Brass Chats: Recent Episodes
Monster Oil
Brass Chats are interviews with the best brass players in the industry hosted by Tom, Joel and Chris - trumpet players with the United Stated Coast Guard Band and makers of the wildly popular valve oil - Monster Oil. In each episode we ask successful brass players about their "tips and tricks" for mastering their instrument and we learn stories about their life as a professional brass player.
Brass Chats Interview with Charles DaellenbachThe world-famous Canadian Brass came to play in Hartford, Connecticut this past winter, and the Monster boys were fortunate enough to snag some tickets. Obviously, seeing the Canadian Brass is a bucket-list concert item—and if you haven’t checked that box, when all of the sheltering-in-place is behind us, do it!!—but even COOLER was the fact that Charles Daellenbach (tuba player/performer extraordinaire and founding member of The Canadian Brass) sat down with us after the show for a beer and a chat!
The gracious Mr. Daellenbach was generous with his time and shared so much. You’ll hear great stories, all the way from Arnold Jacobs to tales from the road (like headlining a….hang on…..Country and Western Festival?!).
As with each of the Brass Chats, there’s plenty here that stays with you after the interview, and lots of ideas that you can start to implement the minute you finish watching. Charles tells us about why many freelancers fail to find work, how ideas are everywhere all the time for the taking, how to put on a show without selling out, and much more.
We hope you enjoy! Love,
Tom, Chris, and Joel—Monsters.
Brass Chats Interview with Michael DavisIf your supplemental musical web surfing has not brought you into the path of this month’s Brass Chatter, you’re probably living in a house made of rocks and need to go out back to see if the pterodactyl holding your internet connection in place is still alive. Test it by poking him with a stick, and once he (this is a Flintstones joke kids, stick with us for a sec) looks at the fourth wall and says “hey….it’s a livin!” ….you’ll know the problem is fixed. Now that your connection is fixed and you’ve gone back inside under your rock roof and sat down in your rock chair, we have two jobs for you:
Job One: watch this Brass Chat! Michael is a dude who….just knows. You name it and he’s played it, and you’ll hear about a bunch of it here, from playing with the Rolling Stones to Buddy Rich to Broadway. You’ll also get to learn how he built his business from the ground up, what his most moving performance was, his thoughts on learning how to improvise, and the most important element to his success. Speaking of that…..
Job Two: start exploring the boundless universe of amazing things that our friend Michael Davis! has created! Your jumping-off-point is hip-bonemusic.com, where you’ll find yourself up to your eyeballs in books, instructional videos, online lessons, and other treasures. You should also check out his fabulous interview series called Bone2Pick.
Michael is a huge inspiration to all of us in the brass world, and he was one of our funnest and funniest interviews we’ve ever done. We hope to get him back on for round 2 someday. Until then: this interview was a ridiculously easy edit—-there was so much amazing stuff in there that we basically kept everything. So, enjoy!
Love,
Joel, Tom, Chris - Monsters.
Brass Chats Interview With Jack Sutte Happy New Year everybody! Thanks for being Brass Chats fans. Exciting stuff to come this year! Okay, enough of that——on to this month:
Remember last month when we opened with “Michael Sachs is….not like us”? Well…..had we interviewed this month’s guest first, he definitely would’ve gotten that sentence. JACK SUTTE! Is……Not. Like. Us. (In a good way but) Not. Like. Us.
Tune up the video to feast upon stories about his first day on the job in Cleveland back in 1999, playing Tomasi—in high school 🤮🤮🤮—and if your screen doesn’t recognize those, they were barfing faces—, why he doesn’t have a daily routine (?!), and how he switches between playing orchestral 2nd trumpet and the most challenging solo repertoire ever written. He’s on a quest to record every trumpet sonata in existence, and we are not joking, so if you want to troll him, WRITE SOME MORE TRUMPET SONATAS SO HE’LL NEVER FINISH. …but he’s damn close, so get moving!
Speaking of getting moving: it’s our hope that this month’s (and every month’s) Brass Chat is part of the tonic you need to motivate, inspire, and encourage you down on your paths of musical productivity in the new decade. We have big goals, and so do you. Thanks Jack Sutte, for helping us take the first step!!
Love you all,
Joel, Tom, Chris - Monsters.
