A tribute to Barney Bigard

In 2006 the jazz world celebrated the 100th birthday of  the great New Orleans clarinettist Barney Bigard.   Thomas l’Etienne, one of the outstanding European clarinettists in the Creole New Orleans style, welcomed this birthday as a unique opportunity to create a program dedicated to his idol.

Barney Bigard was born in New Orleans at a time when the Crescent City gave birth to jazz, and at an early age Barney was already able to make important contributions to the development of this music. In 1925 he joined Joe King Oliver’s band in Chicago. He recorded and played with Jelly Roll Morton. In 1928 Duke Ellington asked him to join his band. For 14 years of what was arguably the most exciting period of the Ellington band Barney became an important part of its sound. After a short period of  free-lancing he started playing with his old friend Louis Armstrong in Louis’ All Stars in 1947.

The musical review embraces all the periods of Barney’s life and musical career without making the fruitless attempt to copy any of the original material. It is also Thomas l’Etienne’s very personal declaration of love to the clarinet and in particular the great exponents of the Creole clarinet style. Consequently it also features original tunes composed for this special homage.

In 2006 “Mood Indigo” was a featured highlight on the Ascona Jazz festival and the Breda Jazz festival. The great success of the review, but mostly Thomas’ and Uli’s love and admiration for the great Barney Bigard convinced the Creole Clarinet to continue performing the program and working on the music in years after the master’s centennial anniversary.