Richardson – Demonstration of Crossover Depth

I can count on one hand the crossover trumpet players that I would actually buy CDs of BOTH their classical and jazz playing. Rex Richardson is one of those players. There are plenty of players who specialize in one field and dabble in the other but it’s rare to find someone that digs in, way in, to jazz improvisation AND classical technique/repertoire. I was first introduced to Rex’s playing…

Stephenson – Call

Title Call for Solo Trumpet (2003) By James Stephenson Biographical Info Jim has composed a considerable amount of fantastic material for trumpet; sonatas, concerti, etude books, chamber music and unaccompanied solos. I have heard that he has even composed music that involves instruments other than the trumpet. I know … hard to believe, but you can find a complete listing of his compositions…

Sampson – Litany of Breath

Title Litany of Breath For Unaccompanied Trumpet By David Sampson Biographical Info David Sampson is a trumpet player, teacher and composer living in New Jersey. He has made considerable contributions to 20th and 21st Century trumpet literature by composing more than fifteen works featuring the trumpet as well as works for wind ensemble, brass ensembles of various instrumentation and choirs.…

Sampson – Solo

Title Solo For unaccompanied flugel horn or Bb trumpet by David Sampson Biographical Info David Sampson (b. 1951, Charlottesville, Virginia) has emerged as one of the truly unique voices of his generation achieving rapidly growing attention from major orchestras, soloists and ensembles. He holds degrees from the Curtis Institute of Music, Hunter College, Manhattan School of Music, and…

What’s the Deal with Transcribing Jazz?

Outside of practicing your butt off, aspiring jazz musicians are told two things will also help their improvising; listening to great jazz players and transcribing their solos. I do not disagree with this. After all, jazz is a language and to understand it we must not only study the grammar of how to spell and write, but in order to speak it we need to listen to hear how it sounds. However,…

Bernofsky – Fantasia

Title Fantasia for Solo Trumpet (2008) By Lauren Bernofsky Biographical Info Although Lauren Bernofsky was trained as a violinist, she has contributed a substantial amount to the brass repertory. Her list of compositions can be found here. The Fantasia for solo trumpet was commissioned by John W. Cain. Suggested Equipment Lauren composed this for Bb or C trumpet. Except for the high E…

Ray Mase on Practicing

Ray Mase is one of my absolute, all-time favorite trumpet players. He plays in the American Brass Quintet, Orpheus Chamber Orchestra and teaches at Julliard Aspen Music Festival. He has the most singing, vibrant, lyrical tone I have ever heard on the trumpet and is a huge influence on my playing. I highly recommend his CD, “Trumpet In Our Time”. The article that follows is one of his on how…

A Clinic With Bud Brisbois

Here is a transcript from a clinic given by the great Bud Brisbois. He gave a concert at my alma mater Lawrence University with the group Matrix (mentioned below and pictured above) just before he committed suicide. While I was not at Lawrence at that time, many of my teachers were. They talked and still do talk extremely respectfully of Bud and I am very thankful that they turned me on to one…

Adolph Herseth, part 3

In May of 2005, I hosted a trumpet conference that featured the former principal trumpet of the Chicago Symphony, the great, Adolph Herseth. It was a three-day event that not only showcased him in recital with none-other than Doc Severinsen, but featured him in a number of educational settings. What follows is an article written by a former student, Jerod Sommerfeldt, and myself that appeared…