Brass Chats Interview with Michael SachsMichael Sachs is….not like us.
His trumpet sound is comprised of equal parts pure molten gold, Old-Testament-fire-and-fury, new puppy fur, goose-pimple-shivers, maple syrup, Mahler’s image of heaven, heartbreak, and electrocution; our sounds are comprised of equal parts desperation and diarrhea. He’s spent more hours deciphering voodoo elements and tweaks of trumpet construction (MANY details in the interview, that you can try!!!!) than we’ve spent actually playing the trumpet…..he knows how to approach James Stamp exercises, and we, as it turns out…….don’t.
Want to learn how to play Stamp? You’ve come to the right place!
Want to learn some trumpet tweaks that you can do, today, to make your horn play better? You’re about to listen to the right guy! (…it’s a wormhole, but it’s worth it!)
Want to hear what a big-5 principal learned from watching Nolan Ryan (one of the greatest pitchers of all time) warm up? Hit that play button.
Hanging with Michael Sachs was an absolute treat, and he was generous with his time and info—we’ll hit him up again someday, because the hour wasn’t nearly enough!
Happy Thanksgiving! We love you all and we’re thankful to all our Brass Chats guests, thankful that we get to do this, and thankful that you like watching.
Love,
Monsters
Brass Chats Lesson with John RommelFrom the desk of Tom Brown, 1/3rd of Monster Oil:
“It was 1998. I had just finished up my undergraduate degree and was trying to figure out why I still had fundamental issues with the trumpet.
I had countless friends who went on and on about what Indiana University Professor John Rommel had done for their playing, so I gave him a call. That first hour I had with him was the most inspirational hour of my trumpet career.
In this lesson he had the courage to tell me I was fundamentally playing the trumpet incorrectly, that there was an easier way, and then proceeded to tell me how it could be fixed.
Fast forward to the summer of 2018. I purchased a 2000 Lincoln Town Car station wagon (don't ask) that had a tape deck. So I went into my garage and the first tape I pulled out of an old box (full of maybe 200 tapes) was THIS lesson. So....this was meant to be.
I called Professor Rommel and asked him if he'd be ok with us releasing it as a Brass Chat. He said sure (mostly). So I spent a fair amount of time cleaning up the sound quality which was pretty bad. And I must say the tape is as inspirational today as it was then.
Thankfully for you, I don't do much playing in the lesson. He talks most of the time, and the info is applicable to pretty much anybody who plays, not just me.
Don't worry, this isn't a substitute for a proper Brass Chat with Mr. Rommel, but we thought you might find it interesting.”
There it is—fabulously inspiring raw trumpet content, rescued by pure serendipity from the bowels of an old stinky cardboard box. Your brain is like a stinky cardboard box right now; fill it with this tape to fix!
Love,
Monsters
Brass Chats Interview with Thomas GanschHere is our prescribed method for watching this, our latest installment of Brass Chats, in FOUR easy steps:
- If you’ve never watched Thomas Gansch and Mnozil Brass perform before, find them on Youtube and watch them blow a couple tunes out of the water. If you’re already familiar with them, go watch your favorite one
- Search for your jaw on the floor, wipe your tears away, mend the shattered pieces of your broken heart, and pull yourself back together as you get ready for step 3
- Watch this interview with our new favorite human being, Thomas Gansch
- Go back, armed with what you now know about fearlessness, individuality, sound concepts, performing concepts, artistry, emotion, theater, Al Pacino, and much more, and repeat step 1 for a whole new experience
This method will be the best hour and a half you’ll spend all year on becoming a better artist. If we still haven’t sold you (which, why are you even on this page), within this Brass Chat you will find Thomas Gansch’s ruminations on:
- the beginnings of Mnozil
- the correct and incorrect pronunciations of Mnozil
- the key to cosmic understanding
- finding his own musical identity
- falling in love with jazz
- the best trumpet player that has ever walked this planet
- how much he practices per day
- who he wants to play at his funeral
- the most important thing in life (spoiler alert: it may or may not be five hundred dubba C’s in a row)
- the secret to his unstoppable endurance
- his daily warm-up/routine
- Mark Gould
- his biggest vice
…and much more. Eat up, you savages!
