Mozart didn't know Jazz Fest, but he knew about the power of the clarinet. He wrote some of his most gorgeous concertos for the instrument, knowing its clear, clean timbre could lift melodies to soaring heights with the right person behind the reed.
Evan Christopher, Tim Laughlin and Gregory Agid all know a thing or two about the clarinet, too. The three musicians, known collectively as “Clarinet Woodshed," led a mid-day Jazz Tent audience through the instrument's full jazz range.
“In New Orleans, brass is well-known, but the tradition of the woodwinds is just as important and long-standing," Christopher said after the set's opening number, Sidney Bechet's “Blues in the Air."
All three jazz men played on that tune, after which Christopher introduced 24-year-old Agid, a protege of Alvin Batiste and graduate of the New Orleans Center for Creative Arts. Christopher tackled a virtuosic number with dizzying runs up and down instrument, buttressed by an equally impressive solo from pianist David Torkanowsky. Agid couldn't suppress a confident smirk as the audience cheered him on.
“Boy, it sucks to be old enough to be his father, doesn't it?" Christopher quipped to Laughlin, who took the front of the stage after Agid's showcase number.
But where Agid brought youthful moxie and vigor, Laughling tempered the set with the restraint and nuance of maturity on “A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square," written by the songwriting duo Manning Sherwin and Jack Strachey in 1940. Agid's rendition, when paired with the smooth electric guitar of Todd Duke, recalled Johnny Smith's “Moonlight in Vermont."
Evan Christopher, Tim Laughlin and Gregory Agid all know a thing or two about the clarinet, too. The three musicians, known collectively as “Clarinet Woodshed," led a mid-day Jazz Tent audience through the instrument's full jazz range.
“In New Orleans, brass is well-known, but the tradition of the woodwinds is just as important and long-standing," Christopher said after the set's opening number, Sidney Bechet's “Blues in the Air."
All three jazz men played on that tune, after which Christopher introduced 24-year-old Agid, a protege of Alvin Batiste and graduate of the New Orleans Center for Creative Arts. Christopher tackled a virtuosic number with dizzying runs up and down instrument, buttressed by an equally impressive solo from pianist David Torkanowsky. Agid couldn't suppress a confident smirk as the audience cheered him on.
“Boy, it sucks to be old enough to be his father, doesn't it?" Christopher quipped to Laughlin, who took the front of the stage after Agid's showcase number.
But where Agid brought youthful moxie and vigor, Laughling tempered the set with the restraint and nuance of maturity on “A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square," written by the songwriting duo Manning Sherwin and Jack Strachey in 1940. Agid's rendition, when paired with the smooth electric guitar of Todd Duke, recalled Johnny Smith's “Moonlight in Vermont."
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