Who is the best clarinetist

Known and admired for his soulful music, Johnny Dodds had such a significant role in the world of jazz that Benny Goodman stated that there was no other clarinetist capable of achieving the fine tone Dodds could achieve. He started to study the instrument that led to his fame when he was 16 years old. His contribution to the evolution of jazz earned him admirers in great numbers, as well as a place in the Jazz Hall of Fame. Regarded as one of the greatest jazz soloists, Sidney Bechet also gained fame and popularity as a saxophonist and composer.

He worked with some of the greatest jazz pioneers, including King Oliver and Clarence Williams. He toured Europe and did so successfully as he was the first jazz performer praised by Ernest Ansermet, a distinguished Swiss conductor and classicist.

His improvisations earned him a top place in the world of music. The way Jimmie Noone played the clarinet not only shaped and revived traditional New Orleans jazz but also led to him being admired by great musicians of his time, including Benny Goodman and Nat King Cole, who would listen to his performances. His particular tone and ability to express great sensitivity through his music made many musicians regard him as one of the most influential clarinetists of all time whose contribution and activity contoured the world of swing music.

Many regard his performances and playing style as the face of New Orleans jazz, and, therefore, our list would be incomplete without him. What makes his journey even more interesting is that he was self-taught and became a professional clarinet player when he was still in his teens. George Lewis shaped the face and sound of jazz through his mastery of the clarinet, and he also toured in Japan and Europe, thus successfully promoting this music genre.

He toured Australia and Europe with Louis Armstrong, a tour that proved very successful, and played with many top performers as a bandleader and a sideman. Each of the clarinetists in our list is famous for a reason, and Buster Railey stood out through his rapid and smooth technique, which led to many collaborations and albums.

He had his first job as a professional clarinetist when he was only 15, and he studied with Franz Schoepp, who was also the instructor of Benny Goodman. He played in the successful bands of some of the greatest figures in the world of jazz, such as Louis Armstrong and Fletcher Henderson, and his technique has often been described in superlative terms.

His contribution to the evolution of jazz and the way he mastered the instrument earned him a top place among jazz clarinetists. Regarded as one of the most appreciated and famous jazz clarinet players, Artie Shaw enjoyed great success in the era of the Big Bands.

He was not only a clarinetist and a bandleader but also a composer, actor, and writer. He led several bands, including the Burns and Allen Show band.

Even though he started with a saxophone, he ended up being a famous clarinetist who released his first album when he was Then, who is the most famous clarinet player? Likewise, what do you call a professional clarinet player? The clarinet is a family of woodwind instruments. A person who plays a clarinet is called a clarinetist sometimes spelled clarinettist. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart - The most famous composer has written the best known classical piece of music for clarinet , too: The concerto in A its slow second movement is even better known to some people as film music from "out of Afrika".

The Greatest Clarinetists of All Time. Sabine Meyer. Who made the clarinet famous? Johann Christoph Denner. What is the most expensive clarinet? Most expensive clarinet I have bought is Wolf Gottmans full boehm How expensive is a clarinet? If this is more than what you are willing to spend, there are two options. Who is a famous bassoon player? Klaus Thunemann.

Milan Turkovic. Antoine Bullant. Bill Douglas. Judith LeClair. How much does a professional clarinet player make? Quite often the clarinet players influenced composers directly - this wasn't always just a professional relationship only, but often a friendship. It helped both: The musician needed new and popular pieces to play, and the composer benefited from finding out what a player could do with the instrument. Most composers then and today play the piano and maybe one other instrument, the more they know about the characteristics of the instruments, the better they can set music for them.

Since the time I started to write this web page - late last century - media channels like Youtube have become very popular, and broadband access is affordable to most of you. This changes the way we can access and consume music and media. In result you can watch most of today's players in videoclips in famous concert halls right in your browser. It is technically possible to list links to these videos, but they may change frequently and some are simply illegal in some countries.

You will easily find them by using the search option of youtube entering Stoltzman, Meyer or Neidich - and you will find hundreds of excellent concerto recording clips and videos, some in HD and HiFi. The definite highlight is the series from Denmark Play with a Pro , where renowned instrumental teachers and professionals give masterclass-type lessons.

This includes clarinets, too. It is difficult to decide who should be listed here, and especially difficult to answer for an international web page, because the question whether a player is well known depends, too, very much on the country you live in.

Since I am German and wrote the page for German-speaking readers at first and later translated it you still find lots of Germans here. If you lived in Turkey or in Botswana, your choices will probably be completely different from what people in Korea say. So in order to be fair and help your favourite player become known world wide, I will not add any more players here.

I rather suggest you go to the well maintained Wikipedia's clarinettists page , and check whether your player is there. If not, you can enter the data yourself. You can enter a short bio, and link to a local fan site if there is one. However, do write if you think I made a mistake with one I have mentioned, though.

Send me a mail but please check twice and explain why and I will correct the entry. Anton Stadler - is of course so well known, because his playing inspired Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart to write his popular compositions. Without an extremely capable clarinet player one can hardly imagine the love of a composer like Mozart for the clarinet: At that time it was a crude, very imperfect instrument and at the same time the string section played on stradivarius's - even today there is nothing better!

On the other hand the man Stadler was an infamous gambler and drinker, he fell nothing short to Mozart in spending money he didn't have: When Mozart died as poor man, Stadler still owed him money. Johann Simon Hermstedt was the virtuoso with a technical talent. His tone was not as beautiful as Heinrich Baermann's that is why Weber preferred Baermann and wrote for him , but Hermstedt was not only a player who could play nearly everything, but a gifted craftsman as well.

The composer who wrote for him was Spohr. Spohr did not care for any problems the player might have with a piece which in return resulted in Hermstedt improving the mechanics of his instrument. This pushed forward the technical improvement of the clarinet a lot.

Even today with advanced instruments you will find the four concertos for Hermstedt to be packed with tough challenges for the most experienced players. Heinrich Baermann - started his musical career as oboe player in Potsdam. Then he learned to play the clarinet and went to Munich to King Ludwig's court, later to Vienna and London.

He traveled all over Europe on concert tours. The success was overwhelming. Weber wrote to a friend: "The whole orchestra went crazy and demands concertos from me.