two. Welcome to the clarinet ninja podcast. This is episode number one. My name is
Jay Hassler. That music that you heard at the beginning of the podcast is my good friend, Mr. James Dander, a
fantastic jazz clarinet player that if you like what you hear, I want you to go down to the show notes and click on his
his links so that you can hear more of what he does, the compositions he writes, as well as the wonderful playing
he does on the clarinet. And in this episode, I've got my good friend, former teacher and world famous clarinet
player, Ricardo Morales. uh he was nice enough to come in and talk for quite a
while, for so long. As a matter of fact, I'm going to have to split this into two different episodes. So, thank you,
Ricardo, for so much time. This first episode, we're going to talk about the early days of him being principal
clarinet of the Metropolitan Opera and some really fun stories about how he got
to be the clarinet player that he is, how that worked with his family, the things that went into his education and
his experience, as well as some hilarious stories about being the new
kid on the block in New York City in the late '90s. In addition to that, uh I want you to know about the clarinet
ninja dojo. It is a place for adults to learn the clarinet from me. And in this program, you get quite a bit of me. Uh
there are some things in the website, lots of things in the website to support you and help you learn. But primarily
what you get is me every week uh in a group setting helping you learn how to
play the clarinet, answering your questions and giving you specific advice. So I would love for you to check
that out. I'm going to leave all that information in the show notes as well as information on how to get the music of
James Dander. And let's get to it. Let's talk to Ricardo Morales, my friend and
my teacher. Answer. Don't do any math. Just guess. Okay. How many years you and
I have known each other? Oh man. Uh let me see. Jesus. Uh close to 25 years. 29
years. What? Dude, that's a little extreme. Okay. How old were we when we
met? Well, I think that we might have been then, dude, like 24. Yeah. So, that's
crazy. So, innocent back then. Oh, I know. Totally right. I remember I came
from Los Angeles to take a lesson with you before auditioning for Mad House School of Music. Mhm. I was very nervous
and I remember taking a lesson in what was the smallest apartment I've ever
seen you live in. But that was a small apartment. Yes, dude. And so here here's another thing that I'
I've been thinking about a lot because after hearing you play the most shadow on Christmas Eve 29 years after I first
heard you play it in your living room, it's wild to me. The sound I want
to hear from you. Obviously, like you play how you play, but like the thing that I hear in my head when I hear you
is you playing on a Leblanc Opus clarinet with a Johnston mouthpiece. Like that's the sound that was like the
first imprint of hearing you play. Yeah. Let's take everybody back to 1996.
I'm curious to know given how many times you have changed your clarinet since then, LeBlanc was a real disruptor in
the clarinet world time. Absolutely. I'm I'm curious to know what you took from that clarinet that has been a throughine
for the things that you value when you're switching equipment. What are you looking for? I'm asking a pretty general
question, but I feel like I could just let you go on that. Well, the thing uh actually just to go just for a second,
the one time the first time I was looking, you know, be before I played the Leblanc, I was playing on Yamaha
Planets and I was quite happy. They're very good. They don't break down. It's solid. Then I got to solo with the
Chicago Synchrony because I have won 17 magazine national cultural competition and the grand prize was to be able to
solo with one of the major orchestras and for the grand prize for that year was to get to solo with Chicago. I have
always loved Larry Holmes but I remember going there and the first thing I know of myself is that it's a double sort. I
like the standard stuff but I like it with a twist. It's always been my thing. It's like I like the normal stuff but
with a little extra something and I remember going to my rehearsal and they were
rehearsing you know with Schulty Kir Takana Pavarote and all that. So I was just waiting they were going to finish
that rehearsal and then do the rehearsal for the orchestra concert later on that week. I like wait this is something
different and I was going this was unbelievable beautiful and I was like oh my god it was really a normal planet
something rounder and very smooth and beautiful unusual and I was really uh
loving it and I didn't think much of that because at the time it was my first
time meeting Larry Ca say hello Mr. blah blah blah. How old were you at this point? Yeah. So, you see, I won the
competition when I was 17 and then it took two years for me to get there. So, I was 19 when I went over there to play
in Chicago. I didn't think of asking what instrument he was playing because I just assumed it was great and I was with
the sound. A few months later, I met Tom Reau who happened to live in the Orlando area and he told me, "Hey, you should
try this, see what it's like." And then I played two notes and I said, "Oh, this is this really uh took me uh you know
just I was really moved by that one." And then like a month into my playing
they blank bell which was their little their little magazine and then the ad with the cover with Mar then oh that was
happening because I didn't even know that he was playing something else where I could recognize it in the sound. One other question this concerto competition
you said was 17 magazine. Yeah 17 magazine. Wasn't that like a like a girls fashion magazine? Yes. But I just
want to make sure I'm clear. Like a teenage uh fashion uh magazine that was very popular in the 80s and to the '9s.
