Raising the clarinet’s profile

Think clarinet and what comes to mind? Licorice stick? Marching-band music? Benny Goodman?

Sure, all those things, and probably a lot more to the many who suffered through clarinet lessons at age 10 or 11. But what doesn’t immediately come to mind is a sense of the clarinet as a major jazz instrument -- at least not in recent years.

It started out differently, of course. New Orleans jazz is almost unimaginable without its counterpoint and curlicues. And one could make a case for clarinetist (and soprano saxophonist) Sidney Bechet as one of the music’s first great stars. With the arrival of swing, several of the era’s most visible bandleaders were advocates of the licorice stick: Goodman, of course, but also Artie Shaw, Woody Herman and Jimmy Dorsey.

Bop, however, never seemed to fit particularly well with the instrument, with Buddy DeFranco, Jimmy Hamilton, Tony Scott and Stan Hasselgard among the rare clarinetists bringing inspiration and innovation to the genre. In the decades beyond the ‘50s, its visibility has been even lower.

But this weekend Southland jazz fans will have opportunities to experience two rare examples of the instrument’s remarkable potency.

Eddie Daniels has largely been the exception to the low visibility principle. If anyone is carrying the torch for the jazz clarinet, and doing it with a considerable degree of success, it’s the Grammy-winning Daniels, who performs tonight with pianist Tom Garvin, bassist Dave Carpenter and drummer Peter Erskine at Cal State Northridge’s Center for the Visual and Performing Arts.

Given the current state of the instrument, it’s not surprising that Daniels will showcase some Goodman classics. “But I’ll do more than that,” he says. “There are so many guys who do the Benny Goodman imitation and do it well. But I’m going to play the way I play, because I can’t really do it any other way.

“I’ll cross through the tunes Benny’s known for and then also do some modern tunes, some of my own kind of tunes. I think I owe that to the audience -- to play a few things of my own, to give them my own vision of the clarinet.”

That vision is extremely wide. Daniels, 61, has recorded albums embracing everything from swing to bebop to classical music (including a fascinating rendering of Vivaldi’s “Four Seasons” in which the violin solo is replaced by his clarinet).

But his first real presence as a clarinetist came as the result of a spontaneous decision. Working in the saxophone section of the hard-driving Thad Jones-Mel Lewis band in the late ‘60s, he experienced a kind of instant musical epiphany.

“All the saxophones had 32-bar solos on a Thad tune called ‘Little Pixie,’ ” Daniels recalls, “and when it came to me, I just decided to pick up the clarinet. I knew we were doing a live recording and I wanted to get it on there. And a while later I suddenly get this plaque in the mail -- a Down Beat [magazine] award for talent deserving wider recognition.”

More recognition for Daniels has followed, despite the fact that the instrument’s popularity appears elusive at best.

“I’ve made my choice,” he says. “The clarinet is the vehicle for my expression. But it’s hard to play; it’s a lifetime of commitment. Which probably has something to do with its low visibility. Everybody has toyed with the instrument. But to carry through with it, and have a commitment to keep going, that’s a whole other thing.”

Pianist, composer and former clarinetist Clare Fischer has a similar affection for the clarinet. And, in the weekend’s other spotlight event for the instrument, he will lead his Clarinet Choir in a program at the Jazz Bakery on Sunday.

Fischer, who has arranged for performers in every imaginable style, has said, “I come from Meade Lux Lewis through Nat Cole and end up with Igor Stravinsky voicings.” Add to that a thorough understanding of Brazilian rhythms and a sensitivity to the subtleties of clarinet sound (his “choir” uses the full range of clarinets, from bass to soprano), and his Bakery performance affords yet another display of the beauties of this too-little-appreciated instrument.

Eddie Daniels at the Performing Arts Center, Cal State Northridge, Friday, 8 p.m. $20 to $30. (818) 677-2488. Clare Fischer at the Jazz Bakery, 3233 Helms Ave., Culver City, Sunday, 4 p.m. $20. (310) 271-9039.

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Smooth jazz heals?

Betty Benish of BB Jazz, a nonprofit entity that is producing a series of concerts at the Huntington Beach Library Theater, thinks so.

“I’ve had a very healing personal experience with smooth jazz,” says Benish. “I’m a cancer survivor and the music helped me through everything. It was this kind of music that was the friend I had when I got my cancer diagnosis.”

The Huntington Beach Smooth Jazz Series also includes performances in March, April and June, with a festival scheduled for September in the city’s Central Park. Saturday’s program features pianist Bobby Lyle, saxophonist Jaared and keyboardist Marcus Johnson.

Each program will also have a further healing effect via funds that are raised to increase awareness of autism.

The Huntington Beach Smooth Jazz Series at the Huntington Beach Library Theater, Saturday at 7 and 9 p.m. $35 and $55. (714) 377-7574.

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Riffs

The new edition of the “All Music Guide to Jazz” (Backbeat Books) has just published its fourth edition, raising the number of entries to more than 20,000 recordings by 1,700 artists. The massive paperback, which sells for $32.95, also includes useful essays surveying a wide range of jazz styles and a series of “music maps” identifying significant players.