Have Clarinet, Will Noodle

Ask clarinetist Richard Stoltzman to label himself as an artist, and the answer is short and sweet: “My life,” he says, “is in classical music.”

No argument there. Stoltzman has performed with most of the world’s major symphony orchestras, recorded almost all of the major clarinet repertory, made hundreds of chamber music and recital appearances, and won two Grammy awards, for Brahms sonatas (with pianist Richard Goode) and the trios of Beethoven, Brahms and Mozart (with Emanuel Ax and Yo-Yo Ma).

But look beyond the classical music bins in your local record store, and the name “Stoltzman” pops up in the jazz racks and even, occasionally, in the pop music racks. He was nominated for a Grammy for his work with the Woody Herman band, and has made appearances or recorded with Mel Torme, Judy Collins, Joe Williams, Keith Jarrett, Wayne Shorter and Chick Corea.

Asked about his range, Stoltzman, whose wry wit tinges much of his conversation, replies, “Well, you know, I once had a teacher who told me, ‘If you don’t learn to fit in pretty soon, you’re never going to get a job.’ ”

That’s a problem Stoltzman hasn’t had to deal with in a long time, in part because he didn’t take the hint.

On Wednesday, along with his violinist wife, Lucy, and his two children, Peter, 20, and Margaret Ann (“Meggie”), 14, (both of whom play piano), Stoltzman, 56, performs at the Hollywood Bowl in a program that will display a selection of his far-ranging musical interests. The concert features a family performance in the first half, and a collection of pieces from his latest RCA/BMG album, “Danza Latina,” in the second half. The eclectic set of material provides an opportunity for him to display all the ways he’s stretched the envelope of his career.

Stoltzman’s gravitation toward jazz is particularly unusual for a classical musician. There are those who’ve made the journey--including Itzhak Perlman (who recorded with Oscar Peterson) and pianist Jean-Yves Thibaudet (who performs transcriptions of Bill Evans piano solos)--but, more commonly, it has been jazz players who have gone in the opposite direction. Benny Goodman commissioned and premiered Bartok’s “Contrasts” and Aaron Copland’s Clarinet Concerto; pianists Keith Jarrett and Chick Corea have recorded a variety of classical works; singer Bobby McFerrin now largely devotes his career to conducting; and Wynton Marsalis has famously worked in both genres.

Stoltzman, who improvises effectively and expresses a compelling sense of swing, describes his jazz abilities in modest terms.

“Let me put it this way,” he says, as circumspectly as possible. “When I get to play with the very best players, and I can listen as much as possible, and the players are extremely supportive and understand all my frailties, lack of education and shortcomings, I can express something that’s honest inside of me in a jazz way that’s not embarrassing.”

If it’s “not embarrassing,” it’s undoubtedly because Stoltzman, unlike many classical artists, has a personal history overflowing with jazz connections.

“I can vividly recall when I first heard jazz,” he says, “because it was always so present. My dad worked for the railroad, and he loved the big bands. His name was Leslie, and he was an amateur tenor saxophone player. I remember that if people really wanted to make him feel good, they would call him ‘Lester’ for Lester Young.

“But actually, he sounded more like Ben Webster or Coleman Hawkins than Lester Young, playing with a big, wide vibrato the way they did. I remember, as a tiny, tiny kid, hearing him put on their records and try to play along with them.”

Stoltzman, who was born in San Francisco and raised in Cincinnati, remembers being taken to hear outdoor concerts by touring big bands.

“Stan Kenton, Woody Herman, Duke Ellington, Count Basie, Maynard Ferguson,” he recalls. “I heard them all. I remember what it was like when the band buses would come in, and these guys would step out, all mysterious-looking, wearing sunglasses, kind of hung over--although of course I didn’t know that at the time.

“But then they’d get on the bandstand and the leader would snap his fingers to count off the time, and, wow! They’d play these unbelievably energetic, roaring kinds of tunes. And there I was sitting out on the grass, listening with my father. That made a huge impression for me, because he loved it, and I loved it.”

