Solar Bell

I am Chuck Willard. I am 53 years old and have been playing trumpet about 45+ years.
I play a Lawler C7 trumpet in satin gold finish. I use a GR mouthpiece which Gary made for me and is basically a Jet Tone Bill Chase, reverse engineered. I’ve played it for about 3 years and before that a Jet Tone Bill Chase for over 20 years.

I played a Courtois 708 Sonic for many years before purchasing my first Schilke, a B1.
The B1 was followed by a B6. I guess I am too rough on the lightweight Schilkes as I had lead pipe bending problems with each. The Lawler is a very good horn, the equal or better of the Schilkes in every way. In my opinion.

I have done a little of everything in my life.
I was a competitive swimmer and speed skater through my teens. The problem was that the other boys grew much taller than I did. I also was a pretty decent amateur boxer.

I was very heavily into drag racing through the 60’s and early 70’s, racing a sponsored car in the “Pro Stock” class. That was a gas.

I am retired from my occupation as a tool maker due to a medical disability. (work related lung damage)

My father was a prominent trumpet player/band leader in the Detroit area and being his son I was able to meet and hear most of the great musicians that came through Detroit.
I attended Cass Tech High School in Detroit and won scholarships to Interlochen and the University of Michigan. Armed with letters of introduction from Chuck Peterson and Manny Klein, I landed a (very short-lived) spot in the US Navy band.

For the last five years I have been the lead player in a very busy swing band in the Detroit area. We are a fifteen piece (6 brass) band with a great vocalist and do transcriptions of the best of the swing era big bands; Tommy Dorsey, Count Basie, Harry James, Jimmie Lunceford, Benny Goodman, Chick Webb, etc. I do all the Harry James and Bunny Berigan solos.
A big thrill is to be able to play with Bill Hart, who plays the jazz book. Bill is a terrific player who played with the Dorsey band under Sam Donahue
Another highlight is becoming friends with Mike Williams, the long time and current lead player of the Basie band. A truly amazing player.

I have been married for 18 years to Karen, an excellent organist, and piano player. We met when she auditioned for the keyboard job in one of my bands. One of the thrills of my life was to be able to purchase a new August Forster grand piano for her.

I am also grateful for the TrumpetMaster website, and have made many friends “online” through this forum. And I’d like to say “Thank you” to all of you who send me emails and PMs.

This is truly a great site for learning about the trumpet.
I have gleaned more from this site in the last nine months than I have learned in the past 40+ years. There is so much to be learned from all of you.

Chuck Willard