| My trip to Eclipse and the new RIMLESS bell model! (long)
Part one:
Howdy folks!
I'm forcing myself to get on with normal tasks this morning as I definitely just want to sleep in all morning! I guess it's not jet-lag but home-happiness. This story is very long and probably rambles from time to time. I do hope you enjoy the post and feel free to email me with replies.
England was an absolute blast! I can't imagine having nearly as much fun in such a short time! The trip started out with me getting up around 3:30 AM on Friday to ensure I got to the airport in time. Usually I'm so good in packing but I did happen to leave a few items here (more on that later!). The flight over was great, on a new 777 with an Exit row Aisle seat (score!). I couldn't wait to see Leigh and get down to business.
Leigh picked me up at Heathrow and a short drive later we were in Luton. Luton is a cool little town with a very working class vibe and friendly people. We checked into the hotel (a lovely B&B called the Pines) and then Leigh treated me to a feast of WONDERFUL Indian food. I thought my "connection" here in the states was good but this was absolutely amazing! I was so excited to see the shop that after dinner (now around 10:30PM) I insisted that we go check out the shop.
WOW! In all honestly it's the best laid out shop I've ever seen. Leigh and John have done a tremendous job creating a very relaxing environment for the staff... it's extremely well laid out with PLENTY of space between all the assembly stations and has seperate rooms for Polishing and finishing. I was shocked by the ample size and ease of the layout. One of the great things was what I termed "the wall of shame" where they have laid out hundreds of old horns on the ceiling. Leigh explained that these horns have definitely passed their prime but are extremely valuable when they need rare parts for other people's horns.
Then he took me into the playing room and I was in heaven! Every model Eclipse (and multiple demos of the most popular ones) were in this room all lined up on benches. Some of the new prototypes (much more on this later) were also lined up! I just had to play a few... even with the freezing cold (the heat had been off since he left the shop around 5PM). Much more was on tap for Saturday.
The testing day....Saturday
The day began with me coming into the shop and meeting John, one of the funniest guys I've met! I know Leigh much more with our time at ITG (stuck on a mountain at 13,000 ft with a smoking diesel engine) and really wanted to meet John. He's the best valve man in the business and we did work thoroughly on his "american" accent while I was there! ;)
A long warm up on my MY led eventually to a LOT of testing. As some of you know I tend to play the entire spectrum of work to survive. Although most of my work is small group jazz I do also work extensively with the Artie Shaw Orchestra. I also play a fair deal of salsa and hard GB stuff. Last tour I played lead and when I was playing with lighter horns (I think that section had a LA Benge, LT Bach, and Scodweel) I really wanted to get more edge out of my LR. I also have the MY but in my opinion it still had a sound that favored the warmer concept of the European Bb sound. That horn is great as well but I really was looking for something with the same projection and insane brightness. I had discussed this in depth with Leigh and he assured me that he had something right up my alley!
First thing we did was try the three new rimless bell models. Leigh has been in design for quite some time (well over a year) on these but didn't want to release them too early as he wanted to make sure that they were up to specs of the rest of the trumpet line.
What I experienced couldn't be described. I think this rimless bell model is the best horn that I've ever played, and I can't believe I'm saying that as I have always believed the LR would never be topped with my sound concept. Imagine a horn that at ppp-f has an amazingly rich, complex sound with the BEST scale... now imagine being able to up your DB level by 15% when you put the pedal to the floor... When I first starting playing "hard" on the rimless bell Leigh and John both jumped out of there socks. Mind you this was in the testing room with the door closed! That's what I'm talking about! I've always had to switch from my Osmun TA piece to a really small hight compression piece (Bobby Shew 1.25) to make ANY horn I've ever had brighten up. I do have a naturally dark sound concept.
On this rimless bell I could play my Osmun piece FOR EVERYTHING! Wait... only one mouthpiece? yeah. I'll tell you about my gig on Sunday and the results coming up.
Leigh has a few models of these bells... definitely contact him for more specific information as I just picked a bell that fit my needs from my sound concept.
The one I ended up with I think is a Large flair, with a Nickel silver shaft and yellow brass flair.
So, after 5-6 hours of extensive testing and modification I got the most brilliant horn I have ever played. Of course I thought I might only have been hearing the brightness from the players' side as maybe the rimless bell gives too much feedback on the player.
The REAL testing day: Sunday
As you know a horn can feel great in the shop but when you take it on the gig you really learn how it plays.
Noel Langley was so great to me on the trip and actually lined a gig up for me at the London Jazz fest with the 606 club big band. This band was extremely good and gave me a great chance to see how the horn worked in the section. I played third and some split lead. I also had a chance to play a bunch of solos. The first thing I noticed was that the horn gave me so much feedback from behind the horn. Much more than even my Calicchios have in the past. I felt very comfortable in that section (a LT 37 Bach, LR 37 and Martin committee) and could hear myself so easily. Blending was GREAT and the absolute kicker was that when I wanted to push the horn hard it carried FAR much more over the rest of the band, to the point of actually being TOO much! WOO-HOO! PS: It's always great to see trombonists duck for cover while your playing. I'm sure they thought it was just the crazy American "blatting" away but truth be told I didn't take the horn up to the volumes I was playing at the shop!
Much more is coming up later... I have to take a quick nap however! I'll be sure to include plenty of pictures as well.
-T |