Rudy Rutherford

The alto clarinet continues to be treated just like the creepy middle sister of girls down the block if their family name was clarinet, ignored and finally looking for extra protection to be able to not be banished forever. The so-called security comes not by means of fortified ramparts however in bits of info, the detail of all relevance here becoming that Rudy Rutherford performed the alto clarinet a lot during many years using the Count number Basie music group that some aficionados of reed devices whose curvy styles recommend the anatomy of geese possess dared to claim that this unpretentious bandleader because the Count number would have used a full-time alto clarinetist. Timid jazz biographers possess supported off this state; for instance, John Chilton explains Rutherford as just “primarily on alto clarinet” within the 1946 and 1947 massed military of Basie. This participant originally founded himself a lot more around the baritone saxophone part from the bandstand, operating through the past due ’30s on his regional Detroit music picture in front of you group of top-drawer big-band credits: Lionel Hampton on / off till 1943, Basie in these period, sandwiched by his 1st two-year stint on baritone sax and several regular clarinet and the ultimate run after with Basie in the first ’50s, not forgetting the dynamic Earl Hines band of the ’70s where youngsters such as for example bassist Wes Dark brown prowled the tempo section. Rutherford also experienced a mild-mannered profession as a innovator of his personal groups, generally settling into home gigs at nightclubs, including one called after his previous boss, Basie’s. Even though these jobs place him inside a country-club establishing, this solid jazzman by no means abandoned the substance of his music. He performed in good type with tenor saxophone huge Buddy Tate inside a 1964 tour. 2 decades later on, Rutherford had dropped not a little bit of his type, keeping the spirits of timeless music moving with another great tenor frontman, Illinois Jacquet.