Richard "The Clarinet Man" Haupt
Next to Phish, Richard “the Clarinet Man” Haupt may well be Burlington’s most prominent music maker. And when it comes to a work ethic, the Godfather of Soul has nothing over him. Haupt, a Randolph, Vermont native, started playing clarinet on the Church Street Marketplace in 1980, when Bernie Sanders was drawing a paycheck at one end of the block and Abernathy’s was doing business at the other. Last year, Haupt, 57, performed nearly 200 days on the outdoor mall. He has appeared in a Burton Snowboard television commercial and played with the Onion City Jazz Band in the Discover Jazz Festival. His debut tape, Live on Church Street (1993), features standards and pop tunes ranging from “New York, New York” to “The Love Boat Theme.” He plans to have a studio recording of country and gospel songs completed by spring.
My own memory of Richard dates back to the early 80’s, when, as if by magic, he would appear at St. Michael’s College after-hours parties in Winooski playing a tenor saxophone. As I recall, party-goers occasionally tried their luck at pitching coins into the bell of his horn, and Richard, ever the gentleman, accepted them as tips. Since then, I’ve counted the Clarinet Man at the top of my list of Burlington folk heroes and heroines, with Lois Bodoky (a.k.a. “The Hot Dog Lady”) running a close second.
I interviewed Richer Haupt on a wintery day in February. Lunching at Woolworth’s (hamburgers and the best coffee in town), he was eager to get warmer weather and a chance to get back to his outdoor gig on Church Street.
GC: When did you start playing music?
RH: I always liked music. I always had a good ear for music. Played in the school band, state contests, stuff like that. I always made A’s in music. U started on the clarinet, then the saxophone. I’ve been playing on Church Street for 15 years. I’ve won Street Musician of the Year for a lot of years.
GC: How would you describe your sound and style?
RH: Happy, carefree rhythm. If you like a player really good like Boots Randolph, you can’t get the idea that you’re going to be able to play his style. If you go with that attitude, then you get disappointed. I like his music, and I play his songs, but I don’t want to go with the attitude that I’m going to be able to play his style. Because it’s not always going to work. You have to play it the best that you can…within yourself.
GC: What do you think about when you are playing on Church Street?
RH: Happiness. Putting out a tune that people can hum, that they can familiarize with. A tune that people can recognize. Make people happy.
GC: How do you choose your songs?
RH: Well, it just comes to me naturally. Moof ow whatever it is. Know what the crowd wants. Know what the people want to heat. They like Dixieland, lively music, stuff like that.
GC: I’ve noticed that you have been singing more, and dancing too. Is that something you have been working on?
RH: I’m working on that. It makes more of a show. I’m trying to make a show out of it, and not just stand there and play like a mummy. Have a little movement in it you know, make it a little more lively. It puts on a better show, I think.
GC: I know that you have also begun playing some private shows in the last year. How has that been?
RH: I played for the United Way, for IBM, a wedding at the In at Essex. I love playing that stuff. I played for Bernie’s campaign. That was okay, it’s just too bad that Bernie couldn’t make it back, but he was busy working down in Washington on the crime bill. I think he’s trying to work hard for the poor, but he can’t do it all alone. You got to have some people to back him up.
GC: What music do you listen to at home?
RH: I like country. I like jazz, I like blues. I like big band sounds, dance music. Anything that’s got a catchy tune to it. I got a new tape of Al Hirt when he came back to his night club, and he has Pete Fountain with him. It’s live, very good. I like Charley Pride and Willie Nelson too. And I like the Four guys from the Grand Old Opry too. I’ve been to the Opry. I’d like to go to Brandon (Missouri) now and see the shows there. A lot of them are good entertainers and they didn’t want to be bossed around. So they went to Branson and set up their own shows. Boxcar Willie went there, he did okay.
GC: What local performers or groups do you especially like?
RH: Big Joe (Burrell) is good. He’s a good friend of mine. I like his playing and I like his attitude. He's a very happy man and he’s very kind to everybody. He’s a really good entertainer. He’s been doing it for thirty years. He just can’t stop, so he plays every weekend. He has a beautiful tone. For his age he’s got a lot of wind yet. The Onion City Jazz Band. the Dixie Hotshots. They’re good guys. They let me sit in with them sometimes.
GC: If you could jam with any musician in the world, who would it be?
RH: I’d like to go to Nashville and play with Boots Randolph, and then I’d like to go down to New Orleans and play with Pete Fountain and Al Hirt. I’ve been to New Orleans, played in coffee shops and on the street. That was four years ago, That was a wonderful gig, you know. The guys in the street bands treat you like gold, very friendly, very kind. These guys love their music. And I had a chance to talk personally with Boots Randolph in Nashville. Easy-going, nice guy, just like you see him on TV. After he put on the show he came out to meet the public. So I went right up to him, you know, and I said “I play.” “Oh yeah, good,” he says “come right over.” We had a nice personal visit. He was a common man, just like you and I.
