I had also heard he had been a professional clarinetist, which was oddly reassuring.
He said he was cuing the principal clarinetist.
Growing up, he trained as a classical flutist and clarinetist.
The late clarinetist displayed an impossibly round, mellow tone from the top to the bottom of the clarinet.
Like most young clarinetists in the late 1960s and '70s, he was trained classically.
The Ambrose band included the American clarinetist Danny Polo.
He is now principal clarinetist of the Philadelphia Orchestra.