Faddis

[DSR]

Check out this picture:

http://www.trumpetplayer.net/images/faddis10f.jpg

Is Jon Faddis a type IV?

[Mr.Hollywood]

Brendan,

Thanks, what a great shot !!!!

It's funny, he sounds like a IV and he definitely has the range of a IV, yet in that picture if he was placed just a little bit higher he would look more like a IIIB.

Doug Elliot has typed Faddis in person and says he is absolutely a IV. I don't want the politically correct to jump all over me, but Doc always said it was very hard tell what was going on inside the mouthpiece on black players without using a clear plastic mouthpiece. He said that a lot of them played on the inside of the red, and that it would look one way on the outside and look totally different in the plastic mouthpiece.

You also have to understand that while there are a lot of downstream players with great upper registers, almost all of the players who play consistently in the tripple high register have been strait type IV's ( Cat Anderson, Bud Brisbois, Andrea Toffinelli, Faddis, Roy Roman etc.. ) While I'm not a big fan of the type IV for all around trumpet playing ( I've said before that some of the worst trumpet players I've ever heard were type IV's ) they are the ones who can play in that tripple high range the most consistently. I know that you are a type IV and I don't mean to offend you. The beautiful thing about Doc's teaching's is that you can become as great as you want to be no matter what type you are. You can be one of the great IV's if you have the desire and are willing to do the work.

You must know the strengths and weaknesses of your particular type. The type IV has a natural built in compression thats it's strength. It's weaknesses are sound, pitch problems and single tounging. All too many IV's just concentrate on high notes and as a result are poor all around players. Maybe it's because the high register comes so easy for them that alot of them go in this direction.

Good Luck, Good Chops and Happy Holidays.

Chris

[ This Message was edited by: Mr.Hollywood on 2002-12-18 11:41 ]

[drunkiq]

did anyone every figure out what type bill chase was?

I love the clear tone he has in the upper registery and this faddis post just made me wonder..

-marc

[Mr.Hollywood]

I've studied Bill's chop's in pictures and on videos with Woody Herman and his own group "Chase".

In most of the pictures and all of the videos he look like some kind of downstream ( either a IIIa or a IIIb ). But in that famous picture on the back of the 1970's vintage Jet-Tone catalog he looks like a type IV upstream, go figure.......

If I had to say one way or the other, I would guess that he's a IIIb downsteam. I am basing that on the 1974 video " Live at Faces ". Bill's chops sound and look very tired and beat on that video. He looks like he's "meat hooking it " ( receding his jaw and hanging the mouthpiece on his upper lip ) a common IIIb ailment when they are tired.

Another reason that I don't think he was an upsteam type is that he NEVER played beyond a double 'C#'. As I said in some previous posts the upsteamers generally have the lock on the high double and tripple high registers. I'm sure if Bill could play up there he would have done so.

I can tell you this with some degree of certainty, Bill Chase played on dry chops. You can see him constanly wiping his chop's off on all the videos that I have of him.

One thing you can say about BIll Chase, when he was on there was nobody better, but when he was off....... ouch!!!! Just listen to Woody Herman "Live in Italy 1969 ". I suggest that every trumpet player buy that record and listen to it when their chops are down, or they just don't feel good about their playing. There is something therapeutic about listening to one of you trumpet heros totally sounding like s**t.

I think it lets you know that you shouldn't take things so seriously, and that no matter what, the trumpet seems to have the upper hand with all of us at one time or another.

Happy Holidays

Chris

[ This Message was edited by: Mr.Hollywood on 2002-12-19 00:13 ]