For many jazz listeners, Eddie Daniels popped up in the late 1980s as a star clarinetist. But by then he had been a journeyman artist for two decades. First Prize was made in 1966 when Daniels was a tenor saxophonist and occasional clarinetist in the Thad Jones-Mel Lewis big band, shortly after he had won top honors in the Vienna International Jazz Competition. For his debut as a leader, he hired one of his bosses, Lewis, and the orchestra’s bassist and pianist, Richard Davis a… MORE