GC: Who do you see as your audience? Who do you think likes your music most?
RH: A lot of people enjoy it. I think middle-class people like my music. I think that a lot of you people are picking it up now, picking up those standards and liking them more now. They're all coming back to it. I think I convinced some of them because I kept playing it and they heard it all the time> It got to them and they said “Gee, we kind of like that.” They had never got into stuff like that before. So I feel pretty good about that.
GC: What is the most money a person has ever dropped in your case?
RH: At the end of the season this year I got a nice card with $45 in it. They liked my music and left a nice card with the $45. A thank you card for the nice music. I was surprised.
GC: How would you describe Burlington to someone who has never been here?
RH: Hard working people. Very kind. It’s not like a big city, it’s more quiet. But the pace is faster now than it used to be. This is a hard place to make a living playing music in. It’s hard to catch on, but people do like my music.
GC: You had a heart attack last summer. How are you feeling these days?
RH: I’m feeling wonderful. I love each day to the fullest. I’m careful, but I love each day to the fullest. I don’t worry. You must go on with your life and you do what you really like to do. You can tell by how you feel how much you are able to do, but you never stop what you’re doing, you keep on moving.
GC: You quit smoking your pipe.
RH: Oh yeah. Left it at the hospital and never picked it up again. It just wasn’t good for me anymore.
GC: What projects do you have planned for the future?
RH: I’m working on another tape. I’ve got one side that’s country, I’ve got that all down. And the other side is going to be gospel. “How Great Thou Art,” “When the Saints Go Marching In,” “A Coal Miner’s Daughter,” a lot of good stuff on there. I’m hoping to have it done in April.
GC: How did the Burton Snowboard commercial come about?
RH: They liked my music and they called down to the Marketplace and said “how can we get hold of Richard the Clarinet Man?” So the Marketplace people came up to me and they said “You better call this number. You got a special call here.” We filmed some of it right out there on Church Street and some of it we did out at their shop.
GC: Were you nervous being on camera?
RH: No, I wasn’t. You have to be calm, because otherwise it would show up on the commercial. They were very good to me and made me very relaxed. No problems.
GC: What do you like to do when you’re not playing music?
RH: I like to talk on the CB, make friends that I wouldn’t have met otherwise. I like to watch music programs on television and talk programs about what’s going on in the world. They have different talk shows on channel 24. Lawrence Welk is on every week again, I like to watch that.
GC: Do you still play the saxophone?
RH: Oh yeah. Now I got a flute too. I been playing that about a year. I don’t play saxophone on Church Street because it’s too loud for some places of business. They asked me not to play it. Some of the places of business up here are about 50 years behind the times. Down in New Orleans, you can play anything you want to play in the street. They love it. It’s good for business, You gotta have some kind of entertainment here on Church Street to bring the crowds. Otherwise they’re going to start going to the mall.
GC:Which instrument do you like the best?
RH: I like them all., They’re all goof. I practice every day on each one. Some days are a little more than others, but I practice regular.
GC: Which one is the hardest to play?
RH: I think flute is the hardest. When you start playing the flute you have to work on just the mouthpiece. You have to learn how to place it on your lip the right way. You have to get a groove in your lip. I took a few lessons to help learn where to place it. And then a lot of stuff that you have to pick up yourself.
GC: Do you think you will play flute on Church Street some day?
RH: I might.
GC: How did you find your way to these after-hours parties in Winooski fifteen years ago?
RH: Oh, I was just walking down the street one day over behind Zachary’s on Route 15 and I saw some students and said, “How are you guys?” We became good buddies and they would take me to their parties. They were wild days. Now, they buckled down. They can’t have those parties anymore. It’s a good thing they did! Three of those guys came up last summer and they looked me up. They’re nice people. They always showed good respect to me.
GC: Are you going to play in the Discover Jazz Festival this year?
RH: I play on the city bus every year.
GC: So how does it feel to be famous
RH: I don’t know if I’m really famous, but I like to feel that I’m doing the best that I can.
Richard “The Clarinet Man” Haupt is available to play private functions. For details, or to purchase copies of his tape Lice on Church Street, call 655-3719. The tape is also on sale at Sound Effects on Church Street in Burlington.
Mark Madigan received his Ph.D in English from the University of Massachusetts. He teaches at UVM and got burned on his taxes by doing too much freelance writing