Web-posted Oct. 31

By Bill Syken
Staff Writer

Clarinetist Eddie Daniels' answering machine message, after announcing he can't come to the phone, says, ``leave a message at the sound of the...''

Then, instead of a tone, you hear a blast of Gershwin's clarinet-driven Rhapsody in Blue.

The little joke hints of Mr. Daniels' love of music, his sense of adventure and even his brashness -- all of which come through in detail when he picks up in the middle of his message.

Mr. Daniels will teach a free master's class at 1:30 p.m. Saturday, and then perform with the Augusta Symphony at 7:30 that evening. Among the works will be Concerto for Jazz Clarinet and Orchestra, a piece commissioned in 1984 for Mr. Daniels.

That concerto, Mr. Daniels said, is the beginning of a new genre of music borne from a mix of jazz and classical styles. He added that the only people who can perform it are the ``virtuoso nouveau,'' equally skilled in both styles.

``A jazz clarinetist who just plays jazz could not play this piece, and a classical clarinetist who just play clarinet could only play parts of this,'' Mr. Daniels said in a telephone interview from his Santa Fe, N.M., home.

In talking about Mr. Daniels, Augusta Symphony music director Donald Portnoy, used the term ``crossover.''

It's a term Mr. Daniels hears a lot, and doesn't like. Musicians have always drawn from a variety of styles, but that's just a way of formulating their own sound.

``Stravinsky utilized jazz all over the place, and we didn't call him a crossover composer,'' Mr. Daniels said.

The symphony program also will include two straight classical pieces, Variations on a Theme of Haydn, Op. 56a, and Don Juan, Op. 20 by Richard Strauss.

Mr. Daniels said he plays the pieces in perfect classical style. No one listening to those pieces will be able to tell he is a jazz man.

In one of the planned encores at the show, he will perform Chelsea Field by jazz composer Billy Strayhorn, showing he can mix it up any way, any how, any time.

In talking to Mr. Daniels, it's clear he feels strongly about his music, and about the value of artists in general. He said when performing ``I give every ounce of blood I've got.'' He made a comparison between artists and top athletes and people who practice endlessly, are very dedicated and who give tremendously of themselves so they can perform well. The difference, he said, is ``in the arts you don't have to win, you just have to be beautiful.''

He hasn't encountered resistance to what he's doing. This may be in part because he is only invited to play at places disposed to his work.

The greatest justification of his ideas is the music itself, he said.

``If the playing is beautiful, there's nothing anyone can say about it,'' Mr. Daniel said.