Foreign Affairs
 

I fell in love with this album way back in '75. And I love this song in particular. The duet between the bass (Jim Hughart) and clarinet (Gene Cipriano) at the end is so lovely that it's the reason I took up double bass.


Tom Waits - Potter's Field - YouTube

I hear a lot of Gershwin in that piece..with some Bernstein thrown in.

Waits stated in NME that he wanted a "Rhapsody in Blue" type clarinet. The orchestration was written and conducted by Bob Alcivar but I don't know what he was using as a model but certainly Gershwin and Bernstein are candidates.

Fond memories of being 17 and discovering this record. A whole winter was spent listening to it while driving around in the Appalachians. A girl and a red sports car were involved. I'll be listening to this and reliving some of those memories today.

Thank you, sincerely.