Richard Stoltzman

Clarinetist Richard Stoltzman has been one of the most distinguished players of his instrument in the 20th and 21st centuries. He has been unusually successful in combining jazz and classical careers. Stoltzman was born on July 12, 1942, in Omaha, Nebraska, but moved with his family to San Francisco at a young age; his father was a Western Pacific railroad worker who enjoyed the music of the big bands and played the alto saxophone. The young Stoltzman's first music was jazz. He took up the clarinet at eight and was soon joining his father in Bay Area jazz venues. Both Stoltzm...