In the world of jazz, no matter how hard we might try to insist otherwise, it is unlikely that we will find many truly significant clarinetists. This can partly be explained by the technical characteristics of the instrument and partly by the more fashionable spread of the saxophone.

Boniface Ferdinando DeFranco was born on February 17, 1923, in New Jersey on the East Coast. His father was a blind street musician who played the lute and worked in a record store in civilian life. Young Buddy grew up surrounded by music, and already in his teenage years he and his siblings became stars of local venues.

After several jobs with dance orchestras, he entered a competition sponsored and judged by the famous bandleader Tommy Dorsey. Following the advice of his teacher, he played the instrument with only one hand while performing tricks above his head with the other. With this unusual performance he won the competition.

Later he asked Dorsey why he had won with such an act when Dorsey demanded such a serious musical standard from his orchestra. Dorsey’s answer was simple:

“I heard you practicing before the competition.”

At that time DeFranco was studying the music of Milhaud and Bartók, incorporating modern contemporary classical elements into his clarinet playing.

As a member of the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra, he established important professional relationships and received one of the most decisive musical influences of the era. One night he and the pianist Dodo Marmarosa went to 52nd Street to hear Charlie Parker. In later recollections he wrote that they did not understand what they were hearing, but they knew that this was the music they wanted to play themselves.

To escape the rigid musical style of the Dorsey orchestra, he founded his own ensemble and led his own big band between 1947 and 1949. The orchestra eventually dissolved for financial reasons, after which he joined the Metronome All Stars, as well as the Count Basie Octet, where he was the only white musician.

During this period he succeeded -virtually alone among clarinetists- in transferring the instrument from the swing style into bebop.

In 1953, his first album as a leader appeared on the Verve label, titled “Mr. Clarinet.”

“Until then every clarinetist wanted to play like Benny Goodman or Artie Shaw, but after that everyone wanted to play like Buddy DeFranco,” recalled vibraphonist Terry Gibbs when accepting his friend’s posthumous lifetime achievement award.

Between 1953 and 1960, Buddy DeFranco recorded with almost every major jazz star contracted to the Verve label, including Oscar Peterson, Lionel Hampton, Stan Getz, Art Tatum, Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holiday, Harry Edison, Herb Ellis, Barney Kessel, and many others.

He won the Clarinetist of the Year award from DownBeat and Metronome magazines for nine consecutive years, and he was also selected as a member of the Playboy All Stars.

In 1960, when the beat era was already beginning to appear on the horizon, an unusual situation occurred: one evening neither a pianist nor a guitarist was available. Out of necessity someone recommended an accordionist, which unexpectedly opened an entirely new world in modern music.

Tommy Gumina and DeFranco recorded five albums over four years, experimenting not only with the clarinet–accordion combination but also with polytonal sounds. Their music was considered so modern that Stan Kenton personally expressed his support for them. Eventually Gumina founded his own amplifier company called Polytone, and the quartet dissolved.

In 1965, as the official endorser of Leblanc clarinets, DeFranco recorded a modern jazz album on bass clarinet accompanied by Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers. The record included compositions by Ornette Coleman and John Coltrane.

By 1966 he was already considering leaving the instrument -and the music business altogether- when he received an interesting offer from New York.

Between 1966 and 1974 he led the Glenn Miller Orchestra for nine years, refreshing the arrangements and energizing audiences with outstanding instrumental solos. The orchestra toured the entire world, from Australia to Japan.

He was later followed at the head of the orchestra by Peanuts Hucko, a former clarinetist of Louis Armstrong, but after only nine months Hucko drove the orchestra into bankruptcy, lacking the endurance and work capacity of his predecessor.

During this time Buddy DeFranco joined the group of what might be called “reborn musicians.” He published sheet music, produced educational recordings, taught extensively, and became the first official endorser of Yamaha clarinets.

Between 1975 and 2011, contradicting even the most active years of his earlier career, he continued to perform and work tirelessly. He even received his own television program and recorded with major musicians such as Oscar Peterson, Joe Pass, Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen, Terry Gibbs, Joe Williams, Dave McKenna, John Pizzarelli, and many others.

In 1996, he was nominated for a Grammy Award in the category of Best Jazz Solo Performance.

What was the essential strength of Buddy DeFranco as a jazz clarinetist?

The answer is simple, yet difficult to fully express. He was equally a clarinetist and a jazz musician, and he never allowed one to dominate the other. Thanks to this balance, both clarinetists and musicians involved in modern jazz place him at the very highest level of the art.

Buddy DeFranco gave his last concert at the age of 90, when he received a lifetime achievement award from the International Clarinet Association.