Love,
Monsters
PS: if you’ve never seen Mnozil, start looking for the next time they come to town. It is a different, much better experience than watching them online, and is worth missing your grandma’s birthday, or taco night, or church, or your kid’s recital, or your kid’s first steps, or your kid’s birth, or whatever you people do in your free time. Cheers!
Brass Chats Interview with Chad WinklerChad Winkler is magical, on so many levels. Well…at least two: …okay, two and a half:
First level, obviously, would be his trumpet prowess. Second level, there’s this. …I know, right?! And the half-level? Chad tells us his favorite magician in the famous Monster Round.
Why on earth do you care about that? …You don’t, of course. But maybe you will care about:
- What he learned from George Vosburgh
- Chad playing the Posthorn solo at Mahler’s grave
- Chad’s obsession with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra
- The best horns Chad’s ever played
- The meanest thing he’s ever said to a student
- How a warmup should never last more than ten minutes
- and much more.
Intrigued? Tantalized? Invigorated? Motivated? Fumigated? CONSTIPATED?!?! US TOO!!!!!!!!
Enough poop jokes. Go get better at music! It’s BRASS CHATS. Hit it!
Love - Monsters.
David Bilger, Principal Trumpet of the Philadelphia Orchestra, spills his guts and tells you how he got so good.
Interview with Scott Laskey - Brass ChatsSo, in December of 2017 we went on an epic adventure and filmed 10 episodes of Brass Chats around the country. Among these was Scott Laskey, who we caught up with at the Midwest Clinic in Chicago.
After the trip we had some planning to do, including the order in which these Brass Chats should be released. We based our decisions on a few criteria, and ended up deciding (back in December) to release Scott's chat in September, 2018.
If you're here, you probably know by now: Scott passed away about a month ago. He will be dearly missed by the trumpet, brass, and music communities. We very much regret that he never got to see this Brass Chat, which is absolutely fantastic and will be appreciated and combed over for many years because of the wide array of topics he covers, and the wisdom he brought to the table.
In a first for Brass Chats, we have decided to release this Chat unedited. We don't want you to miss out on any part of this interview, which was among his last. It runs for about one hour and fifteen minutes, and as you'll see, could have gone muuuuch longer if time had permitted. If you need more motivation to watch, the following phrase might help: "Bud Herseth's mouthpiece."
There will be no coupon code this month. Don't buy Monster Oil... Instead:
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Email scottlaskeymemorial@gmail.com with your best Scott story. This is something his family has set up, and we can't wait to see the final product, so don't delay.
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Grab your favorite Laskey mouthpiece and play as loud as you're able for as long as possible in your next practice session.
We will miss you, Scott! Thanks for everything you did for the trumpet world, and thanks for hanging out with us.
Buckle up, it's Brass Chats time! This month's candidate is a real treat. If you want to know:
- what it was like playing with Chris Martin
- how many practice hours you should be putting in on your instrument
- how to get an efficient warm up in twenty minutes
- how to be a more consistent player
...look no further than Brass Chats, Season 2, Episode 7: Tage Larsen. He's the 4th/utility trumpet player with the legendary Chicago Symphony Orchestra, and if you listen to him chat with us for a bit, you just also might hear about:
- his favorite new exercise craze
- singing in a reggae band
- just what in the heck he has to do with the Mighty Mighty Bosstones.
Join us! Thanks Tage!!!
He practiced five hours a day for like ten straight years, keeping detailed logs the entire time, and he shares these logs with his students.
He played with a good handful of principal trumpets in Houston, informing his second-trumpet expertise more than nearly any other player—ever.
He almost stopped playing in Houston 'cause he couldn't figure trumpet out.
He rides escalators in the wrong direction.
He changed his trumpet playing completely using a dental apparatus (could you do the same?...it's like a get-good-quick scheme. People like that, right? You guys like that?).
It's been a "long time" since he cried himself to sleep. (sure, Tony.)
He has the inside scoop on what it's like to play with Dave Bilger.
And of course—he passed the Monster Round with flying colors.
He is.....the Most Interesting Second Trumpet Player in the World.
Monster Lesson: when your creative juices aren't flowing, steal and modify something someone else has created. This applies HEAVILY to trumpet. And jazz. And making blog posts. We'd like to thank Dos Equis Beer. Prost, Prisk, and enjoy this month's installment of Brass Chats!!!
