Video – Kenny Dorham

Happy Birthday to Kenny Dorham

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 personality like the others. I can only speculate, but in fact, he was referred to as ‘quiet Kenny.’ Regardless, his playing has stood the test of time and is now considered some of the best and a must listen for any aspiring jazz trumpeter today. I myself had not heard of Kenny until trumpeter Dave Scott turned me on to him some years ago, asserting that Kenny was his favorite. To this day, I am utterly amazed and challenged by the music that Kenny composed in his improvisations.
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Ear Training

One aspect of being a musician that is extremely important, but too often overlooked by teachers and students, is learning and practicing to hear music in your head. This aural skill can be acquired through practice and is referred to as ear training. Ear training is where musicians learn to identify all the basic elements of music, such as intervals, chords, and rhythms intuitively without reading it from the sheet music. This is a good skill to begin developing as soon as possible. Ludwig van Beethoven began to lose his hearing in his twenties and ultimately became completely deaf, but he had developed the ability to hear the music he created in his head to a great extent. This skill will not only help with your sight reading abilities, but also your improvisational creativity and of course, any composing work you ultimately pursue. While the use of a keyboard will aid in this endeavor, practicing this with your voice is very helpful too. Singing out what it is you’d like to play on your horns first is something I always recommend anyway. To begin this process there are several good resources you can purchase and I recommend you do so. I have added many of these to my superstore and have placed a good one for you to start with here. Start practicing!

Maynard Ferguson: “The Lost Tapes Volume 2″

For all you Maynard fans, listen up! “The Lost Tapes Volume 2″ has now been released and is available today! This has been put together and produced by Sleepy Night Records. This recording is the second in a trilogy project by Sleepy Night and you can purchase it in MP3 form through the link below. When Volume One of this series came out, I waited anxiously for its arrival. When it came, I played it repeatedly for weeks. It is awesome and so is this one. The music captures Maynard’s playing at his peak and is just incredible. Ernie Garside is the Executive Producer of this project and was a close friend, musician, promoter and manager for Maynard. He holds the rights to this music and has worked quite hard and put up a lot of money, along with producers Sean and Gary Gillies, to make this possible. The project is derived from old reel-to-reel tapes found in Ernie Garside’s house. To ensure this project’s continued success, tell everyone you know that this is available. In MP3 format this is a two-disc set and includes 10 tracks and a priceless and fantastic booklet containing rare photos and new comments from Ernie Garside, Lynn Nicholson, Adrian Drover, Brian Smith and others.
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Jazz Sculptures by Ed Dwight

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 and sculpture produced by a man named Ed Dwight. Mr. Dwight has done some very interesting things in his life, including being an experimental test pilot and the first African American astronaut trainee. However, for many years now he has focused his direction on fine art and sculpture projects. Dwight began his art career in 1976 and has become one of most prolific and insightful sculptors in America today.

This series, “Jazz: An American Art Form” is quite incredible and should be viewed if possible. In this series, Ed depicts the evolution of jazz music from its roots in Africa to the contemporary jazz superstars of the jazz era, and focuses on this style as a pure American musical idiom. Various works from the Jazz series are on display at major galleries and museums throughout the U.S. The series has received critical acceptance internationally. The complete series consists of over 70 works focusing on the African tribal contributions, and also includes such great jazz performers as Miles Davis, Charlie Parker, “Satchmo” Armstrong, Ella Fitzgerald and Benny Goodman.

For information about Mr. Dwight or if you wish to purchase some of these fine productions, go to http://www.eddwight.com/galleries/jazz/index.htm#

Happy Birthday Art Farmer!

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.
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Video – Maynard Ferguson

Video – Dizzy Gillespie, 1947

Jazz Improv Books by Jerry Bergonzi

I have just added several outstanding books on jazz improvisation by Jerry Bergonzi to the Trumpet Superstore. I think they are superb and highly recommend them to you. Jerry Bergonzi is an internationally recognized jazz performer, composer, author and educator.
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Great Solos

As a trumpet teacher, I not only encourage my students to listen, listen and listen some more, I also encourage them to study transcriptions and transcribe other players’ work. The link below will take you to a special site put together by Jacques and Claude Gilbert. It is simply the best. My sincere thanks to both of them for this marvelous resource they have created. Check this site out, they have included photos, biographies and solos from a great many of the trumpet greats! Best of all it’s free, so get to it! I know there’s a lot to digest there, but don’t forget to come back to the Trumpet Dude every now and again.

Jazz Trumpet Transcriptions

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