A fellow Tom Harrell fan, great trumpet player and friend Jamie Beiwick shared this interview clip on his facebook page.  Tom is not only one of the greatest jazz trumpet players of all time (imho) but also a very deep thinking, spiritually sensitive person.  This is a great interview clip mixing commentary with playing.  I am especially blown away by Tom’s solo on Green Dolphin Street.  (about 3:20 minutes in) Enjoy! Jazz...

Title Concerto for Trumpet and Orchestra Johann Friedrich Fasch, 1688-1758 Scored for 2 oboes, solo trumpet, strings, and continuo Biographical Info Johann Friedrich Fasch is an example of that all-too-common phenomenon in music, the forgotten innovator. A contemporary of Bach (1685-1750), Fasch was a prolific Baroque composer, writing among other things over 90 suites, 16 masses, 4 operas, 61 concertos, and 19 symphonies. He was well...

Tom Harrell has been one of my musical heroes for many years.  In fact, I would say his playing and composition have had the most profound impact of all my jazz influences.  I have done many transcriptions of Tom’s solos and in doing so have developed an even greater appreciation for his musicianship.  His lines are often un-idiomatic, meaning they don’t lay naturally for the trumpet.  It is as if playing the trumpet for Tom is...

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 when we shared a new-music recital at...

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 and arrangements here.  His website, by...

I spend some time on TPIN (Trumpet Player’s International Network) which is an email sent with threads of topics for and about trumpet playing.  Recently, I came across a post from my friend John Daniel, that I thought held particular merit for my site, AllThingsTrumpet.  John is currently the trumpet professor at my Alma Mater, Lawrence University in Appleton Wisconsin and a member of the Battle Creek Brass Band.  I asked John if I...

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.  Further biographical information on David...