What happens when you sit down with Neal Berntsen, second trumpet of the Pittsburgh Symphony, at Heinz Hall, and dig into trumpet nuts and bolts? Well....
You learn what you're not doing right in your morning ritual. You ask yourself about your own trumpet routine. You reconsider how to stay healthy. You realize that you're bad at articulation. You realize that your sound isn't quite what it should be (but Neal's is). You hear about Chris Martin getting punched in the face (???). You talk about trumpet legends, like Bud, George, and Manny.
Bach vs. Yamaha? Basketball? Favorite trumpet recording? MARK HUGHES' MUSTACHE?!?!?!? ....it's all here. Enough said—getcha some Neal!
Pierre Thibaud. Bill Vacchiano. Arnold Jacobs. Armando Ghitalla. Roger Voisin. Besides trumpet influence, what do these guys have in common? Well, if we're writing it here, you can probably guess: this month's Brass Chatter, Stephen Burns. Oh yeah: Mel Broiles. Håkan Hardenberger. Tom Stevens. Others. Stories abound and we get great stuff from each one.
How much do you practice? ...bet it's not as much as Steve did...in high school. Let alone later on in life. Want to hear about the kind of focus it takes to win the 1st Grand Prix in the Maurice André International Competition? Your clues lie within...
Perhaps most importantly is a question we should all be asking ourselves: what is the modern trumpet player? What is the modern musician? Just how the hell are we supposed to get audiences, make money, build a reputation, and create new music, assuming we can ever figure out how to play the damned instrument in the first place? It's all in there. The key is here.
He's a man who forged his own path. He's a thinker. He's a trumpet genius. He's Steve Burns. And now, he's a Brass Chatter! So get going. And make sure you watch all the way to the end. And thanks, Steve!!
Love, - Monsters
International soloist and Yamaha performing artist Rex Richardson talks teachers, influences, idols, and anthropology. Wait, what?
She crushes it on the horn and always has. She says curse words in job interviews. Her mental game alone is stronger than all of the skills we have—combined. She has overcome great obstacles and injuries; she knows how to practice. She is a superstar. She is the Boss. She is all of these things, and much much more—at a young age with myriad untold wonders to offer the world in the future.What we're trying to say is, holy moly, were we ever lucky to score an interview with the Principal Horn (I know, horn, right?! Us!!) of the Philadelphia Orchestra JEN MONTONE! Here it is, this month's inspiration feast. Enjoy!
Well everybody, it's been quite a ride, but it's time for us to call it quits on Brass Chats......season ONE!!!! HAAAA GOTCHA SUCKERS!!!We are super excited to kick off the SECOND SEASON of the best interview series in the world that we make. That's right---Brass Chats is back! And we are kickin' ass and takin' names. The first name we are taking is a real legend: a former member of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and former Principal Trumpet of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra: George Vosburgh.Some people practice for years and never achieve a screamin' high G. George did before he could drive a car. Other people try to bench press 135 lbs; George benched 400. Some people enjoy normal civilized conversational discourse; George gets in, gets out, says what he thinks, and bombards you with energy and information. You'll be tired, but you'll be better afterwards.We love George. We love Brass Chats. We love you. Go!!!
Each time we do a Brass Chat, we think "wow, this one is going to be hard to top." Well...wow, this one is going to be hard to top. Håkan Hardenberger is REALLY GOOD at acting, keeping a straight face (must be a Swedish thing) and dumping out buckets of water (click for proof). Fortunately for all of us, Håkan is also really good at dumping out buckets of knowledge, from trumpet nuts and bolts to the ever-helpful 'poo' attack—we are getting pretty good at talking 'poo'—to lip bends to practicing to performing to musicality. Speaking of Swedish things, did you know that "sent from my iPhone" in Swedish is "Skickat från min iPhone?" Well...Skickat från Håkan's brain to yours: it's Brass Chats! Enjoy.
