Trombone players

Kudos to the ITF for the diversity of players and musical styles it included in this year’s New York festival. An example of that diversity was the masterclass conducted by Christopher Bill. Best known for his viral YouTube video performance of Pharrell’s Happy, Christopher lead an entertaining demonstration of his live looping playing style of…

I’ve written about various people at the festival that I had not known prior to their event. Ed’s talk was different. I’ve been a fan of Ed Neumeister for many years, notably from his work in the Thad Jones Mel Lewis band. His beautiful performance on Butter was one of my favorites. He’s a very eclectic musician with…

As was the case with most of the masterclass I attended at the recent ITF, I had no idea what to expect as I walked into room 308. Leading the class was Jen Baker, a New York trombonist with a unique skill. As I soon discovered, Jen’s specialty is multiphonics. Multiphonics is the practice of singing specific…

Hakan Bjorkman was a name I had not heard before. But after his masterclass and performances at the International Trombone Festival at Juilliard, it’s a name I will not forget. I walked into the 12 noon “artistic clinic” on the third floor not knowing at all what to expect other than probably hearing some good trombone…

I recently came across an excerpt from the book “Meet Me At Jim & Andy’s” by Gene Lees. The excerpt is the very sad story told by a close friend of Frank Rosolino about the events leading up to the tragic night of November 26, 1978 when Frank shot himself and his two young boys. I’ve always…