They had all kinds of projects encouraging uh people to reach their goals etc. And then so they had uh
gotten together with General Motors. So it was the 17 magazine and General Motors national conurto competition. But
it was interesting because then it was they usually had violin category and piano and then they had a revolving
category some odd whatever other instrument you know and when I was in high school it just so happened that one
year the clarinet division was open and I was lucky enough to win the clar division and then they will have a grand
concert with the winner of his division and the jury together and decide whether yes or not to uh grant a grand prize
winner. I was very lucky to be in the grand prize for that one. So that's how So what would piece were you playing
second conerto? Yeah. The competition had a number of pieces that you have to play some American music. So they have
normal deo sonata some choices. I chose the pro car parable for soul planet
because I I thought it was very cool and even though it's melodious and a little
bit it has a little longing a little weird in a good way. So I really liked it. So you have to play that. Then there
was some of the standard ro stuff you had to play bronata and then some vapor
and then the conuro the perspecture was paper took but other pieces I frankly I
don't even remember what was the other pieces that I had to play but I read and the bru and then the paper but it was
very cool. It was at USC that competition. Yeah that year. So that you're 19 years old there. No 17. You
were 17. You you were 19 by the time you got to play. Yeah. Although cuz all that happened before. Then then you play the credto. Then you meet Larry Combmes.
Yeah. Hi, Mr. Combmes. You fell in love with the block, but you didn't know yet. You're in Florida. So you're in Florida,
right? And so I know a lot of stories about you. Some of them were out of order. And some of them I've told so
many times I think I'm making parts of them up. And the story I want to tell because I want you to finish is you were
frustrated at a certain point taking auditions when you were in Orlando because your orchestra was going to close. You had gotten so frustrated you
were going to say, "Forget it. I'm not going to take the audition at the Met." Yeah. And then there was some story
about you getting a phone call saying, "Oh, I just heard someone on the radio
saying the Met auditions are completely blind. You have to take that one." Yes.
This is basically true story, right? Very true. Okay. Talk to us a little bit about a feeling that the rest of us have
had more frequently than you of like I don't know if I can do this anymore yet.
There's two elements I've realized over the years that are the most important to
pursue a career in music. The first one is an intense love and fear about doing.
So a passion a passion for it so that the many hours we spend are they don't
they don't feel like torture. I realized that you know over the years I practice a lot but I realized I like the process
trying to figure it out and going slowly and say oh it doesn't work weird but let's see what how it goes. So uh I
don't get easily frustrated with the lack of success, you know, for some
reason it's just like it doesn't it doesn't bother me so much. So then many
hours go by and then the work has been done. So you have to have that passion. Then the second most important one is
very thick skin for sure. for sure because you know
the the thing we are dealing with uh with something that uh that is so
subjective okay so it's so subjective and there's so many elements you know that go into an audition not only I mean
forget about I mean you have the being able to play the list and being able to play it at that day you know and making
no trying to make no mistakes and then hoping that the people that you're playing that that are listening. Find
your tone agreeable and then you know so then it depends also even if you play with an agreeable sound and then
somebody who is uh you know depending when the time that you play maybe you're playing like right before los and people
are hangry and lose patience or whatever so then they're like no forget or if you
play too late in the game oh we have we already have 12 people to listen to that is good but I think 12 is enough uh and
then you know so there's so many parts to the equation that have to do with lot
that have absolutely nothing to do with uh how we prepare etc. So that's that's
why I I that actually is disconcerning for some people but that is to me is the
thing that always kept me going because I have zero control about that you we
really don't have control about that and we only have control basically about
what how we how we invest our time in the preparation uh before okay and then
after that you know it's just too many variables that are a a little bit crazy
to enumerate. But so those three things, the love and passion, thick skin, and a
little bit of luck, you know, those those are the three elements that that are super important in order to have a
lasting uh career in this business. For sure. I want to get in the mind of a
depressed 21-year-old Ricardo Morales who I'm not going to take this audition. And then you change your mind. How did
that all feel? you know, well, the the thing was that I had been doing I was very lucky to have won already my third
audition. So, I shouldn't have been complaining so much because I had a principal job in Florida. It was great
