My gig with Dick Hyman

[Mr.Hollywood]

I recently did a gig with the piano player/composer Dick Hyman.

I never like to talk about the gigs that I do ( like some players on TPIN who think that everbody in the trumpet world cares who their playing with, and how many gigs they have) But Dave Sheetz suggested that I post this because it just might be interesting to see some of Doc's ideas put to practical use.

First off this was a special concert debuting a brand new three part suite that Dick had composed.

Part one was a strait ahead hard bop 1960's type piece with some "free" playing (ala Ornette Coleman) in it.

Part two was the rough one. The only way to describe it was that it was a quasi legit/ jazz piece. It only went to a high Bb, but it had some very hard intervals to make. And worst of all......The entire piece was a trumpet feature, and VERY, VERY exposed at that.

Part three was very fast rhythm changes.

I played the entire three movements without changing equipment. I used Doc's ideas instead of changing mouthpieces to alter my sound.

For example; Doc told me that if I wanted to take the edge off (and darken) my sound I should think of blowing stait into the throat of the mouthpiece. If you want to add sizzle he said to direct the air " Strait through the top of your head" .


On the third and last movement Dick Hyman had written me a choice four bar break on fast rhythm in Bb. Being the high note nut that I am all I could think about was how I was going to work a double 'C' into that break. The problem was that all the music that came before it was in the middle and low registers, and being the only trumpet ( there where only five horns alltogether) I really had to sing out those parts without distorting my embrouchure.

I just kept thinking of a story that Dave Sheetz told me..... He was playing Dinah Shore and he somehow got stuck on the fourth chair. He told Doc that he was afraid that after three weeks of fouth trumpet that he would gradually loose his high register. Doc told him not to worry about it and that if Dave did what he told him to do that he would " have more chops than before the three weeks on fourth trumpet"

Basicly Doc said that when you are playing in the middle and low registers DO NOT LET OFF THE MOUTHPIECE PRESSURE. This does not mean that you are going to ram the horn into your face for a middle 'G', but that you must NEVER LOOSE YOUR LEGS WHILE PLAYING IN THE MIDDLE AND LOW REGISTER.

Anyway, comes the last week of Daves gig and Dinah shows up with a trumpet feature that was written for her and Doc Severinsen. Dave said the part was passed right down to him. He said that not only was it a long written solo but the last note was a high 'G'.

The happy ending to this story is that Dave nailed the solo as well as the high'G'. And that he sounded so good doing it the Dinah Shore came over and personally thanked him for a job well done.

Not bad after three weeks of fourth trumpet.

Thanks Doc!

Chris


p.s. Dave, I hope I got the story right.

[airdyn]

Chris,
Modesty prevents me from "blowing smoke up my own...", if you know what I mean. And I don't usually like to respond directly on a Post to comments (I much prefer to email personal stuff)...
So, to be informative as to what playing fourth trumpet does to one's playing ... in Maynard's biography, he alludes to the fact that with Kenton he was striving to be "the best 5th trumpet player there ever was" or something to that affect and I remember spending my 21st Birthday ( I was in the Army Field Band at the time) on the band bus of Stan Kenton( whom a bunch of us met in a hotel lobby) and going to his gig that night...Bud Brisbois was playing 5th trumpet...it was his first gig with Stan...and Stan kept manually gesturing to Bud to "play louder"...he couldn't hear the 5th part! Well, we all know that Bud developed in to such a great trumpet player.
All this leads to what Doc told me about playing the 4th trumpet chair when I was at Resorts in Atlantic City at the time ( I was demoted waiting for Paul Cohen to join the band, since the contractor wanted me out to get his buddy Paul on the band)...
Doc said that if I played 4th trumpet ( which was a lot of double lead one 8va lower) I was to think like the lead player...i.e. don't let up on the mouthpiece pressure in the low register, keep the firm lower extremeties throughout ( we have a tendency to let up in the lower and middle registers, don't we?) and remember that the traditional thought of "A good low register is the foundation of a good high register" is ONLY A HALF TRUTH!!! Doc said that the whole truth is "A CORRECT low register is the foundation of a good high register" and that range is a result of lip compression and all degrees thereof. Lip compression in ALL registers, not just in the high register.
Thanks for the Post, Chris...I trust it will benefit a lot of brass players.
Dave S.

[PC]

Hi,
Interesting posts! I have a question, is this related to not dropping the jaw when going for lower tones?

I have personally experienced immense improvements when playing lower parts by keeping some lip compression and not letting the whole set-up tumble, with its accompaniment of blown and spread chops (takes some time not to spread chops playing low and loud).

In short, I fully agree with this advice and may say that sound quality is not deteriorated by keeping the lips together on low notes, contrary to what many say! (the only thing deteriorating is "tiredness"!).

Pierre.

[ This Message was edited by: PC on 2003-03-07 06:31 ]