If trumpet star Trent Austin had a baseball card, the back of it would show stats like: * Pitches: R (click for proof) * Bats: R * Owns: Austin Custom Brass (click to visit) * Teachers: Findlay Brothers, Clark Terry, Thomas Stevens, Gabriel probably * Usable Range: seventeen octaves * Position: All around, every style, every note * Equipment: Adams Instruments (linked), makes his own mouthpieces, but could play any music on any trumpet ever made with any mouthpiece * Number of lips needed to play actual music on the trumpet: one, possibly zero
We were super excited to score an interview with Trent, who's a renaissance man, an incredible trumpet player, and an all-around great dude. Tune in to see how Trent does it, and also to hear him talk trumpet technique, mouthpiece/equipment selection, his longtime friendship with Clark Terry, his dream jazz combo, and much more, including the always entertaining Monster Round.After you're done learning tons from Trent, go check out his FANTASTIC shop Austin Custom Brass (linked). Go drop by for a visit in person too—Trent's a great hang and interactions with him makes you a happier, better person and trumpet player.Enjoy!
Can you walk and chew gum at the same time? Rub your belly whilst patting your head? Triple-tongue three-octave arpeggios while sitting on the shoulders of a unicycle-riding bear in a party hat? Hmm...you're tough......how about: can you be principal trumpet of both the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and the New York Philharmonic at the same time? HA! ...then you're not Chris Martin, our 30th guest on Brass Chats.
Lots of trumpet (slash brass) nuts and bolts in this one. Watch and learn all about how he warms up, what he works on every day, how he develops his sound, and of course---how he navigates the looming minefield of the Monster Round. This one easily gave us about 6 months of stuff to work on in the woodshed. Enjoy! ...and then go practice.
Red Pill, second dose. Most people thought the second Matrix movie wasn't quite up to the challenge of living up to the original; we promise a different experience here. Hit it with Dolf (Jim Pandolfi, former third trumpet in the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra) in Monster Oil's first-ever LIVE interview/Brass Chat.
In our interview, Jim Pandolfi offered us the 'Red Pill' of trumpet pedagogy. You might think that you know correct trumpet playing technique... but after you hear what Mr. Pandolfi has to say, you might start to question EVERYTHING you've been taught before. Watch the interview and see how deep the rabbit hole goes.
The master of trombone talks about his life growing up in a household of musical influences, his challenges and breakthroughs in regards to playing trombone, and...his dream car.
Today we're sitting down with Phil Snedecor who teaches at the Hart School of Music in Hartford, Connecticut and he has played with pretty much every kind of ensemble you can think of including the Baltimore Symphony, the National Symphony and the Washington Symphonic Brass.
We bet lubes to doughnuts that you've never seen Chameleon played on a cornetto before this. We'll even give you 12 to 1 odds. So...you know...if we win, you have to buy 1 bottle of valve oil from us, and if you win, we have to buy you a dozen doughnuts. In fact, you'd probably buy yourself the dozen doughnuts anyway because you can't be trusted around doughnuts. We understand. Once you go get your doughnuts, return right here and eat them in front of this month's Brass Chat, which (if you couldn't tell from the above link) was clearly one of the coolest subjects we have ever had. The guy is a genius and it was immensely enjoyable hearing his perspectives on life, music, trumpet, and tennis. Here ya go.
Word association time! You know how it works; I say a word, and you respond with the first thing that jumps to mind. Examples: Peanut Butter? Jelly. Star? Wars. Opera? She dies at the end. Okay...so....Louis Hanzlik? American Brass Quintet, Aspen, Juilliard, UCONN, Columbia Teacher's College ...yep, the list goes on. Today, it only takes 27 minutes and 14 seconds for you to become a better musician; what are you waiting for???
Adding handsomely to our stockpile of famously accomplished and otherworldly-good trumpet players in our Brass Chats Interview collection, this month we snared Tom Hooten, who sits in the principal trumpet chair for the Los Angeles Philharmonic. We were super lucky that he had time and energy for us (boy did he!) as the LA Phil swung through New York; the result was one of the most information-rich interviews we've done so far. From warming up and routine to excerpts and chops and beyond, Hooten spills it, and we all get to collect it—thanks to another worthy installment of Brass Chats. Enjoy!
You heard him for years with the Brecker Brothers, you saw him tear up the town in Stoplight Jazz. Now join us for a swim through the inner workings of the mind of trumpet legend, Randy Brecker! We hung with Randy and his cats (animals, not jazzers) at his pad in Montauk, NY, and covered fundamentals, learning to improvise, great stories about all the famous cats (jazzers, not animals) he's played with, the legacy and history of the Brecker Brothers, and much more!
