Solar Bell

Swing band rehearsal tonight.
Our bone player did a note for note transcription of Basie's "Every Day I Have The Blues". We had been using the Billy May chart.
Mike Williams, the Basie band lead player for the last 15 years was there. They do this chart about 200 times a year. He's looking at my lead chart and trying to show me where the transcriber was a little off in the accents and types of falls he wrote.
I said "Mike, get your mouthpiece and play my horn, I'll make the notations." So Mike plays my Courtois. Here is one of the country's premier lead guys' completely at home reading a chart he plays everyday and just killin' it! It was a real treat standing behind him again watching him play. Of course, then I finished the rehearsal off.
He is a great player! It is a real insiration when he comes to one of our rehearsals. Even better when he gigs with us.

Just thought I'd share that tonight.

-cw-

__________________
Chuck Willard
The Willard of Oz

"Don't be afraid to see what you see."
Ronald Reagan

trickg

I'll bet that was pretty danged cool.

I've had the good fortune to play next to a couple of kicking lead players. Two that immediately come to mind are John Blount and Paul DuBois. The thing that really sticks in my mind after having played with them isn't their killer high chops, although they do have those in abundance, but it's there sense of phrasing and nuance in the line, not to mention that they just lock in with the rhythm section.

By the way, what happened to the B6?

__________________
Patrick Gleason
email me at: trickg1@hotmail.com

"What we do in life echoes in eternity"
"At my signal, unleash hell."
- Maximus Decimus Meridius

Solar Bell

trickg wrote:
.

Hi Patrick!

I agree 100%. The STYLE is all there. Mike put on a clinic of playing LAID BACK but not behind the beat or dragging.

Ahhhh.... the Schilke B6....a GREAT GREAT GREAT GREAT trumpet!!!!

I had a Schilke B1 about 3 years ago, a fine horn also. After a few months it was given the nickname "Play-Doh Schilke" The leadpipe would move all over the place. That plus the fact that I wanted a medium bore horn made me selll the B1 and buy my B6, a GREAT horn. After a few months (sound familiar) I started getting "compression rings" along the leadpipe. Now I am NOT a finesse and no pressure player. I muscle the horn around pretty good. Especially shakes in the upper register. It seems the lightweight "B" series Schilkes are just too fragile for my playing. I used my first Courtois 708 Sonic 25 years and never had a problem. While waiting for a Schilke S42 (medium) to become available, I talked with Roy Lawler and explained all of this to him. He asked me to try his new C7 trumpet. It has stronger bracing than the Schilke B series. I got one of his horns, and was hooked. One thing I like was, it plays very much like the B6 in the upper register, but at least for me, the sound is warmer in the staff and playing very softly. It's being plated now.

HOWEVER....
I still think the Schilke B6 is a FANTASTIC trumpet and would recommend considering it to anyone looking for a great lead horn!!!!!!!!

-cw-

__________________
Chuck Willard
The Willard of Oz

"Don't be afraid to see what you see."
Ronald Reagan