I’ve had the greatest luck meeting musicians in Victoria….the very first month I met Don Mayer, Edith Eaton, and Gord Clements at a clarinet choir rehearsal hosted by dear friend and colleague of over three decades, Rhonda Smeds. Turned out that Don is the principal clarinetist of the Meridiem Wind Orchestra (for which I was recruited as the baritone saxophonist before I even left Vancouver) and Edith, a fine clarinetist and bassoonist who played with the Naden Band had attended the same high school and university in Ottawa as I and we had shared the same teachers…I was just four years before her in both schools. Don recruited me for the Island Big Band and Edith recruited me for the Royal Bay Musical Theatre company!
But….I was the one who recruited Gord Clements! I already owned all his recordings and sent him a fan email when I discovered we would meet at that rehearsal. He has now visited the studio with fellow bass clarinetist Dr. Marcella Barz and we had a great time reed-geeking out! Gord plays all the single reeds and flute and is a fine composer and arranger and he re-arranged some pieces he had written for musical theatre for clarinet trio just before he showed up at the studio. We’ll be recruiting others to form the Victoria chapter of Pacific Blackwood!
Gord brought a bass clarinet stand he made for me! WOW! It is SO beautiful and the design is fantastic and it is unbelievably compact. My jaw is still on the floor. Made of gorgeous copper, air craft quality aluminum, carbon steel and hand-sewn Italian white leather. It’s simply gorgeous, light, very compact and incredibly strong! And it’s a steal, going for much less than the larger, heavier and comparatively clunky K&M stand, which has been pretty much the standard for most players…until now. I’m blown away! Here is a larger picture of it….plus a picture of all the other instruments for which it can be used. It’s just incredible. Here’s Gord’s website, so you can inundate him with orders. https://www.gordclements.com There is also a direct link to his excellent recordings on Bandcamp on his website.
