Joined: 25 Mar 2010 Posts: 5304 Location: Central Texas
Posted: Sun Nov 26, 2023 5:53 am Post subject:
spitvalve wrote:
Al Hirt could play anything...as long as you don't bring up his recording of the Haydn with Fiedler, though...
I have that record, and.. well, not as horrible as some claim, but yeah, not his finest outing. _________________ "Music is like candy, you throw the (w)rappers away."
Joined: 24 Feb 2008 Posts: 2642 Location: vista ca
Posted: Sun Nov 26, 2023 9:37 am Post subject:
“Honey in the horn” is a great example of trumpet sound production, musicality, arranging, and recording. The music is a bit “schlocky’ but the actually trumpet playing is superb. Produced by Chet atkins.
Well worth a listen, and while listening imagine playing all of that trumpet in maybe two three hour sessions, flawlessly. Amazing sound _________________ Mouthpiece Maker
vintage Trumpet design enthusiast
www.meeuwsenmouthpieces.com www.youtube.com/lipshurt
Joined: 23 Mar 2003 Posts: 9144 Location: Hawai`i - Texas
Posted: Sun Nov 26, 2023 10:32 am Post subject:
Al displays some tasty and formidable chops in the afore-mentioned "Honey in the Horn", but I can't believe somebody paid good coin for some of those charts. _________________ "If you don't live it, it won't come out of your horn." Bird
"Well, even if I could play like Wynton, I wouldn't play like Wynton." Chet Baker
Al displays some tasty and formidable chops in the afore-mentioned "Honey in the Horn", but I can't believe somebody paid good coin for some of those charts.
Similar to his "Raw Sugar" album. Cheesy arrangements, they did a substandard job of recording Al - whatever mic they used on him sounds like it might have been broken or just the wrong mic for a solo trumpet. This is the title track - utter schlock until the middle section where he cuts loose with seemingly impossibly fast licks.
Joined: 09 Aug 2019 Posts: 419 Location: SE Louisiana
Posted: Sun Nov 26, 2023 5:46 pm Post subject:
I agree and do believe several of Al Hirt’s albums are recorded terribly, including the “Pops Goes the Trumpet” with the aforementioned Haydn Concerto recording.
Joined: 25 Mar 2010 Posts: 5304 Location: Central Texas
Posted: Mon Nov 27, 2023 8:44 am Post subject:
Times change, regarding charts of decades past... I think people forget today just how popular Al Hirt was nationally, at one time. A time when neighbors not only knew the names of all their neighbors, but hung out in living rooms, listening to music with them on a regular basis, a lot of these recordings were used in that setting, music for live gettogethers, instead of instagram nights on the couch, alone, looking at videos of cats playing hilariously with household objects.
Yes, some of the arrangements, especially those with heavy strings and 'ooooh, ahhh' background vocals are cringy today, but they were 'the norm' for a while half century back or so.
Also, Al was enough of a household name that he had his own TV show for a while. _________________ "Music is like candy, you throw the (w)rappers away."
Joined: 23 Mar 2003 Posts: 9144 Location: Hawai`i - Texas
Posted: Mon Nov 27, 2023 9:21 am Post subject:
I think you're selling personal taste/era short. I was there at the top of Al Hirt's popularity, and, even at that time, I thought some of the charts were lame. _________________ "If you don't live it, it won't come out of your horn." Bird
"Well, even if I could play like Wynton, I wouldn't play like Wynton." Chet Baker
Watch this video of Red Nichols, Pete Candoli, and Al Hirt then ask yourself if they can play jazz! Al Hirt was a MONSTER trumpet player who could play anything.
There is a reason that Louis Armstrong, Harry James, Herb Alpert, and Al Hirt were the four trumpet players of the 20th Century that were truly household names all across America!
Most purists would suggest Al had no place with Coltrane, they may be right, but Al had a huge reserve of ideas so you never know what might have been...as long as it was in the period prior to interstellar mediums.
Watch this video of Red Nichols, Pete Candoli, and Al Hirt then ask yourself if they can play jazz! Al Hirt was a MONSTER trumpet player who could play anything.
There is a reason that Louis Armstrong, Harry James, Herb Alpert, and Al Hirt were the four trumpet players of the 20th Century that were truly household names all across America!
As far as I am concerned, anybody that can hold their own with the likes of Red Nichols and Pete Candoli can play jazz, even if they don't necessarily sound like Miles Davis or Freddie Hubbard.
Joined: 25 Mar 2010 Posts: 5304 Location: Central Texas
Posted: Tue Nov 28, 2023 8:52 am Post subject:
Man Of Constant Sorrow wrote:
Did/do y'all know Al Hirt played the background "Flight Of The Bumblebee" theme during the Green Hornet television series, 1966-or-so?
(also - a virtually unknown Bruce Lee played the Green Hornet's sidekick, Kato)
Yes, and I don't know which album offhand, but I'm fairly sure he put that track on one of them, because my father used to play it fairly regularly when I was still 'knee high to a baby duck' or so. _________________ "Music is like candy, you throw the (w)rappers away."
Somewhere (?) on YT there was a vid of Al Hirt playing a Martin Committee.
I think it was Al at a younger age playing on the Lawrence Welk Show, if memory serves (?). _________________ Sub-Optimal Hillbilly Jazz
I just listened to the whole album on YouTube. Thirty minutes of Jumbo displaying jaw-dropping trumpet technique on cheesy arrangements of themes from 60's TV shows, all of which I remember watching as a kid.
Dang. Sometimes I really miss the 60's. _________________ Bryan Fields
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1991 Bach LR180 ML 37S
1999 Getzen Eterna 700S
1977 Getzen Eterna 895S Flugelhorn
1969 Getzen Capri cornet
1995 UMI Benge 4PSP piccolo trumpet
Warburton and Stomvi Flex mouthpieces
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