and I was very happy. The orchestra sounded great and I was learning a lot and had great colleagues and all that
but we are always striving striving and then you know the the thing is that as
you prepare you have to know which kinds of jobs are more suitable for one. Of course, we have dreams, but sometimes we
sometimes end up auditioning because we just need a job and then sometimes our style of playing might be necessarily as
agreeable to the ensemble. So, you know, of course, I was going to every job available because you never know. I had
even in that place where we would call failure, I was still very lucky because I was making it to the finals basically
in most of the auditions that I took before the med. So I was afraid of becoming what we call it professional
runner up runner uper you know so I was afraid I h you know just like you know
it's it's pretty good but oh that was great that was excellent great job but
you know so then it is you know uh and it is
very difficult to be able to do that so yes that uh for that audition I was
already like you know I just no I don't want to do this one forget And then uh I
went um then the the the story about that was I got the the copy because there was a an interview of one of the
musician the orchestra that where they were talking about how I had transformed the orchestra in in a relatively small
period of time. It was because they started doing the auditions everything behind the screen etc. So then I was uh
I got a call from a good friend that told me uh you know you had to you had to do it. You have to do this one
because this one will give you a a very good chance. Yeah. And
so then the other thing is that I mean I wasn't discouraged like I was going to
quit. I was like uh I'm just going to pass there. Maybe I just let me just try for my plan was let me try for a
military job. one of the best because at least you had to play a bunch of notes. In that year there were many positions
and many of the orchestras had multiple spots. So you I was thinking yeah I don't have to even be number one. It's a
number two maybe or number three that's still a pretty good possibility for a job you know. So the thing is that then
since I had already sort of given up on it when I started uh practicing it then I started looking at the list you know
and it was really surprising like there was a lot of stories a lot of stacato stuff in there you know uh so it was
like whoa I mean that was a very much more so than our typical orchestral uh
you know stuff yeah in the typical so for orchestra may you have mento and baselin basically that's it you know and
then so I seeing all these things from Brody and Rosini and what have you and I was like wow and then some of these long
beautiful solos like the long sol force all this you know not only the over that everybody know but the long one for the
beginning of the third act and all the things and it's like wow man this is like a yeah I they want somebody who has
chops but you know see toka and all the things like you have to try to play in
this is like you cannot just play your client you have to go sort of a little juicy and you know see that you go and
so I prepared and I had in my mind I said well let me I'm going to go a little rogue I go a little rogue just
play much more rub battles and the traditional stuff just in this long solos etc so my plan was you know what
the way that I'm playing this knowing how how many of my colleagues that the audition were doing it's like I'm not
going to pass the first round the way I'm playing is right. So, I'm just going to go and play my way. So, it's like I'm
either not going to pass the first round, but but if I do pass the first round, it's a very big possibility that
I could win because for sure I know that nobody's going to be playing it this way. So, okay. Okay. So, I mean, but for
me at that point, it's like I'm just getting used to the knowing no. It's like, hey, just try something different and see what happens. And uh yeah, so I
I was talking about it was like you know it it sometimes it just takes that bit of courage to you know be be yourself a
little bit more because you know we are always taught to uh be in the middle of the road not too loud not too soft not
too fast not too slow everything trying to find this bullseye for auditions and
you know uh and I remember how where many of my colleagues at the time in the orchestra you know I remember so what
are you looking for whenever ever you're hearing back then it was like always the
three of the guys that I really admire in the orchestra they were like character and I have to say something
like why character well because you know at least maybe because of the nature of that job you're dealing with you know uh
playing music in a uh uh in a collaboration with stories that are really dramatic and really crazy. It's
not enough to just play pretty and pretty sour in the box when somebody's talking about, okay, I'm going to give
up my love for for my lover's family even though I know this will bring be
out of my life. You cannot be like, right, it's like it's like a
little severe, right? So the story is like, oh man, it's like a little tough. So you have
to, you know, and that one was almost self-explanatory that you you can be a little bit more dramatic than usual. So
that that was uh that was the approach. I mean like uh and frankly that was that day on that
hour or whatever and who knows maybe the next day it would have been a different result. Sometimes you're just lucky.
