MENDEZ, CLARK,GORDON ,MAGGIO relationship

[trptdoc]

In the years that I studied with Claude Gordon we often talked of his relationship with Mendez and especially the era during which they both studied with Herbert Clark. If you listen to Gordon's recordings he often sounds like Mendez : great tongue and finger speed,etc,. I believe they were both in the studios together as well. CG and Mendez both also studied with Maggio about the same time I believe. I'd be interested to know more about these connecticons. Can anyone shed any light?

Larry Miller
_________________
"Big Breath Chest Up", "Hit 'Em Hard and Wish "Em Well", " Take It Farther than I Did"

[oj]

Claude Gordon studied with Clarke for a long time (10 years). He was indeed a student of Clarke. I have the impression that Mendez only had a few lessons with Clarke? In one, Clarke gave him his "Tech. Study" (autographing it).

In 1932 (after the swing door accident) Mendez contacted Schlossberg, Clarke and Walter Smith for help. All told him to stop playing and let it heal. But he played and got worse. Then he went home to Mexico and stayed with his father (working on pedal exercises). This helped him. When returning to US again he sought up Louis Maggio.

But, can you call Mendez a student of Clarke and Maggio?
(If I had a few lessons with NN, I would not call me a student of NN. )

Ole

[Trptbenge]

I think the Clarke lesson is where the now famous statement from Clarke came from "I should be taking lessons from you". Mendez was already an outstanding player when he went to take a lesson from Clarke.

I think Mendez sought help from Maggio after his injury. There is some thought that some of Maggio's pedal exercises actually came from Mendez. Whether this is true or not I don't know. Maggio seemed the right person to go to since he had recovered from a lip injury as well. There must have been a friendship between Maggio and Mendez because Carlton MacBeth, who wrote the Maggio Book, told me he showed up once for his lesson with Maggio and Mendez was filling in for him. He said he was very intimidated. I can imagine. But what an opportunity to spend time with someone who was such a great player.

Mike

[trpt.hick]

There seems to be a lot of confusion. However, Ole is mostly correct.

Mendez only had two lessons with Clarke:

first one - after his first embouchure accident (swinging door) in hopes of learning to play again because he could barely make a sound. Here, Clarke told him that he would likely never be able to play again. He autograhped a copy of his Characteristic Studies (now in a display case in the Rafael Mendez Library) which said, "To Rafael Mendez, Hoping to someday hear you play the contents of this book."

second one - after Mendez returned a year later after studying with his father (mostly on pedal tones). Here, he played at his best for Clarke. Clarke later wrote a letter to his friend Edwin Franko Goldman which read, "Have you heard the young Mexican trumpeter, Rafael Mendez? Such tone! Such velocity! A hundred years from now, they will have forgotten our names, but they will always remember the name, Rafael Mendez."

Several years before all of this, in Detroit, Mendez and Maggio played in some music theaters together. Mendez liked to warm up with pedal tones and Maggio often studied Mendez doing this. Mendez taught Maggio how to play pedal tones. Maggio then moved to Minneapolis. After Maggio's accident, he moved to Los Angeles and became a teacher.

Mendez moved from Detroit to New York to join the Rudy Vallee Show. The show then moved to Hollywood. Mendez and Maggio were friends, but Mendez NEVER had any lessons with Maggio. Mendez did send his two sons to study with Maggio because he was on the road so much and didn't have time to teach the boys on a regular basis.

Some of the Mendez-Maggio relationship is discussed in an interview by H. M. Lewis in an early ITG article. There, Mendez makes it very clear that Maggio originally learned pedals from him.

I do not know of any studio playing that Mendez and Maggio did together. I also do not know of any studio playing that Gordon and Mendez did together, but it is likely that they must have played some together at some point.

BTW, on Mendez' second (and last) lesson with Clarke, Clarke advised Mendez to compose or arrange his own solos if he was to develop a real solo career, stating that a real soloist had his own unique repertoire. This was great advice which Mendez took to heart, composing and arranging over 300 works.

DH

[trptdoc]

Thanks for the input. Based on this information it seems that Mendez really brought the concept of pedal tone useage to a lot of players thorugh Maggio.. I wonder where Mendez's father got the concept? Claude told me that he and several of the LA players went to Maggio to learn his pedal system because they believed that was where Gozzo perfected his big sound. Claude also said that Mendez showed him the concept of double tonguing in triplets( a technique that Claude passed on to many of us). Playing with Mendez when he came to my high school was certainly the factor that motivated me to take my playing to another level.
_________________
"Big Breath Chest Up", "Hit 'Em Hard and Wish "Em Well", " Take It Farther than I Did"