Mad respect for any woodwind player. Those are all hard instruments to play. There's a reason why I chose bass and am thinking about getting a drum kit too.
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The Combo Club
- Thread starter ChefKen
- Start date
- Oct 22, 2015
- 21,154
- 256,525
- Disclosures
- I am an affiliate for Ari Cap.
First chair for sax wasn't my fate, but neither was third chair. Most difficult in my mind, at least as far as vehicles to understanding music theory, are valve instruments. Three valves and seven sharps 
There is a trumpet player personality, same as there is a drummer personality.
Speaking of drummers ... it is I checking out the local CL. Drummer wants to start a band. Photo shows he's got as big a kit as Terry Bozzio. I look at the map to see where he is. Zoom out, zoom out ... he's in the middle of a forest ... and suddenly I realize I know who he is.
He's the caretaker of a private hunting and fishing club. He also says (not explicitly) that he isn't coming to the city. It's a 35 minute drive and at least 10 minutes are on unpaved roads. He's been in that room behind the member's dining room in the caretaker's house practicing drums for years.
and you know what?
This is not the drummer I have in mind ...
of course if I snagged that Rumble 100 and left it there
but I don't think so.
If/When I post that CL ad it'll be in search of players who want to do standards. In and out of the job, home by dinner, and not at the volume levels I expect out of rockers in the woods
There is a trumpet player personality, same as there is a drummer personality.
Speaking of drummers ... it is I checking out the local CL. Drummer wants to start a band. Photo shows he's got as big a kit as Terry Bozzio. I look at the map to see where he is. Zoom out, zoom out ... he's in the middle of a forest ... and suddenly I realize I know who he is.
He's the caretaker of a private hunting and fishing club. He also says (not explicitly) that he isn't coming to the city. It's a 35 minute drive and at least 10 minutes are on unpaved roads. He's been in that room behind the member's dining room in the caretaker's house practicing drums for years.
and you know what?
This is not the drummer I have in mind ...
of course if I snagged that Rumble 100 and left it there
but I don't think so.
If/When I post that CL ad it'll be in search of players who want to do standards. In and out of the job, home by dinner, and not at the volume levels I expect out of rockers in the woods
All this talk of brass and woodwinds....I tried to learn on a C Melody Sax from my mom’s childhood....I was in 5th grade in Riverside, CA, the teacher had a reputation as a Witch and as I progressed and actually began to learn, I realized she was really good at what she did and really tried to teach me. She went so far as to find that C Melody should use Oboe sheet music and was very encouraging. Unfortunately, I did it the one year and being a kid, when we moved from CA back to CO (dad retired from USAF) I bailed, years later I regretted that.
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I attempted [with limited success] to emulate the tone of Stan Getz(with a side of alto man Paul Desmond). Soft and breathy as opposed to hard and edgy. My mouth, my horn, my preference.
I shake my head at most of these guys because too often they are deep in the shadow of somebody like Ben Riley, who played with Thelonious Monk for a number of years and with many others, as well. Check out his kit in here:
His solo starts around 8:20. I think the kit us smaller than planned because of a broken or missing piece. You can see a tom tom on the floor at the side of the stage.
Dang! C melody! I have one-THE hardest sax to keep in tune, even with itself.
Scott Hamilton should be on your playlist with Getz and Desmond.
Joe Morello, IMO the finest drummer ever, had a fairly simple kit that he made 'talk'.
Morello is on my short list of drummers I wish I had the talent to play with.
I met him and Gene Wright after a Brubeck concert in Miami ~1964. Both very nice to 3 teenagers who managed to just walk up on stage.(try that these days). They were the epitome of cool.
- Oct 22, 2015
- 21,154
- 256,525
- Disclosures
- I am an affiliate for Ari Cap.
Teeth can be trouble for any wind instrument player. @GonePlaid's posting reminded me of a story you folks might enjoy. When I was living/playing in Toronto in the 80's/90's, I played in a very good rehearsal big band which had some of the best players in town (not me) in it. The 5th trumpet player was a dentist who had developed a significant piece of his practice around treating brass players. It turns out that it's quite common for trumpet players etc. to lose their front teeth due to the endless pressure of playing. The dentist wrote a piece on that subject for Canadian Musician magazine (the musicians' union publication) that was subsequently picked up by International Musician magazine. After that, he started getting more and more players coming from afar to be treated by him. One of those players was Doc Severinsen (who's *still* active). When the Tonight Show band folded in 1992 after Johnny Carson's retirement, our trumpet player dentist received two large cardboard boxes from Doc. Inside was a collection of the **original** Tonight Show band charts, often in hand script with markings like "Ed's solo", "Doc's solo" etc.
