FreshBrewed

I was just wondering who inspired each of you guys and gals to play trumpet and why. If it had not been for Doc, I think I would have put the trumpet down a long time ago. I heard him live once and the way he filled the theater was just amazing. He had no microphone and his sound just surrounded you and made your teeth rattle. It seems that lately he has been forgotten, but make no mistake about it...........he is still THE MAN!

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Mike
Eclipse MHY Bell
1949 Olds Ambassador

Listening has nothing to do with moving your mouth!

Heavens2kadonka

I don't think any one player really inspries me. I look at every player, from my students to the ragged busker on the street to the comebacker to the college professor to Mr. Manny Laureano. They all push themselves to continue playing for their own reasons. I think all trumpet players inspire me.

Though Al Hirt is still the freakin' King.

Van

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Stage 1 California Light
'94 Bach Strad 37
1900 Eb Cornet

LOUD Steve Patrick 10 1/2 C
LOUD LM93

djm6701

I grew up in Sudbury, a town in northern Ontario, Canada. My dad would go to Toronto on business and come back with Boss Brass records from the then-infamous Sam the Record Man, which was the original record superstore in Canada even back in the 70's. So, my first inspiration was Arnie Chycoski, the lead player from the BB. After that came Clark Terry, Doc Severinsen and the Canadian Brass.

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Dave M.
Richmond Hill (Toronto), Ontario, CANADA

Kanstul WB1600
1952 L.A. Olds Recording, 1975 L.A. Benge 3x, Yamaha 631 Flugel, Olds Flugel

GR 65.6 Mouthpieces

Happy Canuck

When I started, back in the OLD days, I was driven by two players

- Rafael Mendez - Ed Sullivan, Art Linkletter appearances showing that trumpet was a great solo instrument. And then I found his records!!!

- Roger Voisin - the Music for Trumpet and Orchestra series of discs were magic to me!

and then later

- the Canadian Brass - what a brass group should sound like, and especially Jens Lindemann, what a great trumpet player and nice guy can sound like!

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Bill

Olds Ambassador, Special, Super, Recording, Mendez Bb trumpets, Custom C trumpet/GR Butcher 65.6M
Olds Opera & Ambassador A6 Shepherds Crook cornets/Sparx 4B
Olds L-12 Flugelhorn/GR Butcher 65.6FL
Schilke MII Trumpet/GR Butcher 65.6M
If you have an Olds, go to http://www.theoldsregister.com/ and add data

talcito

I grew up in New Jersey in a section known as "Little Cuba". Back in the 70's and 80's the Salsa music scene featured music that was very free blowin--Lots of energy and solos.

There are two guys from that era that were inspirational to many of the players on the scene today---"Chocolate" Armenteros and Luis "Perico" Ortiz.

About a month ago I finally got to do a concert with "Chocolate". During the first set of the concert "Choco" and I got to hang out in the dressing room the whole time. During that time he asked me to evaluate his horn as well as he wanted to play mine. At one point he says to me "I have heard you play and I notice that you phrase alot like me"-"Lets trade some solos"! When went on to have a trumpet duo in the dressing room, trading solos for about 10 minutes. Every time I did one of his transcribed solos he looked at me with an expression that said "why would anyone transcribe my solos".

After 20 years of transcribing his solos I almost passed out when he said that to me!

By the end of the evening I was pleased to know that the person who inspired me all those years was a gentleman as well

FlugelFlyer

In fourth grade, I only played the trumpet because that's whay my brother played. The first person to inspire me was in eighth grade, Doc himself. Once I became a senior in high school, my biggest inspiration actually came to be Mic Gillette, the only player at the time I thought who could match Doc in terms of sheer power and majesty (in TOP? ). I think those two guys are the ones who drove me to be the best I could be. Also, Herb Alpert became a driving force to make me the best player I could be, and I'm only 21 so I still have some years.

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Bach 180LR, 72 bell
Bach 1-1/2C
Bach 3D

fatpauly

Mike, good question. I have to really dig into the cobwebs and remember what trumpet performances got me inspired to take up the instrument.

First, as I recall, in 6th grade, I started trumpet because my friend Bill Hopkins was playing trumpet and he got excused from class to go to band practice, along with the other musicians in my class. I thought that was pretty cool.

Performers who made an impression on me at that time were:

1. Al Hirt. Had some of his albums (probably bought at Sam the Record Man's or the other big Yonge St. store called A&M's, I think) and he was incredible, soulful, and fun;

2. Louis Armstrong. Made a tape of an LP I checked out of the Toronto Music Library, and that really opened my eyes up to genius on trumpet;

3. Harry James. Saw him play "Flight of the Bumble Bee" on the Make Room For Daddy show and was blown away.

Also, I regularly attended the Toronto Symphony and admired their trumpet section, but no real performances or recordings particularly stand out to me.

- Paul Artola
Ellicott City, Maryland

ecutrumpet

well when i was in 5th or 6th grade my parents bought the "tonight show with johnny carson" video set and i my parents told me who doc severinson was, so i looked him up and i wanted to learn trumpet. He has been my favorite performer since i knew what a trumpet was.
although i have gone to a maynard ferguson concert lately...
but yea doc.
-matt-

Castle Bravo

Well, I wanted to be in the band, but didn't know what horn to choose. I figured the trumpet was the smallest, most obnoxious instrument with the fewest amount of buttons, how hard could it be?
At first it was Doc, then I was introduced to the Boss....

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Gary Wilder

trickg

I went through a time frame in high school where I was all about listening to trumpet recordings and of those recordings, the ones that really stand out are:

Maynard Ferguson
Wynton Marsalis (Classical Recordings)
Maurice Andre

Those are the big three, although I also listened to a lot of:

Doc Severinsen
Phil Driscoll
Empire Brass
Canadian Brass

But to add to this, I think that every good recording has things that you can take from it that can influence you as a musician, and for me, they have always been influences at different times because who I am as a person is always changing. If I ever got to the point where I was rich and shamless as a performer and I was asked the question "who are your musical influences", the list would be quite long, and would run quite a range from Jazz to Classical to Rock and Roll. How many other trumpet players are going to list Jimi Hendrix, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Steve Gadd, Billy Mason, Nat King Cole and Steve Perry as influences?

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Patrick Gleason
email me at: trickg1@hotmail.com

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