Yeah. I think what what has happened subsequently in your career would tell us it wasn't necessarily really lucky.
AJ Argamini said to me at some point we we were talking about you. He said, "Yo,
Ricardo doesn't leave anything to chance." It's very funny because in how you're talking about taking chances,
it's very funny cuz I know exactly what he's saying. You have a plan and you carry that plan out. The plan itself
might be a bit rogue, but your approach to executing the plan is not rogue,
right? So, like like like uh because I I was
thinking about this, you know, like I I was very excited that that that that that we were going to talk tonight and I was thinking as I was going home on the
train and and it feels even bad to say this. I've heard you play I don't know how many hours of clarinet and some of
it sort of casual and off the cuff. I think I've heard you miss one note. Uh,
you pay attention. I It's very funny because I remember the
note. I remember the note. I could tell you which one it was with Reapsity. And you didn't actually even miss it. You
just almost missed it. And I remember I remember the look of surprise on your
face. To me, that's always the thing. Somebody else said Ricardo doesn't hope things are going to go well. He prepares
so that he knows they're going to go well having spent so much time with you learning the clarinet. But like how cuz
you mean you say how you think you're doing it. But if that were actually the complete version of it, all of your
students would be able to do it and only some of them have been able to. And I'm talking about me as one of the ones that hasn't been able.
You're doing it. you're doing. It's an interesting thing because what one of the other things you were surprised
about when we were talking music clarinet learning stuff you were surprised that in America or at least in
my America we didn't study the Hindithth book was it? Yeah. Yeah. And and and
that's something that's always stuck with me because there's two things that I know you did that I did not do. And
that's learn how to sight sing and use fixed do at a young age and you played in a band with your family that involved
mostly rhythm and time. Mhm. And I think that that those two things had a huge
impact on what you bring to the clarinet. And I think you know that but I think sometimes you forget or at least
you were forgetting in 1996 sometime. Yeah. good that that we don't we weren't
bringing that. Yes. Right. Yes. I've gotten a little better with that. I'm a little bit nicer these days.
But there's many I mean Yes. Because Yeah. The when you're younger, some of
our life experiences we take for granted. So that's one of the things that as we mature and and learn more, we
realize that it it makes a big difference. For sure. Well, but let me tell you a story I tell about you. And I have no idea whether it's true. Okay.
Okay. Good. Right. I heard and I don't even remember who I heard it from that
your parents weren't able to get you a clarinet when you wanted to learn how to play it. So you went to other people's
lessons for a year. You had your own. Tell me what that actually uh Yes. It's
but it's much more truncated than No, it was like Yes. My
parents couldn't give me the clarinet immediately why I decided. So they had to save a little bit but it was only two
months. It was only two months but then I did go to my teacher's lesson because it was in that school so I just went
every day. So I was like for you know even from you know not being able to
know how to put it together what I was just there you know we uh in the music school the way they had it was that it
was from 7:30 to 12:30 and then from 12:30 to 5:30 was the other group of of
students. I would just be there and be there at 7:30 in the room all the way do
a little bit of my homework if I had to, but all all those five hours every day
just listening to his lessons and all that stuff while while I was waiting. It was just Yeah. And I I do remember that
when uh when my dad finally uh was able to get me the CL and he came to the school, I remember 11 year old. Yeah, I
just matched from his Thanks. I look at the room. Ah, I just run to the to my teacher's room. I was like, it was
really great. And I mean, I was just like addicted to the client and I came home that evening and my friends came.
Hey, come on, Ricky. Let's go because my one of my friends had gotten a new this is we're gonna get a a coco vision. You
know that in between Sega and Atari, you know, it was supposed to be very cool, but I was like, uh, thanks. Maybe
tomorrow. And I remember that day I was into it and after I I was doing about
four hours a little bit after four hours my parents and my dad was like uh Ricky uh maybe maybe you want to save some lip
for tomorrow save a little for tomorrow you know so even then I I wasn't able to
stop it you know stop doing it but it's like hey maybe and actually frankly that's the
thing that I feel very lucky that That feeling has not really changed for me.
