The time has long come for Doc Rackett to convert from chalumeux to the clarinet. The chalumeau predates the clarinet to about the mid-seventeenth century and is today still used as a folk instrument. One problem with the chalumeau is that it is set in a particular key. The chalumeau was also not used in 1920s-1930s US southern states as part of blues bands, whereas the blues clarinet was heard on Beale Street in Memphis as early as the 1910s, but mostly in jazz bands like W.C. Handy’s (see mid front row below Handy).

YasYasYas have a couple of small local gigs coming up this Autumn, so there will be opportunities to try the clarinet out.