Description: Keith Ward, jazz clarinetist and alto saxophonist: the unlikely journey of a 21st Century Licorice-Stick Player.
​Clarinetists were some of the first "pop stars", a phenomenon that emerged in the 1930s, thanks to the radio and the phonograph. Benny Goodman and Artie Shaw, the Kings of Swing and Clarinet, respectively, were known from coast to coast, although Louis Armstrong had paved the way. By the '40s, Glenn Miller's orchestra dominated the pop music scene with his arrangements featuring a clarinet lead. The "licorice stick" was supreme.
By the 1950s, vocalists—like Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holiday, and Frank Sinatra, introduced by the big band leaders of the Swing Era—had overshadowed their mentors' fame, soon followed by Elvis Presley and rock and roll, again, led by innovators like Chuck Berry. By the 1960s, kids listened to The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, and later Jimi Hendrix. The electric guitar had become the instrument of choice for most young musicians.
In 1965, Keith started playing clarinet and listening to Pete Fountain and Benny Goodman.​