That leads right into something else that I always say about you is that Ricardo is unusually well trained as a
musician. Clar just makes sense to him. But even more than that, he loves it
more than anyone else I know. Right. Like he won't stop playing. Yeah. Right. That was always an interesting thing to
me. And the thing that's been so much fun for me about the past few years has been working with adults who love to
play. They're playing the clinic because they love it. Career and success and all that aside, you can take that out. You
still love playing the clinic as much as anybody I've ever known. That's something that that is more than a small thing in Yes. And how things worked out.
Yeah, for sure. I mean, because Yes. I mean, yes, I we can say that I've been
extremely lucky and very had many opportunities and all that. Uh so but
yes it is important to to to be thinking that uh for most people and even even
with the amount of success that I have enjoyed and uh and I have been given you know when you're
trying things just like everybody for every bit of success people see there is
like a hundred or a thousand tries of things that don't work out right so the thing is that only when you love it then
you can keep going because I mean who the hell would continue with that when uh when there's rejection after
rejection or you know or tell or but I what I have done is to change the vocabulary you see I don't uh you know
now I I don't think that you know before it's like what I would say ah what lost
an audition but you don't really lose what you are working on yourself and the
inner growth so so there is I don't think of it in those terms anymore It's like okay that is important and that
would be very nice to get but you know the what I find is the internal and
personal growth that comes with the work you know so it's a little weird because you know there's a lot of things that
that that we do in the claret that uh that we could talk about in technical uh
ways but the the music like in the cl it's a sublimation of life right so as
you as we struggle and that word it's it's very similar in the in the personal
world. So it's everything is intertwined. So it's it's a good opportunity for for growth. I've got a
question and then a story I want to immediately follow it. Yeah. I don't know how many people in the in the clarinet world know it's not just you
and your family that plays music really really well. I think you have three brothers that also play music at an at
we're we're six total. So I have four brothers and one sisters. I know a chist, a percussionist and I can't
remember. So the chist and percussionist, there's a trombonist and conductor and two composers who both
play piano violin. So it's like Yeah. So there was some sort of expectation or something that happened there. I just
exposed I didn't know the full the full complement of things happening. Yes. But your your brothers much like
you that I know I'm aware of are also I would classify as very successful. Yes.
And very passionate and very passionate and you know uh yeah know they're and
they are all you know singers that I admire to the to the core and I'm very
lucky to have each and every one of them are just phenomenal. Yeah. So yeah. So
but but here's what was very very interesting to me. I was on the train home after playing the producers.
Rolando, I think it's your brother, right? Lived in Washington Heights, right? Yeah. Yes. I live in Washington
Heights. So, we were on the A train together a lot. This is no me. I I I figured out who he is, right? So, so
whatever. So, you know, years go by. Just one day as New York is, I walk in and boom, we're standing right there,
right? I'm holding the clan case and it's like, "Oh, you know, I guess I finally have to come clean." "Oh, you I
know Ricardo really well." And this was at a point when the Met job was open after you'd left. He says, "Oh, you
taking the audition?" And I said, "Well, no, because when the job was posted, I
was in the hospital with blood clots in my brain and I'd almost died. So, I didn't think it was the right time for me to take an audition."
And he said to me exactly what you would have said. So,
Yeah. Yes. I mean, first of all, Rolando, he's kind of he's not only a
percussionist, but he's a composer and he's a pedagog. He teaches he taught a curtis and a temple. Like he still
teaches a temple. He wrote a percussion book. I mean, like I just go and that's
it. But these guys are really uh multi multi-talented. And the thing is that
this is very funny because one little story about Ronald which I take with uh
me basically for every concert which is like I remember coming after the med and then I was in my first years here in
Philadelphia and I was playing so some concert I even forgot which it was or whatever and he was here and he was
visiting I'm like yeah man I met what was wrong nothing nothing just a little
nervous for this concert and he goes dear And you want to be the
principal in Philadelphia? Well, play
now. So, you know, a little a little of love,
right? I thought you wanted to be the principal to make fun of me. Yeah.
