Classical Vincent (Jimmy) Abato

[jbtsax]

I would like to introduce you to an old friend of mine. Vincent Abato played bass clarinet in the New York Philharmonic Orchestra as well as the New York Metropolitan Opera Orchestra and was one of the top on call musicians in New York on both clarinet and saxophone. I began to get acquainted with him when I purchased his recording of the Ibert Concerto and Glazounov Concerto in 1970 to study since both pieces were to be on my master's recital. Every time I listened to and studied his recording it was like taking a private lesson. He is perhaps one of the least well known "finest" classical saxophone players who ever lived. He was the teacher of saxophone and clarinet at the Julliard School of Music and was followed by Joe Allard. Unfortunately Julliard discontinued the study of "classical saxophone" not long after Allard left that position.

In the tradition of "Marcel Mule" and the early French style of classical playing Abato plays with a constant vibrato reminiscent of a violin. If you can listen past that you will hear a beautiful tone, breathtaking technique and articulation, and "musical expression" that in my opinion no one does better in any genre.

 

[Jeanette]

Thanks for posting @jbtsax I enjoyed listening 🙂

Jx

 

[saxyjt]

An interesting read on the topic of Abato and Allard at Juilliard.

 

[David Roach]

Thanks for posting this @jbtsax . I have heard Vincent Abato before and I respect his playing immensely. Of course it's a dated sound in some ways, but I'm a big fan of the players from the Hollywood Sax Qtet for instance, such great techniques coupled with wonderful musicality.

 

[jbtsax]

An interesting read on the topic of Abato and Allard at Juilliard.

Here is another moving Tribute to Vincent Abato which contains a memorable anecdote about a young Phil Woods.

My own anecdote about the Ibert and Glazounov pieces: At the start of working on my master's degree in music education, I asked my teacher and chairman of my graduate committee Dr. Max F Dalby for some suggestions of what to play on my master's recital. He gave me a list which included the Ibert Concerto, the Glazounov Concerto, Caprice en forme de Valse, and Improvisation and Caprice by Bozza on saxophone and the Andante to the Mozart Clarinet Concerto.

After my recital he came up to me and said that there were places in my performance that "no one could have played better". Which was a nice way of saying I played well, but there were inconsistencies in my preparation. He was well known for the scarcity of his compliments. He then remarked what a difficult and challenging program I had chosen to perform, adding when I gave you that list of suggestions I meant for you to select one or two---not the play them all!