David Krauss, principal trumpet of the Met Opera Orchestra in NYC, had a lot of great stuff to share: stories about taking lessons in Wynton Marsalis' apartment...an unfortunate and unmentionable pogo stick injury, his favorite place to play trumpet, and a few great stories—like the time he almost missed the biggest solo in opera right after he was hired. ...Also, pastrami. Lots of pastrami. Come hang!
So Vlad Lavrik is the principal trumpet of the Russian National Orchestra; he plays a mean horn and is actually a very fine conductor as well, and is exploring this passion very frequently at work and elsewhere. He being his fully Russian self, and us being us, we wanted to think of some funny things to bring up. Turns out, we're not that funny—but we did ask if Vladimir Putin knew where Mr. Lavrik was. He said no...BUT: we saw his FB feed about a week later, with a video of him receiving a special award for the Arts in Russia...from VLADIMIR PUTIN. Moral of that story? ...Vladimir Putin watches Brass Chats. How about that!
You wouldn't know it, but don't be fooled by his mild-mannered, well-temperamented exterior; but Jim Wilt? Associate Principal Trumpet of the Los Angeles Philharmonic? That guy is MAD at you. He told us, in this interview. We're talking really, really angry. Especially because of that time you met him at an audition. You may not have noticed at the time, but he was literally quivering with rage, speaking every single syllable through clenched teeth, furious at every word. Just needed you to know that.
Quiz time: which number is bigger: number of calendar years A.D., or number of movies Malcolm McNab has played on? ....I'll give you a hint: the answer is the part about the number of movies. Give up? No, I'm sorry—we were looking for "the number of movies Malcolm McNab has played on, which currently stands far above 2000 and is certainly more than I can even begin to fathom." Nice try—here's a consolation prize: a great interview with Malcolm McNab! Welcome back to Brass Chats.
LA Studio and Jazz player Carl Saunders has been described as "the best trumpet player you've never heard of." Well, we hope to change that with this month's Brass Chat because he's ridiculous. The guy can do anything with a horn, was generous with his time and talents, and plays a lot of trumpet during this interview, which was a real treat for us; hearing Carl solo is like...uh...pouring melted chocolate into a glass of red wine, them mixing that with honey and pouring it over some ice cream or something. It's a terrible analogy, just ignore us, you're not here for the blogging skills anyway; just believe us when we say that he is good at soloing. Welcome to sunny California for this month's installment of Brass Chats!
You asked for it? You got it: Here's the three handsomest members of Monster Oil, giving you an inside look at their streams of consciousness as they test themselves during the Monster Round. So many of you asked for this we had to do it. Our inbox was overflowing. For weeks on end, maybe months, all communications to us were along the lines of "sure, it was nice to hear Ray Mase's thoughts on what makes a great student, and yeah, listening to Mike Martin tell stories about his early Boston Symphony days was good, but what I'd really like to see is more of you guys asking each other stupid questions and giving stupid answers in return." ...well, your wait is over—so you can stop emailing us about it now. We hope that you, our adoring public, enjoy this rare offering. Cheers!
Go to college. Graduate. Win job immediately. Win bigger job immediately. This is more or less the musical equivalent of the LeBron James career track, followed in this instance by the phenomenal Ethan Bensdorf, who made the Naples Philharmonic Orchestra the Cleveland Cavaliers of the Orchestral World by taking his talents to the Big Apple, where he's now second trumpet for the New York Phil. Easy-Peasy, Lemon-Squeezey. Touching on topics ranging from his unconventional teaching style to what it was like to sit next to Phil Smith, this is an unmissable Brass Chat for sure.
This is the Brass Chats Interview you watch if you want to pick the brain of a man who likes hats, likes music, has an INSANE historical instrument collection (in the video, don't worry), provides musical goods and services to the greatest musicians in New York (and the rest of the country), and has built a multi-million dollar musical operation from scratch with nothing but his bare hands, ingenuity, and elbow grease. One of the most interesting guys alive today: Steve Dillon, owner of Dillon Music! Only on Brass Chats. Also Joel plays his best Herseth impression on a Mel Broiles' old piccoliccolitissimito trumpet.