So, so every single time I I have to play something that's challenging, that
comes to me. like it makes me laugh. I sort of resist the resisting a little
bit because yeah, it's my fault. Well, speaking of tough love,
this is another story I tell and I tell it wrong and I kind of don't care. And by the way, I'm still going to tell people you went to lessons for a year
before you got a client. That's not going to change how I tell the story. I remember you telling me at some
point I first heard the story about you meeting Calman Opera for the first time. Yeah. you know where this is going,
right? And and I said, "Yeah, I remember he told you that you didn't know
about the clarinet." And you said, "No, he told me I didn't know jack about
the Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. But that actually he
said that. Yes. Absolutely. And I loved him for it. Like I mean anybody who has
studed with K you know for inst they they loved him because he was
uh uh I mean because I since I was already in in the Met you know he's just wanted to test what you're what you are
all about and you know so you know I went to see him and you know I be great
to uh you know take some lesson with you. Ah okay. Okay. So so all right. All right. So sorry. Let me see what you
have. Uh, playar scale from low E to hya back. Okay. So, I start.
Okay. Not done with one octet. I'm just about to get to the third note. Yeah.
Yeah. Slam. You young man, you're not sure about planet plan. Seriously, that was like, you
know, so a little puff, you know, a little angry guy, you know. By that time, he was still very young. He was
like uh 79 or 80 or something like that. is like, "Hey, hey, I'm going to kick your ass." I thought it's like that and
then I remember but serious in the room is like but you know I'm very lucky
because as I show up about my siblings I'm the penultimate one the fifth out of six and my dad and my family tree and my
dad is the youngest of eight and so I had all these cousins and people that were way older and people who uncles
gone to Vietnam and Korea came back a little bit whacked out really crazy loving but a little bit wackadoodle you
like whoa this so and cranky and whatever unpredictable right I was used
to dealing with older people like that you know so so for me when he asked me hey you're an player and a little bit
angry I was like hey I didn't wear a lot but I said yeah but that's why I'm here
that's what I said he like okay okay oh good actually uh I had
this new attitude hey you want to try like immediately it was like just to test basically to to show who's boss and
once you surrender then he is like a puppy. He was the sweetest the sweetest
and always very generous with his time. It was just great. I never heard the full story. I I only heard and tell the
the Jack Shepard story like I never heard the rest of it. No, it was great. I love it. So So here's a test for your
memory. At the end of Stanley's 50th year in the orchestra, you called me and
you're like, I got tickets to the Copa concerto. You you want to come? So, yeah. Yes, I want to come. So, you and I
sat like in the third row and heard he was like 80 years old playing the piano. Was he 70? I I He was old. Yeah. And and
uh I remember we went backstage. Do you remember what he said to you? It was It was hilarious. He goes, "Hey,
kiddo. But he he was so sorry like well just
one one little funny story for for our friends like watch this. The first time I actually met him was uh you know how
sometimes there are some of these little when they close avenue over there but
and so they have all kinds of uh food trucks and all that stuff. I remember it was one of the few days I was sort of
off. I was off Yeah. I was up for the uh for the afternoon uh broadcast. So I
wasn't playing that well. I just going in there and it's like you know it's
mess with your tire and I just had gigantic scoop of ice cream and I had back then I had like a huge afro that
bears like you know just walking around and then I seen this bus and the people from the fellic were loading it just to
play a concert in low island and I was like oh so I'm just go walking around and I go over there just to see and then
I see talent jocker coming out from uh from avery Fisher back that go going to
the bus. I said, "Hello, Mr. Droger." I I like he probably saw this big guy,
this guy with this big ice cream. I was like, you know, and he he just grabbed
his face. Yes. So, I love like, you know, I I'm
recorded. I just started over there a few years back, but it's such an honor to meet you. like but yeah he grabbed
you know when he's laughing there he's connected it was hilarious yeah yeah he
was always so I mean so encouraging and so happy actually I did get to spend uh a little bit of time with him in uh
October uh before he passed out I mean uh I just had I've gone to the Pandora
studio and your man and the boo were there and it so happened that he showed
up to pick up some reason and actually the previous night he had played senior's orchestra first one in Carnegie
you know and they have played Jose five and all kinds of stuff so I'm talking to him he's perfectly healthy and looking
great but you know when you're in your mid90s just like it becomes like the ever ever ready body he's like it's
going it's going and then but I was so happy to see that he was up to the very
end playing and loving it and just fantastic I I heard him play it was supposed to be like a warm-up for a
recital he was playing. He was 88. It was at the the buffet showroom back when that was open. It wasn't a warm-up. It
was like their first run through and it was amazing cuz he played the Pulank. He played the WC Rapsy and some some other
things. Yeah. Good things. And it was good as a first as first run through. It
was it was good. Full stop. Amazing for a full run through. And uh you know it was over and and uh and John Manassi was
there. So maybe think of the story. We were talking afterwards and I said, "He's the most amazing 88-year-old
clarinet player I've ever heard in my life. I can't imagine being able to do that at 88 years old." And John stopped
and he goes, "Yeah, there's a certain point when you're really good for your age, when you're a kid, and then that
goes away until you're over 80, I guess." And what and then all of a sudden you're
good for your age. I love this hilarious. It was stunning.
