Tuesday, August 16, 2022

8 (+1) Examples of Trombonists in Action (for Jackie Kashian and THE DORK FORESTers): Saturday Music Club on Tuesday

Jack Dostal aka Antonio Portela was the guest on Jackie Kashian's 2 August 2020 podcast episode of The Dork Forest, discussing his adventures in the trombone trade, as a performer with and repairer of (instruments including) trombones. Jackie will take a samples list of eight examples of a music she is unfamiliar with (like many people who played in high-school bands, she has never become enamored of music as a whole nor even beyond certain examples), and much of her series is about being informed about one area or another of obsession or fascination by her guests, as well as by other manqués such as myself who are just enthusiastic and importunate (and was the world's third worst trombonist in 8th and 10th grades--the interregnum didn't help, as didn't the change of venue and instructor, from New Hampshire with Andrew Souci (and David ?something on the classical side) and Hawaii with Don Morosic--and as I used to note at the time...I knew the two worse ones, and they weren't good, either). Here are Dostal's eight and below are mine--some of mine seek to supplement the choices put forward by Dostal, and are not as keyed to virtuosity nor historical importance as they might be, so much as examples of those who might well be unknown to the casual music or even trombone fan:

The J.J. Johnson and Kai Winding Band: "Blue Monk"


Toshiko Akiyoshi and the SWR Big Band: "Harlequin's Tear"

Trombonists: Ernst Hutter, Georg Maus, Ian Cummings, Marc Godfroid; not sure which took the solo as yet (probably Hutter).

Melba Liston and the Quincy Jones Orchestra: "My Reverie"

The Duke Ellington Orchestra featuring Juan Tizol: "Caravan"


The University of Maryland Brass Trio: Three Fantasies for Brass Trio (Alan Hovanhess)

The Teo Macero Ensemble: "Neally"

trombonist: Eddie Bert

Don Drummond and the Skatalites: "Man in the Street"


Greg Boyer: go-go jam excerpt, 2013; unknown band, apparently playing Parliament-Funkadelic's "Thumpasaurus"



The Gerry Mulligan (Bob Brookmeyer/Wyatt Ruther/Gus Johnson) Quartet: on Jazz Casual


(July 18, 1962) Gerry Mulligan (baritone saxophone); Bob Brookmeyer (valve tromone); Wyatt Ruther (bass); Gus Johnson (drums). 1. Four for Three
Mulligan interviewed 2. Darn That Dream 3. Open Country 4. Utter Chaos
And a late addition...the National Educational Television (PBS before PBS in the US) series Jazz Casual, put together at KQED San Francisco with Ralph Gleason as on-screen interviewer. This episode at the current link has been uploaded at not the best audio level, causing trombonist Brookmeyer's tone to be distorted audibly at times...but useful to be seen and heard as not piecemeal, including Mulligan somewhat typically grumpy in his interview about the emerging tendencies in jazz in the early '60s--not too sanguine about third stream, free jazz, hard bop, nor early, relatively funky proto-fusion.

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