hunsicker

Checking out some of the mentioned artists, I found that Jason Price is playing on this gig:
http://www.carnegiehall.org/article/...ddate=11062005
with, among others, Meridith Monk, Terry Riley and Bjork (who has been my favorite artist for many years now -- no I'm not kidding.)

Wow! Color me jealous.

robertwhite

Another name to watch: Amir El-Saffar.

ecarroll

Bill,

All the great artists that one plays with over a career creep into our individual work in some fashion, and I'm sure that you'll hear a smattering of Bjork in Jason's solo work/compositions in the future.

I'm glad that TMers are taking the time to do a bit of research. Why not? The info is readily available on the net and a broader knowledge of the trumpeting world can only be a good thing.

Bob,

When you have a moment, can you tell us about Amir El-Saffir? (is he the Egyptian trumpeter that some musicians in Philly were trying to open doors for a few years back?)

Watching here,
EC

josephus07

Didn't Amir El-Saffar go to DePaul and study with Mark Ridenour and play on the Barenboim/CSO Ellington CD?

robertwhite

Yes that's him. He also won the Caruso comp. back in 2001, I think. He's in NYC and has appeared with Cecil Taylor, among others.

andredub

Theo Croker from Oberlin is an amazing player. I think he is/just finshed/in some process of touring with Payton. He just blows me away.

ecarroll

Picking up a quiet thread...

The following has been extracted from Marco Blaauw's liner notes on his new CD "Blaauw". Perhaps you can get a sense of why his work excites me.

EC

"My experience with the trumpet has always been a challenging one – I've had to work at it every step of the way. While at the conservatory I often asked myself why I was even studying the instrument, as there was hardly any repertoire that I liked to play!

"Very few of the major composers had taken an interest in the trumpet. Mozart, Beethoven, Chopin, Schumann, Brahms, Debussy – no luck. Of course, there are a few beautiful pieces from the baroque period, and Haydn even wrote a nice concerto, but in order to play these pieces you needed an orchestra. What there were a lot of, were the so-called Morceaux de Concours from the Paris Conservatoire school – all of them third rate, boring exam pieces for students. One sounded just like the other: signal call, melody, followed by fast variations. I was ready to give up the trumpet; it just didn’t seem worth the effort ... until I attended a lecture about Stockhausen. So there actually was a first class composer who wrote for the trumpet ... and how! The main character in Stockhausen's immense cyclic opera Licht was the trumpeter, played by his son Markus. That inspired me. I wanted from that point on to tell my own stories with the trumpet.

"And now it’s time to show results!

"I’m often inspired by Middle-Eastern singers, such as the qawwali singer Nusrath Fateh Ali Khan or the muqam specialist Alim Qasimov. The special way these artists handle melody, the intensity and expressiveness of their presentation and the ornamentation and escalation of their improvisation to ecstatic heights is absolutely fantastic! They make me feel a bit jealous that I’m not a singer living in a culture where it's completely normal to spend all day sitting on a carpet singing endless improvisations. The selection of works for this CD has most assuredly been influenced by my enthusiasm for their music!

"The CD's program delves into the lyric qualities of the trumpet. The pieces are melodic, thus rather unusual for the instrument. Gerald Barry reminds us in his text about trumpeter of the instrument's history. The musical substance of his piece, though, is actually a singing, forlorn melody, which says something completely different than the text: he is highlighting much more the introspective quality of the trumpet. Introspection is one theme of the CD. The other is "blue". In addition to being the English translation of "blaauw", it is also the other aspect that connects all the compositions: despite all of their differences, the predominant mood is "blue"!

"Except for the repertoire pieces, the compositions on this CD were written for me. I am very grateful for these new works and for the collaboration with the composers. And as two of them specifically used the color blue in their titles, I thought it a good occasion to name the entire CD after them. The Old Dutch spelling for the color blue is “blaauw.” So therefore, the CD is also named in honor of my forefathers!"

CGUM

Hi Ed,

This looks a good place as any to put this down. I was at the mzonil brass website last night and I was really intrigued. I don't really know how to describe it but it's unlike anything I've seen. I was wondering if you've run across them or if anyone else has. Thomas Gansch, Hans Gansch's son is in it. They seem to be going full steam and truly enjoying every moment of their journey.

CG

ecarroll

Charlie,

Sorry to take so long to reply (up to my neck at the moment) and more sorry not to be able to answer your question. Can you post the url here?

Anyone else?

Best,
EC

Zachtpt

I'd like to add Brian McWhorter to this list. An absolute monster player in many differet styles. He plays with (among others) Meridian Arts Ensemble, Mark Gould and Pink Baby Monster. His website is www.boiledjar.com

I was fortunate enough to be able to take a lesson from him when he was performing in Oregon a while back and besides being an amazing player he's a super nice guy and a fantastic teacher.

Someone to definetly keep an ear out for, especially if you have never heard his playing.