| I was born in a log cabin in Illinois...
Whoops, wrong history.
In 1981 I was playing in Seattle when the Boston symphony announced the first trumpet vacancy. Rolf Smedvig wanted to do much more with Empire so he said goodbye to Boston and devoted his energies to the quintet.
Charlie was playing in Minnesota at the same time.
I played a tape round in Boston alog with about 90 others, got asked to play semi finals and showed in Boston a few weeks later. They heard 10 of us and I got passed on to a final five which included among others, Tim Morrison, Ramon Parcells and myself.
It got down to me but I didn't do a good enough job convincing Ozawa and the committee so they asked me to play another final round with 4 other players that were to be invited. Among them was Charlie Schlueter. Charlie got the job and they held auditions in Minnesota. No one was chosen.
They heard about this kid in Seattle who had done well in Boston and I was invited along with John Raschella, Wilmer Wise, Larry Weeks, and John Aley to play three rounds in Minneapolis.
The 1st round was with the brass section only. The next day the 2nd was with the orchestra playing excerpts, and the 3rd (the same day) was a solo audition.
After the solo round I was informed I had won. John R., John A, and Wilmer have been my friends ever since so I won more than a job that day.
Larry Weeks died a tragic death in an air accident years later, I'm sorry to say. I'm sure many of you knew that.
That's the story, anyways. After 23 plus years it's still a great job and thank God for my good fortune everyday.
ML |