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Thread: Jweuph update

  1. #1
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    Jweuph update

    OK...another warning...I've found another old hard drive in my basement and put three new tracks on my soundcloud. If you haven't checked it out before, it's at www.soundcloud.com/jweuph

    First is a better version of SPINNING WHEEL, in which I play the trumpet solo on euphonium. I take it up to a high A in this live performance. The fake argument between the trumpet players as to who wold play the solo, though, is missing. Maybe it wasn't fake?!?


    Next is a cleaner live version of BEALE STREET BLUES, the Canadian Brass version, in which I'm playing the horn part as written on euphonium. It (only) goes up to an F.
    Last, and the biggest travesty, is the only extant recording of NATIONAL LAMPOON'S EUPHONIUM VACATION with the Indianapolis Brass Choir. The explanation in the middle is by Dr. Robert Grechesky, who lays out the musicological roots of the piece.


    Feel free to muck around this page if you want to hear things that are totally inappropriate for euphonium. All the quintet charts are mine except Beale Street...the Hidas Concerto is with the Otterbein College wind ensemble, and the Ewazen Concerto is with the Butler University Wind Ensemble under the baton of Dr. Grechesky, with the composer in the audience and the soloist wearing Depends (Under his pants)


    A major thank you goes to Brian Kiser, the tubist on the quintet tracks. I wrote some real fly specks for him, and he just laid it down!!


    Hope you enjoy the tracks--I sure enjoyed writing and/or playing them.


    The Hidas Concerto and the Vacation are with a Sovereign 968, the Ewazen is with a Miraphone 5050, and the quintet stuff is on a Yamaha 321 with a Wick 5 mouthpiece on which I drilled the backbore out severely.

  2. #2
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    Jim:
    I'm at work now and haven't listened to your recording yet, but I had a question about the high A. As I remember Lew Soloff's solo (and I studied it hard enough when I was younger) the highest note was the last one, which I though was G (concert F) above high C. Did you extrapolate a high A (concert A?)

    In any event, playing that solo is quite an accomplishment. And I don't think I've ever heard anyone play euphonium in such a high tessitura. Incidentally, that was one of the remarkable things about Soloff in his break-through years in studios and with BS&T: he could play in that range with great intonation and full tone.

  3. #3
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    Hi, Dean...
    Well, when you get home, check it out...the note I end on is the A that sits one line above the treble staff, CONCERT PITCH (not transposing euphonium treble clef).

    You're right, Soloff ended on an F concert.

    This was performed live at a regional tuba-euphonium conference...I cut off the "schtik" part where the two trumpet players in the quintet staged a mock argument about which of them would play it, and I shut them both up by saying I'd play it.

    I'll let you be the judge, but as I recall, I was "on" that day and the solo is cleanly played and goes up to the A that's a half-step below the euphonium's "double-high b flat."
    The horn part in the "Beale Street Blues" only goes up to an F, but it site around the C above Middle C a fair amount.

    While I'm certainly no Dave Werden, I'm posting these performances to show people that the euphonium can certainly exist in the world of pop and jazz if players will work on extending their view of what the euphonium can play and then adjusting their technique accordingly.

    PS--where in the metro area are you? Long Island? Can't recall. Did I mention I grew up in Flushing and Astoria?

    Jim
    Last edited by Snorlax; 07-08-2014 at 02:54 PM.

  4. #4
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    Dear Jim:

    All I can say is wow.

    Yeah, you did mention that you grew up in my neck of the woods. I live in Yonkers near the village of Bronxville. If ever you anticipate any trips back to the NYC metro area, let me know in advance.

    --Dean

  5. #5
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    Hi Jim,

    I finally found time to listen to your collection of recordings. Wow! You've got some really great high chops AND jazz chops to boot. Very nice playing! Thanks for sharing.
    Rick Floyd
    Miraphone 5050 - Warburton BJ / RF mpc
    YEP-641S (recently sold)
    Doug Elliott - 102 rim; I-cup; I-9 shank


    "Always play with a good tone, never louder than lovely, never softer than supported." - author unknown.
    Symphonic Band of the Palm Beaches
    El Cumbanchero (Raphael Hernandez, arr. Naohiro Iwai)
    Chorale and Shaker Dance
    (John Zdechlik)

  6. #6
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    Thanks, Rick...
    Very seriously, I've been told so many times that "that isn't what a euphonium is supposed to be or do or sound like" that I feel like quitting sometimes.

  7. Quote Originally Posted by Snorlax View Post
    I've been told so many times that "that isn't what a euphonium is supposed to be or do or sound like
    Thank goodness that stick-in-the-mud creativity stifling attitude doesn't prevail or else all the crazy beautiful things that evolve in music and art would never happen. Admire your arranging and playing ability -- enjoyed these very much although I am partial to the Steely Dan
    Last edited by tampaworth; 07-09-2014 at 06:09 AM.
    Bob Tampa FL USA
    Euph -- 1984 B&H Round Stamp Sovereign 967 / 1978 Besson NS 767 / Early 90s Sterling MP: 4AL and GW Carbonaria
    Tuba -- 2014 Wisemann 900 CC / 2013 Mack 410 MP: Blokepiece Symphony American Shank and 33.2 #2 Rim

  8. #8
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    I'm a HUGE Steely Dan Fan. I've arranged their stuff for tuba-euph quartet/quintet, brass quintet, and Brass Choir.
    I may do another medley from Two Against Nature and/or Everything Must Go.
    I just did a BS&T Medley for the Brass Choir as well.
    Last edited by Snorlax; 07-09-2014 at 08:37 PM.

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