Charlie Schlueter, principal trumpet of the Boston Symphony Orchestra for an iconic 25 years, now enjoys a quiet retirement at his home in Massachusetts. ...except for when three fools like us come pounding down his door demanding to be seen and asking him a bunch of rude questions about how to get better at trumpet. Fortunately, he acquiesced to these aforementioned demands and we scored an hour of knowhow out of this trumpet giant. Someday, we'll be back for more—you can talk to this guy all day. Enjoy!
TUBA great Mike Roylance joins us this month! He's principal tubist with the Boston Symphony Orchestra, played with our very own Tom Brown when they were both in the Chicago Civic Orchestra, and has an instrument rating. Find out why that has absolutely nothing to do with music—and many more tips, tricks, stories, and more—on this month's Brass Chats!
Two things to learn about Mark Gould, if you don't already know them. 1: He was principal trumpet of the Met Opera for an absolutely staggering 29 years; and 2: He's a man that says what he means, and means what he says. This makes for a veritable storm of interestingness constantly surrounding him, from his side project Pink Baby Monster (performances sometimes usually NSFW), to running for president in 2012, to his students' total infestation of the professional trumpet scene (obviously in large part wrought by his teachings), and NOW—to one of our best Brass Chats yet
Mike Martin is known primarily for his snappy style of dress, dashing good looks, fine taste in shoes, and golfing habit. He spends his free time playing trumpet for the Boston Symphony Orchestra, working with DCI's The Cavaliers Drum & Bugle Corps, Composing, and a whole bunch of other crap. The guy is just everywhere—but somehow, someway, we nailed him down for a couple hours for an interview for Brass Chats.
Karin Bliznik is a boss. There's not much more to say than that. We were late to the interview (weather), had to smooth-talk our way into using an empty room in a really, really fancieiye hotel room for the interview, and had to make sure that we got Karin on her way with enough time to get to Carnegie Hall so that she could make Tchaik 4 and other stuff sound really easy; despite all of these parameters, she came through with one of our best Brass Chats Interviews to date. We hope to snag her again in the future for some more chatting, because this one wasn't long enough—but for now, you'll just have to watch this and like it.
Ray Mase has taught trumpet to every professional trumpet player alive and employed today. It's a fact, look it up. You'll find it on the Internet. ...actually you just found it on the Internet. There, just then. You're on the Internet. You know what else is on the Internet? A whole bunch of sweet, sweet trumpet knowledge from a guy that, according to Juilliard, is qualified enough to teach all the talented (okay, fine, AND hardworking) little freaks passing through its hallowed halls since 1987. A TON of that trumpet knowledge is right here---in Brass Chats Episode VII: The Force Awakens.
Leroy Jones doesn't get nearly the recognition that he deserves. Here are some links, so that YOU can start to recognize him. He's better than you (obviously), and us (double obviously) and therefore you can learn a lot from listening to his playing, and you can get even further inside his head by listening to his Brass Chatting.
Peter Bond has been playing trumpet for the Metropolitan Opera (New York) since its inception in 1883. Since then, the Met has grown to become the largest classical music organization in America, and is unarguably one of America's national artistic treasures. We prodded Pete for his accumulated wisdom from the past 133 years, and more importantly, found out who his favorite superhero is. Bet you won't guess it! ...also this interview barely happened: as we were finishing up the Monster Round, an NYPD cop comes over and tells us "hey, you can't film here without a permit." You might not believe us, but all four of us shouted in unison "YEAH WHATEVER MAN WE WERE ALREADY DONE SO TOO BAD FOR YOU, GOTTA BE QUICKER THAN THAT" and kicked over a trash can and ran away. It was so rad
Denver Dill, bugler in the Hellcats (the West Point Band's field music group), sits down to shoot the breeze on overcoming a lip injury, performing modern works for trumpet, and—of course—a Monster Round for the ages.
Josh Landress, owner of J. Landress Brass in Manhattan, New York, New York, New York, New York, New York, USA, Earth, master repairer and instrument craftsman, sits down with the Monsters and straight up gets what's been comin' to him for a long, long time.
If you're the principal trumpet of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, you play trumpet like a boss. But who is Tom's biggest musical influence? This answer and more below.
In our candid talk with trumpet legend, Arturo Sandoval, he reveals the #1 key to mastering improvisation, his amazing perspective on life's challenges, and... whether he prefers brunettes or blondes.