Going back to like talking about how much you love to play the clarinet. He clearly loved to play the clarinet. Oh yeah, for sure. It was it was very
joyful playing. The thing that always struck me about his playing is how much every every rhythm was a gesture.
Everything that he played had such a feeling of motion, right? And that and it was it was almost too much sometimes.
Like I feel like it was one of those things that like if you weren't listening, it got your attention, took
you out of your seat and said, "Listen to this. like it's I don't care but you're going to put you back down and
that's bold stuff. It's Yeah. I mean and that I admire about him so much that was
you were fearless in that way. Just great. Yeah. So you know it's something to uh to try to emulate you know you
know one little thing that I wanted to uh tie two things about where that what we were talking about my at the time
with Oper and then how like Jim said that you know that I don't leave
anything to chance but you know I always been uh trying to be good about
preparing etc. But you know even when I started taking lessons there with with Cal and actually Mr. Weber also I took
lessons I took lesson with both of them very cool he had so many of his sayings and
all that stuff and he was really fantastic and very generous but the one that start you know into my mind and
that every college student knows which is very famous is like practice and hope
but don't hope more than you practice that very cal he's All
right. Anyway, so so you know and so he he he also had that crazy love for the
planet and I remember he made one of those attitudes that was you know for the at that time he was writing a lot of
the etudes for these uh beautiful books that got published by Carl Fisher there
uh you know that that he that he had you know uh and then uh you know one of them
was really hard it's like I remember he g me but comment this is
It's so hard. It's like, come on. It's not that hard. I mean, it's just a matter of hours. Why? Look at this. What
are you talking about? It's just a matter of hours. I mean, it might be 800 hours, but it's just
hours. When I was playing the producers, I was sitting next to a guy in his early 70s. We talked sat and talked for six
years basically. and he told me that he played a show with Oper 35 years ago.
Back then you couldn't take days off really. I remember he was telling me how Cal never took a day off. He didn't even
take the days he could take off. Yeah. And then would be infuriated if his one
sub wasn't available on the day he wanted to take off.
I guess that would make me angry, too. Yeah. He he was always I mean so in
cast. It was always always working. I mean sometimes it was like sometimes it would be too much. It's like I would go
sometimes in between you know a rehearsal and before a service and you know you know the the the shortest call
for for the man it was 3 hours or four hours for but it would be like from 11 we get out of there around 3 and then I
would show up to this play around 3:30 have a concert at 8 and then he'll be like you're leaving but it's seven. I
had to go play I had to go play the concert that it was like four hours just
trying different things and teaching and comparing and it was just an intense
intense love for for the instrument. I I never got to meet him. Yeah. I I I got
to meet Mr. Weber a couple times. I never I should have gone and take some taken some lessons with him, but I I you
know this you know there's there's a whole long list of things I should have done. I don't know if you have those. Oh, for sure. there. So, that is episode
number one of the clarinet ninja podcast. In the second half of this conversation, Ricardo and I do some talk
about gear. We talk about clarinets, we talk about mouthpieces, we talk about reads, we do all that stuff that uh
clarinet players do. So, please come back and check that out. Uh make sure to rate us if you would. That would really,
really help get this podcast out in the world. Five stars, please. Five stars. Uh, and if you have something nice to
say, please write a comment. I would love that. It would feel wonderful. And
if you have any ideas of who you want to hear on the podcast or what types of things you want covered, let me know and
I will go ahead and do everything I can to make that happen. So, look for episode number two with Mr. Ricardo
Morales coming soon to a podcast location near you.
