Fantastic tone, but the key-work is not the most elegant. “Something is wrong when it’s getting warmed up”, he claimed. My earlier attempts to wrest it away from him had been in vain, but now he asked me to check it out for him. While I was bidding on the K-series, my friend Mogens turned up with a Selmer he bought a few years ago. K-series from around 1924, old logo, in original case – previously owned by a member of “ Fat Waters and His Danceonians” (whoever they were). Quite unusual and annoying, but I’ll get used to it. Six months after my preferred model showed up on eBay. After a year of investigations, I found the solution: ‘ Selmer’ K3488.It was used as payment for my latest Selmer. That made me start the search for a combination of the two…I don’t have this clarinet anymore. The intonation is perfect – unfortunately, the tone is unsuitable for jazz. I played it for a couple of years, altering the Buffet. A classic Albert with the characteristic wrap-around ‘octave’ key. This clarinet is now sold to an enthusiast who needed a good Albert… Read this interesting article by Eberhard Kraut.

It seems like George Lewis liked the Penzel-Müller clarinets as well. That means only the body is Penzel Mueller. Andersen bell to fit (no idea who he is). I had to replace it with a Buffet to get it in tune. Chris Burke sold it to us with a barrel way too short. A great friend of mine and sponsor to several of my clarinets, Mogens Møller Jensen bought it for me in New Orleans. According to the serial number, it should have been made at the beginning of the 1940s. A powerful clarinet made by German immigrants in New York. I got it shortly after my first recording of George Lewis, came as a set of A and Bb.

But it was cheap!!! My first Albert clarinet. I couldn’t throw it away, so I made a lamp out of it. Gave it an overhaul to find out it’s tuned in B natural (didn’t know about “high pitch” back then). Bought it cheap in miserable condition on a market. Jérôme Thibouville-Lamy & Cie, simple system, probably beginning of 20th century. Perhaps tell a story or two – From left to right: I will try to describe my clarinets here. The clarinets I use(d): Jérôme Thibouville-Lamy & Cie No Name Penzel Müller Buffet Crampon Selmer K3488 Selmer M1900 Selmer K6164 Selmer M8940 Pedler Premiere Forté Eb

German buffet clarinet serial numbers