| Marty,
Thank you very much for those kind thoughts. A lot of tradition and history has been lost both on the commercial and classical side in part to the hectic and impatient pace of today’s society with all it's distractions and a lack of true mentoring by established players that was so very important to past generation's players both commercial and classical.
By and large, I find a well prepared classically trained trumpet player has a much better understanding of how and why a piece of music should be approached and played. The music is still the most important aspect, not “ higher, faster louder “ which has seemed to devour the younger commercial / jazz players. In discussions with younger classical players, I find a deeper understanding of different orchestra's trumpet section lineage and I find the classical players can name the heritage and lineage of most of the trumpet players in these major orchestra’s back 5 decades.
Tradition is more ingrained in the methods used to teach “ legit “ players and ” listening “ to different renditions by different and various artists playing the same concerto , aria or exposed solo is still very much encouraged as part of the learning process.
As I write this I’m listening to Maurice Andre play the Haydn-Concerto in Eb, recording circa 1968.
I have recordings of this piece played by many artists ( Gerald Schwartz, Phil Smith , Tom Stevens,Tomofei Dorchester, Mario Guarnari, Wynton Marsalis, etc. ) they are all fantastic versions and I am in “ awe “ of each one, but I always am drawn back to the Maurice Andre version. Why, I don’t know. Maybe because it’s the first one I heard. ( over and over )
Commercial players really don’t have that sort of luxury in capturing and emulating certain charasteristics of style. The closest thing may be is a jazz trumpet players rendition of “ My Funny Valentine “ and it’s subsequent solo or comparing the lead trumpet playing on “ Channel One Suite “ with Buddy’s band in 1968 by Al Porcino to the band’s 1986’s final version with Eric Miyashiro lead trumpet work.
I hoped you could tell in the writing or the original post that I have great admiration for the players that encompassed the “ New York “ scene in the 50,60’s, 70’s and 80’s and the excellance they achieved in the volume of work they accomplished. I truly believed they considered themselves professionals playing the trumpet for a living was a noble endeveor and they played and acted accordingly. They always seemed to be able to help an aspiring player find their way as Bernie Glow's menoting of" Saturday's Night Lives " origianl trumpet player, Alan Rubin. ( Alan actually was given a gold-plated Bach 72 from Bernie Glow’s estate )
I’ve been told over and over that the player’s in New York would always give you a chance, but then it was up to you. That’s a very traditional “Old –School “way of thinking having felt once you had “made it “ it was time to help younger players. I believe encouragement and “a helping hand “was a way of “giving back “ to their mentors, keeping the tradition alive, that helped establish previous , present and new generations.
Of course, with the advent of technology and reduced budgets for live musicians affecting the work scene on both coasts drastically and dramatically, helping a new player in town is much harder when you’re trying to fill your own calendar both for commercial and classical players. An additional drawback is getting playing experience. which becomes harder and harder, to mature as a player
When Stevie Wonder commissioned the Kertsweil ( the first sampling synthesizer ) in 1983 and dropped his traveling horn section and then the advent of the EVI wind synthesizer a couple of years later, ( which actually started to sound like a live musician because of the use of human breathing) and now whole movie and TV scores being done totally electronically, the writing started to be noticed on the wall. The scene doesn’t look like it will recover any time soon, but I always stay positive that a fine, well versed ,
energetic musician can always do what he loves.
I think I’ll listen to Mr. Wilmer Wise fantastic trumpet playing on Placido Domingo’s version of “ Man of La Mancha “ next. What a treat.
Larry |