So why did Stoltzman become a classical rather than jazz player?

“Oh, I didn’t really have any plan to be either,” he says, “not at first. My father wanted me to be a dentist. I think I had a lot of cavities, and he could see the bills coming in.”

He wound up, instead, taking a path familiar to many young musicians, playing saxophone and clarinet “for bar mitzvahs, dances and beers” before heading off to Ohio State University for a bachelor’s degree with a double major in music and mathematics.

But even then, his goals were unclear. At least until he heard a performance of the Brahms Quintet for clarinet and strings.

“I went to a summer session at Yale, where I was planning to work on a master’s degree, and heard my soon-to-be clarinet teacher, Keith Wilson, in a performance of the quintet. I’m embarrassed to say, I’d never even heard of it, even though I was 21.

“Not that I was musically illiterate or anything. But the way you studied clarinet at that time was to learn how to play as fast as you could, as technically proficient as possible, and study orchestral excerpts for job auditions. And when I heard the Brahms, it was sort of like an epiphany. I thought, ‘If I could play this once myself before I die, I could say that I’d lived a good life’ or something. I had no idea that I was going to be playing things like that all the time. It was just something that I could aspire to.”

It took a while to happen, however.

“I was sort of an overnight wonder at 35,” says Stoltzman. Much of his initial visibility came via his participation in TASHI, a contemporary music quartet that included pianist Peter Serkin, violinist Ida Kavafian and cellist Fred Sherry, which came together when he was teaching at CalArts in the early ‘70s.

From that point, it was onward and upward. He became the first wind instrument player to receive the Avery Fisher Prize in 1986, and gave the first clarinet recitals at both the Hollywood Bowl and Carnegie Hall.

How has his playing been received in the jazz community? Stoltzman offers his own list of recollections with a wry chuckle.

“Well, let’s start with Chick Corea,” he says. “When I played with him, he told me, ‘It’s not bad for somebody in a tuxedo.’ ”

Stoltzman also recalls the fear and trepidation he felt when he first got together with tenor saxophonist Wayne Shorter, a veteran of Miles Davis’ classic ensembles from the ‘60s, and one of the founders of Weather Report.

“He brought me over to his house for dinner,” he says, “and we sat and talked. And all the time, I was thinking, ‘Pretty soon we’re going to have to play. Pretty soon, I’m going to have to take out my clarinet, and it’s going to be like Cinderella. He’s going to see I’m a pumpkin.’ ”

But Shorter instead offered Stoltzman an insight that is characteristic of the ecumenicism of jazz.

“When we finally played together,” says Stoltzman, “I felt as though he was welcoming me into a world that would allow me to be a part of it, so long as I didn’t get full of myself. And that it would be OK if I was myself.”

It’s an attitude that has become an intrinsic part of Stoltzman’s own perception of what he views as unnecessarily restrictive musical boundaries. Perhaps because he has been so intimately involved with jazz and classical music for most of his life, he refuses to engage in the over-categorization that builds separation between both musics.

“I think that it’s totally wrong,” he says, “to think of a classical approach and a jazz approach. Composers ask the gamut of emotions and tone color in every era. And that’s true whether I’m playing something like Bartok or Copland or Boulez or a beautiful Keith Jarrett tune that sounds like Schubert.”

Stoltzman prefers instead to emphasize the connectivity between musics by pointing out that his jazz playing and classical playing constantly contribute to each other.

“The spectrum is there for all the music. There are moments when you can be awfully loose in a classical piece, and there are moments when you can be extremely pure and crystal-edged in jazz. And I’m delighted that I’m able to be a part of both.”

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RICHARD STOLTZMAN (AND FAMILY), Hollywood Bowl, 2301 N. Highland Ave. Date: Wednesday, 8:30 p.m. Prices: $3-$51. Phone: (213) 850-2000.