Être Ou Ne Pas Être, by Henri Tomasi (Daniel Brady, bass trombone soloist)

There are a few pieces that, whenever you get the chance to perform them, are just always a treat. The thing that makes them a bright spot, to me, is the musical ideas available to us, and the many choices the performers can make. With a piece like this perennial favorite by Henri Tomasi, we always have a new way to try, or different ideas decided on by the group, and a different soloist to support.

The Marine Band has a fairly prolific chamber music series, in both fall and winter, and many of the Band’s musicians really look forward to a chance to perform on these recitals. To me, there is nothing more enjoyable as a musician than chamber music. You have some of challenges of solo playing, but you get the fun of teamwork with your friends in the chamber ensemble on top of it. As a trombonist, you are often the only trombone in chamber music settings which gives you a chance to be a solo voice more frequently, and to contribute your unique sound to the ensemble.

While this piece is, essentially, a trombone quartet, Tomasi does a remarkable job of showcasing what a trombone section can do, and he does so in a very theatrical way. Of course, with a title drawn from Shakespeare, it darn well better be theatrical!

We made a couple of musical choices that I hope you enjoy…. I always see this piece performed in a more or less standard “four bones across” quartet setup. We opted to put the soloist in the center, with the trio off to the side and farther away, with the idea that we could serve more as a commentary to the solo voice, possibly more Shakespearean, but who knows? It was fun to do something different! We also opted for some fast slide vibrato where Tomasi indicates vibrato in the score, to give a shimmering effect with a different texture.

We performed this piece on a Marine Band chamber series concert, and then decided we wanted to have some more fun recording it. This is the result of a single late night session capturing our musical take (this time) on this trombone favorite.

I am always thrilled to play with my colleagues in the Marine Band, and this piece is no exception. Besides Daniel’s stellar bass trombone playing, Christopher Reaves and Tim Dugan covered the tenor trombone parts with me, and we had a great time doing it! Also, Will Samson was indispensable running the recording rig and taking notes on our various takes….thanks, Will!

Brendan Collins: Two Motets for Four Trombones

Last May, on a trip to the ITG (yeah, that's right, trumpet conference) conference in Ohio, I had the chance to meet an Aussie composer named Brendan Collins.  Rex Richardson performed his Trumpet Concerto at the conference, and besides enjoying the piece a lot, Brendan is a great guy, and we may or may not have shared a few beers while in Columbus.  I shared a copy of our new Valor Brass CD with Brendan, and we continued our correspondence throughout the rest of 2015, and I got to know him a little better.  He's a trombone player as well, so he's got that going for him!  He teaches and composes in Australia, and is busy writing all kinds of new music.  This winter, he sent me a copy of a trombone quartet he wrote called Two Motets.  The first movement, Sacred, is just beautiful!  The 2nd movement has a very playful syncopated motif throughout the piece that is a lot of fun to play, and lays very well on the trombone (just as you would expect from a trombonist-turned-composer)!  Brendan mentioned he would love to hear a recording if I ever had a chance to play the piece, so with my ongoing interest in audio production, it seemed like a great opportunity to do a small project that would benefit both of us in multiple ways.   We made the recording in one short session with some fun and extremely informative mentoring from a new colleague of ours, Christian Amonson.  Christian runs his own audio and video production company called Arts Laureate, and is as enthusiastic about audio as he is knowledgeable.  Here's a cool video Christian made about a recent production Arts Laureate did... Hope you enjoy the quartet!

Listening of Late, and a Valor Brass update!

Hey readers.  I hope everyone is having a relaxing Friday night!  The photo above doesn't look like much, but it's actually the MASTER of our new Valor Brass album!  That's right!  Ed Kelly finished the mixing and mastering just yesterday, and Matt delivered us each a copy to our hot little hands this morning.  I think it sounds great and I sincerely hope you will give it a listen when release day hits.  I would say we are less than a month out from actually seeing the finished CD!  Very exciting! Also, our good friend and multi-talented guy, Phil Holland, just set up a new website for Valor Brass at valorbrass.com.  Go check it out!

Ok, on to listening lately:

Radiohead - Pablo Honey - I decided I needed to check out some early Radiohead, as I wasn't familiar with it.  I was turned on to this album because it contains the tune, Creep.  I heard that covered by Amanda Fucking Palmer on her amazing ukulele, and I just love the tune, as well as Amanda's delivery.

Speaking of Amanda Palmer, here's some of her albums I've been enjoying lately.  If you don't like people that speak their mind, or you hate punk cabaret, this probably isn't for you! :)  However, she sells all her music on a pay-what-you-will system, so take a listen on her site...

Theatre is Evil - this is the album Amanda made with her million-dollar-plus Kickstarter

An Evening with Neil Gaiman and Amanda Palmer - This is an amazing set.  About 3 CDs worth of tracks, lots of readings from Neil Gaiman, lots of duets, solo tunes by Amanda, and just general fun.  Highly recommended.  I like it so much I ordered the 4 record vinyl set for my still non-existent turntable.

Ukulele Anthem - single tune, great fun

Besides Amanda Palmer...

The Family Crest - Beneath the Brine - also check out their video on Yellow Couch Sessions

Finally, I was very excited to see Death Cab for Cutie has a new album coming out March 31... Kintsugi is available on iTunes as a pre-order, and they've released three of the tracks already if you pre-order the album.  Cool stuff so far!

OK, that's it.  Time to get some sleep!

Have a great weekend,

The Virtual Trombonist