British flutist William Bennett

aka WIBB

with pianist Phillip Moll

Once, when William Bennett and Phillip Moll were in the Bay Area, they came to visit me in Los Altos.  It was about 10 a.m., so I offered them some coffee -- but WIBB said he would much prefer a glass of claret.  So we opened up a bottle of really good California Cabernet Sauvignon. 

Later, I happened to mention to Wibb that recently I had found an 18th Century wood flute in a French antique shop; and on the headjoint there was inlaid a silver medallion inscribed "Élève de Toulou."  He became greatly excited and insisted he see it right away.  So I set the case on the table and began to put the flute together.  As I handed him the flute, I told him the cork seals at the joints had some very bad leaks.  "No problem!," said Wibb.  "You know, the best way to fix leaky corks is with red wine.  White wine is no good, but red wine will fix your leaks every time."  At that moment, he disassembled the flute and dunked all the cork joints in his glass of California Cabernet Sauvignon -- while I looked on helplessly.  Here he is trying out my wine-soaked 18th Century flute.  Soon after this picture was snapped, he exclaimed: "See, no leaks.!"

A few years later, I sold my 18th C. flute to a Boston specialist in Baroque flutes.  He said he was thrilled to own a wood flute that had once belonged to a pupil of Toulou -- but he was very perplexed by one feature of this particular flute.  He told me he had examined many 18th C. French flutes before, but he had never come across one with red corks at the joints.  He was sure this was the 'signature' of a particular flutemaker in Paris, one of the master French flutemakers of whom very few examples had survived.  I did not have the heart to tell him about William Bennett's glass of claret.

Here is pianist Phillip Moll -- viewing the scene with a bemused smile, like a Cheshire cat.  (He drank water.)