December 3, 2008 · Leave a Comment
I intended about a month ago or so to write an article sharing some insights I had gleaned from my own efforts and from what I had read in some of the entries on the TPIN site. Sadly, I did not get to it until now and have forgotten exactly what it is I wanted to convey. However, in my efforts to locate what it was I wanted to share, I came across some other thoughts that will hopefully be useful. [Read the full story] Read More →
October 15, 2008 · 1 Comment
Clifford Brown passed over the rainbow at an early age in a year before I was born. His life was cut very short but his music remains and thankfully lives on. If you have not had the privilege to hear the magic he created with his horn, please give a listen to the MP3 I’ve inserted here. Of course, if you can attend the Symposium entitled, ‘Brownie Speaks’ which is being held in the Philadelphia area October 30th through November 1st, by all means please do! [Read the full story] Read More →
October 12, 2008 · 1 Comment
Cornets! What the heck is a cornet? Sounds like some kind of flying saucer! Just kidding. But until I came across Dennis Gonzales’ video a few weeks ago, I hadn’t thought about cornets since High School, some thirty plus years ago! I also forgot about the pretty sound you can produce on them. Well, it started me to thinking I needed to add a cornet to my arsenal. In the process I came across a real gem that I wanted to share with you all. There’s this guy named Nick DeCarlis, who started to play as a kid, quit, and... [Read the full story]
September 11, 2008 · Leave a Comment
A dedicated lot of extraordinary musicians and trumpet players will present their sixth ‘Festival of New Trumpet Music,’ beginning this Saturday. The festival will run from September 13 through the 28 at various venues around New York City. Festival of New Trumpet Music is a two-week celebration of the diverse contemporary music scene, including its international contributors. Through a series of commissioned works, concerts, master classes and panels it focuses on the multitude of ways the trumpet is being sounded,... [Read the full story]
September 10, 2008 · 1 Comment
Jazz Rocks!! This has always been one of my favorite jazz genres. I mean it was the first sort of rock I heard. Although my mother was a very capable singer with a beautiful voice, the music available in the household was fairly limited, Perry Como, Johnny Mathis, Nat King Cole. Soft stuff, you know. No Elvis or Beatles or anything close. When I started playing the trumpet, I gravitated to the trumpet records by Louis Armstrong, Al Hirt, and of course the old ‘Echoes of an Era’ Maynard Ferguson Orchestra stuff.... [Read the full story]
August 30, 2008 · Leave a Comment
McKinley Howard Dorham, aka Kenny Dorham August 30, 1924 – December 5, 1972. Trumpet Dude salutes one of the best today, Happy Birthday Kenny! Yes, Kenny Dorham was one of the best voices to ever travel the trajectories of a trumpet. While his playing voice was incredible, he never received the accolades he should have from the jazz establishment, always overshadowed by the likes of Dizzy Gillespie, Miles Davis, Lee Morgan, Clifford Brown and Fats Navarro. Perhaps this is simply because he didn’t have a flamboyant... [Read the full story]
August 20, 2008 · 1 Comment
Happy Birthday Art Farmer! Arthur Stewart Farmer, August 21, 1928 – October 4, 1999. I would like to say a special Happy Birthday to one of my personal mentors, Art Farmer. Art began performing as a jazz trumpeter in the 1940’s and 50’s. He, along with Clark Terry, was influential in bringing the flugelhorn into the sounds of jazz. He also later played what I just learned was called a Flumpet, a combination trumpet and flugelhorn designed for him by David Monette. [Read the full story] Read More →
I intended about a month ago or so to write an article sharing some insights I had gleaned from my own efforts and from what I had read in some of the entries on the TPIN site.... [Read more]
I recently had the privilege to view some incredible art pieces whose subject was jazz and its artists. Yes, this is not only art with jazz being the subject; this is fine art... [Read more]
Jazz Rocks!! This has always been one of my favorite jazz genres. I mean it was the first sort of rock I heard. Although my mother was a very capable singer with a beautiful... [Read more]
Cornets! What the heck is a cornet? Sounds like some kind of flying saucer! Just kidding. But until I came across Dennis Gonzales’ video a few weeks ago, I hadn’t thought about... [Read more]