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Dear Friends,

Over the years, my most frequently requested tuba solo has been "Somewhere Over the Rainbow," but I could never find a recorded version of it. A couple of weeks ago, as part of a videotaped concert with my Jazz Tuber Trio buddies, Jimmy Mazzy and Ted Casher, I finally played it for keeps. The audio recording was done by Frank Cunningham, renowned sound man of WGBH and Black Eagles recordings, not to say my 1999 trio recording with Jimmy and Butch Thompson. The video synching isn't perfect, but I think that Judy Garland's sweet anthem of hope shines through. Here it is:
http://www.youtube.com/elinewberger#p/u/0/DmyXXBi4Atk" target="_blank

Warm greetings,

Eli Newberger

Very sweet!

(the video lag to the audio on my computer is a bit disconcerting, but I can try to ignore it

I did that song as an impromptu solo after a massed tuba event in San Francisco (in the lobby of the Embarcadero Hyatt) and was accompanied by their cocktail lounge pianist. The echo in that room was quite interesting - especially with about 200 tubas!

Nicely, nicely done, brother.

I really enjoyed that. Thanks for sharing.

Beautiful, Eli.
Very nicely done and you sound great as always,
and I like seeing the 'Harvey' model Holton CC
put to good use.

I really enjoyed the Davis Dixie Band video,
what fun!
That was a Martin, right?

On the Davis Dixie Band clip from the Ted Mack Amateur Hour, I played the Conn BBb horn that the Yale Band purchased in 1958 at the start of my freshman year. I played that horn for 4 years. Then, in 1963, I purchased my first Holton Del Negro CC from Walter Sear. That tuba is now in Yale's collection of Musical Instruments. You can see it in the foreground here:
http://www.yale.edu/musicalinstruments/exhibits.htm" target="_blank
Eli

Liked the music! But how do you make that stunt work, where the tuba sustains notes, while you have your face at a distance from the mouthpiece?

Klaus

It's just ultimate circular breathing, the next-to-last step on the spiritual path to transcendant tubaism: contemplating the divine tuba, feeling your breath, buzzing your lips in the air, and listening to the instrument resonate.

It also has slightly to do with a synching problem, that I'm attempting to address with the help of a knowledgeable, agnostic source at Berklee.

Eli