Muti’s tour repertory was rife with pieces containing big clarinet solos that would test Williamson’s mettle in front of some of Europe’s most sophisticated concert audiences.

Since the end of the big band era, the clarinet has taken a backseat to the sexier saxophone. But in the Bay Area, the oft-overlooked instrument is having a moment.

Writes Menomonie Grandpa: “The news that Woody Allen is bringing his jazz band to Minneapolis reminds Menomonie Grandma and me of a story.

A brilliant jazz improviser who toured with Count Basie and Billie Holiday, DeFranco devised many new paths for his instrument as small-group bebop overtook the big bands of the Swing Era.

Back in New York, he played tenor saxophone in Benny Goodman's band and clarinet with Louis Armstrong, Jack Teagarden and other swing orchestras and New Orleans and Chicago-style combos. He also ...

One of the best of them is Eddie Daniels, heir–apparent in the Goodman / DeFranco / Tony Scott dynasty of unvarnished swingers who pays earnest homage to the instrument’s heyday on Swing Low Sweet ...

Theirs is a highly unusual clarinet-fronted concept. All three members of Zed-U have passed through the ranks of Tomorrow’s Warriors, bassman Gary Crosby’s breeding ground for fine young talent.