JAM: August/September 2004 Issue: Woody Herman's Clarinet

Woody Herman's Clarinet at Jazz Museum

Tom Alexios and Juanity Moore display Woody Herman's clarinet just as he last packed it.

Now here's something you probably didn't know.

Charlie Parker once performed with Woody Herman. Yes, it's true. Ernie Green, who regularly played with the Woody Herman band, placed a tape recorder under his chair and recorded the session. No one really knows when. But the recording was later bootlegged and distributed throughout Europe . Only recently did Woody Herman's family find a copy and digitally clean it up.

If you don't believe that story, just ask Joseph Snorgrass, in charge of public relations at the American Jazz Museum . He has verified the story that was given to him by Tom Alexios.

But that Woody Herman story wasn't all that Alexios gave the Jazz Museum.

On June 17, Alexios presented the Amerian Jazz Museum with one of Herman's clarinets, his 1987 Lifetime Achievement Award presented to him by NARAS (also known as the Grammys) and ten photos taken during various stages of Herman's career.

Alexios, who lives in Lawrence , is special projects coordinator for the Down Beat Hall of Fame and Director of Education for the KC Jazz Ambassadors. He also serves on the Board of the Woody Herman Society in Sarasota , FL.

He felt it necessary to loan the items to the museum. “I really want to enhance the jazz experience here in Kansas City ,” says Alexios.

Juanita Moore of the American Jazz Museum and Tom Alexio pour over Woody Herman photos.

Alexios received the items through a friend, Al Julian. The items were originally given to Woody Herman's road manager, Bill Byrne. Julian, who worked at the record company where Woody Herman recorded, struck up a friendship with Byrne. Julian inherited the pieces in December when Byrne died. He trusted Alexios' judgement on where to exhibit them.

The articles are on a five-year renewable loan with the museum. Once the clarinet is displayed, the Jazz Museum will have the honor of being one of two museums with Herman's clarinet. The other is the Smithsonian.

Herman's saxophone is also on display at the Smithsonian. Yes, saxophone . But that's just another story Alexios can tell.

--Kathy Feist Vescovi