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 more...]
Watch out Trumpets, the Cornets are making a comeback!
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 later, while in college, taught himself how to play. Well, since that time, he’s become a collector/restorer, gifted cornet player and avid promoter of jazz music. There is some really neat stuff on his web page ‘vintagecornets’, including an article and photos of cornets with two bells. I have placed some of the links to Nick’s sites below. Check these sites out and find out what the ‘Cornet Conspiracy’ is all about. Also, if you haven’t listened to the Dennis Gonzales video, please do!
TD
Bill Chase – Jazz Rocks!
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. So, when my friends showed up one day with the Bill Chase ‘Pure Music’ album, I was completely blown away. Mind you, I was all of 12 years old at the time. To this day, that is still one of my favorites. Although, I now find myself listening to Bill Chase’s ‘Ennea’ album more than the others. Strange what age will do to you! I mean if you want a practice work out, start transcribing and playing some of that stuff. Four highly skilled trumpet players playing just absolutely amazing. Songs like Poseidon and Zeus. Oh yeah!
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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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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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Musical Colorist – Johnny Coles
As artists we must take in as many ideas, colors, textures, and sounds as possible, all of which become our own palette to draw from when we create. This is especially true in Jazz, as it is a collaborative art form where we learn from each other.
Well, last night, having worked too late into the evening, I wasn’t in the mood for high note antics or the like. You might say I was feeling a bit mellow. Thumbing through some CD’s I hadn’t listened to in a while, I came across ‘Little Johnny C,’ by Johnny Coles. I had forgotten what an experience it is to listen to this cat play. Oh man, I mean his sound lights a fire deep into my spine. Warm but cool, with shades of purple, green and yellow. While Johnny Coles is not a household name in the jazz world, as trumpeters he is one player that you should be familiar with. Johnny grew up in Philadelphia and started playing the trumpet at age ten. He was mostly self-taught, with the extent of his formal music training being received at a vocational high school. He played in army bands during the war years and thereafter began to play in various R&B groups, including Eddie “Cleanhead” Vinson’s group, which included John Coltrane. After this period, Johnny hooked up with James Moody and played with his group from 1956-1958. When he left Moody, he began an association with Gil Evans that lasted until 1964. During those years he played on several Evans productions, including several Evans-Davis collaborations, such as ‘Porgy and Bess’ and ‘Sketches of Spain’. Some have commented that his association with Evans deprived him his just dessert and caused him to be seen as merely a Miles Davis understudy. Regardless, Mr. Coles exploited the fullness of his trumpet’s qualities, as he was truly a capable musical colorist that understood how to use a color’s shades well. After separating with Evans, he toured with the Charles Mingus group for a period. There is a Charles Mingus DVD set entitled ‘Live in ’64,’ that contains live footage of the group’s performances in Europe. Johnny also played with Herbie Hancock during 1968-69. A great chart to hear his genius on is entitled, ‘The Prisoner’ on the Herbie Hancock album of the same name. During the remainder of his life, Johnny played with Ray Charles, Duke Ellington and Count Basie, among others. You can enjoy the warm sound of Johnny Coles on these fine productions.


