CLASSICAL MUSIC : Clarinetist Has Two Serious Sides: Jazz and Classical

Clarinetist Richard Stoltzman accepts the designation of crossover artist gingerly. The lauded soloist with both American and European orchestras, astute chamber music specialist and founding member of the avant-garde ensemble TASHI, Stoltzman takes off his shoes before treading on the sacred ground of American jazz.

“When I was in college, I played for free beers at a local Dixieland place. I used the music for pleasure and always thought of classical playing as my serious part,” he explained in an interview from his home in Boston. “I didn’t realize until later in my career, after meeting some of the great jazz musicians, that jazz requires a seriousness and dedication at exactly the same high level as classical musicians strive for.”

One of Stoltzman’s mature jazz initiations came a few years back when he collaborated with the late Woody Herman and his band, the Thundering Herd, in a tour and eventual recording of Igor Stravinsky’s “Ebony Concerto,” composed in 1946 for Herman.

“I knew Herman as a legend through my father, who was a great fan of Big Band music and who took me as a teen-ager to hear him play in Cincinnati. Herman had seen me play on a TV show, after which he called me to explain his dream of celebrating his 50th anniversary of being on the road. He wanted to include the Stravinsky Concerto, but he didn’t feel up to doing the clarinet part anymore.”

The collaboration was more than agreeable. In 1986, Stoltzman and the Thundering Herd played in Boston’s Symphony Hall and at the Hollywood Bowl. Sadly, Herman passed away before Stoltzman and the Herd reached Carnegie Hall in early 1988.

“I feel lucky to be part of jazz world,” Stoltzman added. “As an American clarinet player, I believe it’s a strong a part of our musical background.”

Since 1986, Stoltzman has made three jazz recordings, starting with “Begin Sweet World” and its sequel, “New York Counterpoint.” They complement his other 20 records of the classical clarinet repertory, which ranges from the concertos of Mozart and von Weber to contemporary American works by John Corigliano and Leonard Bernstein.

Stoltzman knows how to take a compliment from his jazz colleagues. He recounted that, after a Tokyo concert in which he performed with Chick Corea, the noted keyboard player looked up and said, “Hey, you don’t play bad for somebody in a tuxedo!”

Stoltzman will don his tuxedo at 8 p.m. Saturday for his La Jolla Chamber Music Society performance at Sherwood Auditorium. With noted New York pianist Richard Goode and violinist Lucy Chapman Stoltzman, the trio will perform a varied program of Debussy, Beethoven, Stravinsky, Ives and Bartok. The trio, which has performed together for the past four years, played the same program last week in Carnegie Hall.

Even though Stoltzman’s La Jolla program will not feature any jazz compositions, there is still a connection in the concert’s final work, Bela Bartok’s “Contrasts” for piano, clarinet and violin. Benny Goodman, the quintessential American crossover performer, and violinist Joseph Szigeti commissioned and premiered the work from the emigre Hungarian composer in 1938.

Last-minute replacement. Varujan Kojian, music director of the Santa Barbara Symphony, will fill in for Walter Weller on the San Diego Symphony concerts April 26-27. A death in the family caused Weller to cancel his appearances here. Kojian will lead the previously announced program of Glinka, Rimsky-Korsakov and Rachmaninoff’s Third Piano Concerto, with soloist Olli Mustonen.

Brass kudos. Westwind Brass has made the semifinals of the Keystone (Colorado) Brass Institute’s annual brass quintet competition and will go for the gold in Colorado the week of June 10. The local ensemble was one of the seven semifinalists out of 20 ensembles who entered.

Started four years ago by trumpeter David Sabon and trombonist Ronald Robinson, the quintet is not just an occasional gig for off-duty brass players. According to Sabon, the group played 140 concerts last season alone. They can be heard regularly as one of the ensembles that plays free afternoon programs on the Sports Deck at Horton Plaza. They have residencies with the San Diego Unified School District--where they perform for students at all grade levels and give master classes to brass players in the upper grades--and with Torrey Pines Christian Church.

San Diego State University Professor Brent Dutton is grooming Westwind for the Keystone competition. Other members of the ensemble are Michael Walk, trumpet; Lawrence Brady, French Horn, and Lorin Getline, tuba. Westwind Brass will perform a chamber concert of their competition pieces at 4:30 p.m. Sunday at Christ Lutheran Church in Pacific Beach.

Choral festival. “Blended Voices” is the theme of the May 6 interfaith choral festival to be held at Symphony Hall. According to festival organizer Cantor Sheldon Merel of Congregation Beth Israel, the concert will feature five church and synagogue choirs as well as the Jewish Community Center Orchestra under the baton of its music director, David Amos.

Merel said this is the first time such an undertaking has been sponsored by the local synagogue. In addition to the Beth Israel choir, choirs from San Diego’s First Presbyterian Church, First Unitarian Church, Bayview Baptist Church and Christ the King Roman Catholic Church will perform. On the 4 p.m. program, each choir will present a segment of its own repertory, followed by an ensemble performance of “Hine Mah Tov” by contemporary American composer Simon Sargon.

The program is underwritten by local philanthropist Morris Wax as a memorial to his wife, Jeanette. Proceeds from the $3 admission price will be donated to the St. Vincent de Paul Joan Kroc Center for the homeless.

And even more voices. Speaking of events choral, the noted Boys Choir of Harlem will make a rare local appearance in concert at 8:15 p.m. Thursday at the Civic Theatre.