On 4/11/2012 9:31 AM, Jim Nichols wrote:
> Hi Moose,
>
> In my brief high school and college career as a musician, I played alto,
> clarinet, oboe, bassoon, and baritone sax. The baritone had the most
> "character". I agree, a sop sax is just a squeaky voice that should be
> avoided.
That's the shame of it. When not 'wailin', this guy has a really lovely tone,
not squeaky at all, no harsh edge unless
he wants it, and a surprising, to me, range of variation in the tone. He can
make it sound delicious.
Maaany years ago, through odd circumstances, as I've never been a musician, I
found myself at a New Year's party up in
the Encino hills with members of Billy Rose's band, professional Hollywood
studio musicians all, many of the finest
musicians in the world. If you doubt this amateur listener's opinion, read
about what Bruno Walter did when he signed
with Columbia and they offered to hire any orchestra in the world that was
available for that for his last recordings.
One of their stories was about the hot young European conductor who came to
conduct at the Hollywood Bowl. This guy was
twisting himself into knots trying to explain just what he wanted when one
musician piped up and asked "Just tell us
which orchestra you want us to sound like, Berlin, Chicago, Paris, New York,
London ... ?" Those there had all heard it
before, most had been there, but they laughed at the memory. The Hollywood Bowl
Orchestra is composed of studio
musicians, whose job is to reproduce any 'sound' at all.
Back to my story, I'm sitting in this funny little room on a couch across one
long wall, facing a blank, hard wall, a
little drunk and a guy with a trumpet sits down next to me, more than a little
drunk, and starts to raise his horn. I
think "Omigod, that is going to be horrible in this small, hard walled space."
Then he starts to play. Ooooooooohhhhh, heaven. Honey in the horn? Al Hirt at
his mellowest is harsh by comparison. No
mute, no hand in the horn, just waves of sonic beauty.
I later asked our entree to the party,
"Who was that guy??"
"Oh, that's Virgil(?) _____."
"Why haven't I heard of him?"
"He's the premier studio trumpet in LA. He doesn't do his own albums, but
you've heard him thousands of times, on
everybody else's. He can do anything with his horn"
Pete was a top trombonist*, but just in awe of this other guy on trumpet.
Honeyed Ear Moose
* And sound track writer. Pete's long gone, but his younger partner, Mike Post,
must have thousands of credits by now.
--
What if the Hokey Pokey *IS* what it's all about?
--
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