It felt like receiving the Dead Sea Scrolls. We ended up playing several of those charts—which were crazy tough.
The same band I mentioned above had a baritone player who was diagnosed with lung cancer while I was with the band. He was out for some months for surgery and post-treatment. He came back with *one lung* and still played bari terrifically.
Nice playing and tone. Amazing he can play like that while figure skating
. Most tenor players use the metal mouthpiece which tends to impart an edge to the tone. I tried a metal mouthpiece-didn't like the feel or tone. Gimme a good ol' Brillhart plastic any day(assuming I ever play again).
Yes, and Billy Crystal mentioned something similar in his horrible Jazz Man sketch he did for Hurricane KatrinaTeeth can be trouble for any wind instrument player. @GonePlaid's posting reminded me of a story you folks might enjoy. When I was living/playing in Toronto in the 80's/90's, I played in a very good rehearsal big band which had some of the best players in town (not me) in it. The 5th trumpet player was a dentist who had developed a significant piece of his practice around treating brass players. It turns out that it's quite common for trumpet players etc. to lose their front teeth due to the endless pressure of playing. The dentist wrote a piece on that subject for Canadian Musician magazine (the musicians' union publication) that was subsequently picked up by International Musician magazine. After that, he started getting more and more players coming from afar to be treated by him. One of those players was Doc Severinsen (who's *still* active). When the Tonight Show band folded in 1992 after Johnny Carson's retirement, our trumpet player dentist received two large cardboard boxes from Doc. Inside was a collection of the **original** Tonight Show band charts, often in hand script with markings like "Ed's solo", "Doc's solo" etc.
The same band I mentioned above had a baritone player who was diagnosed with lung cancer while I was with the band. He was out for some months for surgery and post-treatment. He came back with *one lung* and still played bari terrifically.
This is a video from a big band I was a part of in 2008. Shot at the South Florida Fair, West Palm Beach, FL. Arrangement by Ben Grisafi-BL and tenor sax solo. Drummer Joe Belanger, one of the best I've ever worked with.Teeth can be trouble for any wind instrument player. @GonePlaid's posting reminded me of a story you folks might enjoy. When I was living/playing in Toronto in the 80's/90's, I played in a very good rehearsal big band which had some of the best players in town (not me) in it. The 5th trumpet player was a dentist who had developed a significant piece of his practice around treating brass players. It turns out that it's quite common for trumpet players etc. to lose their front teeth due to the endless pressure of playing. The dentist wrote a piece on that subject for Canadian Musician magazine (the musicians' union publication) that was subsequently picked up by International Musician magazine. After that, he started getting more and more players coming from afar to be treated by him. One of those players was Doc Severinsen (who's *still* active). When the Tonight Show band folded in 1992 after Johnny Carson's retirement, our trumpet player dentist received two large cardboard boxes from Doc. Inside was a collection of the **original** Tonight Show band charts, often in hand script with markings like "Ed's solo", "Doc's solo" etc.
The same band I mentioned above had a baritone player who was diagnosed with lung cancer while I was with the band. He was out for some months for surgery and post-treatment. He came back with *one lung* and still played bari terrifically.
Proof that Thunderbirds are only good for rock and roll-NOT! And to keep on topic, this is a file pic of a Kustom 150 bass amp, which is what I was playing through. Built like a tank, but slightly heavier.
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Thanks. All written('cept the solo). Ben wrote all the charts we played.
I have a rehearsal tomorrow night to go over a few things for the Saturday afternoon outdoor gig.(not my regular band-notice I didn't say 'normal'). The BL wants to do a coupla Cream songs. I've heard them b4, but I was never a big 'Cream' fan, and while I like a lot of Jack Bruce's playing, I never liked his tone.[I'll now duck the projectiles aimed my way] JMO. I know I'm in the minority on this. Don't really care.
This is a video from a big band I was a part of in 2008. Shot at the South Florida Fair, West Palm Beach, FL. Arrangement by Ben Grisafi-BL and tenor sax solo. Drummer Joe Belanger, one of the best I've ever worked with.
View attachment 4273068 Proof that Thunderbirds are only good for rock and roll-NOT! And to keep on topic, this is a file pic of a Kustom 150 bass amp, which is what I was playing through. Built like a tank, but slightly heavier.
What the hey. Here's another one.
Just play them your way. I doubt if anyone in the audience would know the difference
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