band are Roy Eldridge and Harry Edison (trumpets), Herb Ellis (guitar), Hank Jones (piano), George Duvivier (bass) and Mickey Sheen (drums).There were lots of problems making the record, apparently, but it did produce some fine music including this devastatingly tragic version of the standard They Can’t Take That Away From Me which is among the very best recordings he ever made.
At the time of this recording, in February 1958, Lester Young was terminally ill with cancer – he died just a year later at the age of 49. Despite being barely able to stand, struggling with his breath control, and playing almost in slow motion, he manages to cast his fading light over this tune in a way that’s heartbreaking as well as beautiful.
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This entry was posted on November 10, 2016 at 4:16 pm and is filed under Jazz with tags George Duvivier, Hank Jones, Harry Edison, Herb Ellis, Laughin' to Keep from Cryin', Lester Young, Mickey Sheen, Roy Eldridge. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
In the Dark 
November 10, 2016 at 8:04 pm
Lester Young… was best known as a tenor saxophonist, but decided to play clarinet on two numbers that wound up on an album called Laughin’ to Keep from Cryin’.
How hard a transition is that, please, Peter?
November 10, 2016 at 11:51 pm
Lester Young played clarinet earlier in his career when he was with the Count Basie band, but his clarinet was stolen in 1939 and he stopped playing the instrument until he was given one by Norman Granz in 1957. Presumably it was that one he played on this session.
The tenor saxophone is a much bigger instrument and requires more bodily strength to play, so his ill-health may have been a factor in switching at this date.
In the swing era it was not unusual for saxophonists to double on clarinet. In more modern times it’s more usual for musicians to switch from tenor to soprano saxophone if you want a higher pitch and different tone (e.g. John Coltrane). One advantage of that is that the fingering is the same, which is not the case with sax and clarinet.
A perhaps bigger problem is the fact that the mouthpiece and reed is much smaller on a clarinet, which means you have to change your embouchure quite a lot. I’ve noticed, in fact, that many saxophonists seem to play clarinet almost out of the side of their mouth, presumably because they find it difficult to adjust their chops.
I’d say it’s probably quite easy to be competent on both instruments but much much harder to be truly fluent on both. An exception is Roland Kirk who could play dozens of instruments with equal facility.
November 11, 2016 at 9:22 am
Interesting – thank you!
November 11, 2016 at 10:52 am
Because it overblows a twelfth, the clarinet in essence has two fingerings for each note – one for the low register and one for the high. Saxophone fingering is the same is the upper register fingering for clarinet. In practice, that means that a clarinet player can switch to basic saxophone playing in a matter of hours (with the exception of the very high and low parts of the instrument), but those who have learned on saxophone find it MUCH harder to add clarinet. That’s why in general if someone wants to learn the saxophone, it is probably better to start on clarinet. Of course, playing WELL is a different matter.
November 11, 2016 at 11:32 am
Well put. It’s certainly very easy to switch from clarinet to soprano saxophone for that reason.
In the section of a big band you’re only likely to be playing backing riffs etc on your second instrument.
November 11, 2016 at 2:34 pm
Also, since I mentioned the soprano saxophone, I have never figured out why that instrument is so much harder to keep at the right pitch than the tenor…
November 11, 2016 at 4:34 pm
Perhaps he will answer. He’s fine clarinettist, so I’m sure he would have no problem.
November 14, 2016 at 4:04 pm
I received an email from John Peacock during which, among other things, he answered this question. I quote:
November 24, 2016 at 2:20 pm
[…] long ago I shared a track on which Lester Young played clarinet as opposed to his usual tenor saxophone. I got to thinking […]