1st Trumpet on the European tour of "Evita" an Adams student

[John Mohan]

Hi there you all,

Just dropping in on your Forum to let you know that I played a few shows last week for the European tour of Evita which is in Berlin until July 4th.

And much to my happiness and surprize, when I got to the show for the first time last week, I found out that my friend and colleague Bob Burns is playing 1st Trumpet on the Tour! I hadn't seen Bobby since the mid 1980's when we both played at the Los Angeles Jazz Workshop together.

Bob was a Bill Adams student, and I want you all to know that he is playing fabulously. Sitting next to him and watching and hearing him reminded me of how closely the Bill Adams approach and the Claude Gordon approach are related. The way Bobby sat there in his chair with his chest up in perfect posture, drawing in all the air in the Theater (and most of the air outside on the street) and then USING that air properly - wow!

Well that's all for now. Come visit the Claude Gordon forum once in a while.

Sincerely,

John Mohan
_________________
Trumpet Player, Clinician & Teacher
1st Trpt for Cats, Phantom of the Opera, West Side Story, Evita, Hunchback of Notre Dame,
Grease, The Producers, Addams Family, In the Heights, etc.
Ex LA Studio Musician
16 Year Claude Gordon Student

[trumpity]

I went to school, i.e. I.U., with Bob Burns..what an incredible trumpet player...fabulous range...Kudos for B. Burns

[PH]

Two Bobby Burns stories from our IU days:

1) When he first came out of high school he wasn't a particularly good player and barely made it into university. He was very persistent and did exactly what Mr. Adam told him. He had been working with Adam for 3 or 4 years by the time I (and Kim, incidentally) came to IU. I remember walking down the hall on the third floor of the IU music building (where all of Adam's students practiced) and hearing someone playing a beautiful rendition of the 2nd Charlier etude UP THE OCTAVE!!!. It sounded like a violinist, but it was Bob floating that beautiful sound out of the trumpet.

2) Another time we were recording David Baker's Concerto for Flute, String Quartet, and Jazz Band. We were doing the recording direct to 2-track and any major mistakes meant we redid the entire take. One movement ended with one of Baker's favorite devices, an ascending diminished scale that started in the subcontra in the tuba and ascended through the entire brass section ending up with Bob playing the last octave from high D up the scale to double D. Bob's sound was so centered and projected to the front that the rest of us in the section were never sure if he made the lick or not until the playback. When the takes were played back ALL YOU COULD HEAR WAS BOBBY! We did 3 or 4 takes-not of just the ending, but of the entire movement (which had a lot of other blowing in it. Burns never even chipped anything on any of the takes.

FYI, in addition to Bob and myself the other trumpets on that recording were John Harbaugh, Jim Hale, David Sturm, and Chris Botti. I don't know if it is still available. It was originally released on LP on Laurel Records. The LP release had that piece paired with a concerto for violin and jazz band that had Jerry Hey and Malcolm McNab in the trumpet section.

Also, for anyone who thinks that being able to play high, loud, etc. has anything to do with physical strength, Bob Burns is probably 5'3"" and is (was?) lucky if he weighs 125 pounds.

[ This Message was edited by: PH on 2002-06-28 09:46 ]

[Quadruple C]

[ This Message was edited by: Quadruple C on 2003-09-20 16:40 ]

[John Mohan]

[PH]

Give Bob my love and my email address!

My wife just found an old photo of Bob, me, and trombonist Peter Brockman on the way to a halloween gig (in costumes) from 1982! Wierd.

[mark936]

I saw "Evita" in '78--80 (?) in Los Angeles at the Schubert Theatre in Century City.

You guys in the orchestra then?

I also saw "Evita" again down in Long Beach at the Convention Center in +/- 85.

You guys know how lucky you are?

Farfignugnen.